Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-06-17
ILL-FAvm DISCOVERIES.

1 iIL-FAvD DISCOVERIES.
Hern Fate oS:the Men Who Located Some
4 OF the Great American Mines.
HE surerstitious belief is an old one
that unless the. discoverer of camr
meets an untimely Or bloody end his
lind will newer amount to any thing
and this seems; borne out by facts,
since all the 'diSeoxerers of the great
gold mines in. the Unites. States, with
but few exceptions. have, as the saying
goes. 'died with their boots on.'' OF
thlrfy-eight, booming towns in early
,iays, the lDeators of twelve were
killed by bullet. three were buried in
their creations by cave-ins and the rest
driftedi away with the tide of immigra-
tlOn.. have become lost in oblivion or
died and were buried in paupers'
graves. Georse H. FRYER. from whom
the celebrated Fryer Hill.' of Lead
VILE, derives its name, died at Denver
not long ago from an overdose of NOR
phlne' administered by his own hand.
Two years previous to his death he was
worth a million or so. but he died q
panper and almost without friend.
Old Virginny. after whom the Con
solidated Virginia was named and
who sold his claim for twenty-five dol
lars, a pony and bottle of whisky,
came 10 his death by an overdose from
a bncking mule near Dayton, New.
Bill Bodie. the discoverer of the
great Standard mine in Mono County,
Cali, slept his life away in snow
storm while making his way to the
mines
Colonel Story. who gave his name to
the county in Nevada where the Com
stock is situated, was killed in battle
by the Pyramid Lake Indians.
Thomas Page Comstock died q beg
gar in y strange land. ''Old Pancake"
As he was known in the mining camps,
committed suicide at Bozeman, Mon,
on September "a. 1870. by shooting
himself. He was the leader of the
famous Big Horn expedition that was
sent out by Nevada capitalists in search
Of the Lost Cabin mines. supposed to be
somewhere among the Big Horn noun
tains. The expedition was failure,
and COmstock. whether from disap-
pOintment or from some other cause,
while encamped near Bozeman. drove
a pistol-ball through his head and died
instantly. He was buried there. and
his grave is unmarked and unknown.
Near the wild s. bot where twelve
years before l:;e hidden treasure of
Alder Gulch was first revealed TO him,
William Fairweathcr was laid down to
rest Like poor ''Old Pancake" this
erratic soul stranded on the shoals of
dissipation, although each in his day !
had turned a key-the one silver. the |
other golden-whieh unlocked millions |
for others but nothing for themselves.
William Farrell. who ''struck" Meadow
Lake, died victim to rerporse in one |
of the leading hospitals of San Fran
cisco, ''haunted by the spirit of one
thousand deluded pioneers and pros
pectors passing and repassing his dying
bed" The locator OF the famous
Homestake, in the Black Hills. is said
to afterward have turned road agent.
Times going hard with him. he at
tempted to stop stage loaded and
prepared for just such emergencies,
and he was planted alongside the road
by the tender-hearted express agents
whom he had tried to rob and kill.
Homer, of the Homer district. followed
in the suicidal tracks of Comstock.
After squandering 4 small fortune
he shot his brains out on the streets of
San Francisco. Doughnut Bill, odd
Kelse Austin, Lloyd Magruder.
mine Mile Clark George Hankin-
son, Henry Plummer and scores of
others died violent deaths in one way
or another and reaped nothing from
the rich mass each had made in his dav.
Doughnut Bill was planted in the Lone
Mountain cemetery in Utah, in 1868; 4
lO=c grave under white pine tree in
frontier mining town of California tells
where poor '.Old Eureka sleeps his last
sleep;" Kelse Austin was killed and
buried in Elcho County, New. fifteen
years ago.
Lloyd Magruder. while conducting a
number of wagons loaded with treasure
rom Virginia City to the nearest rail-
.oad, was murdered and robbed bv his
who were Plummer's out
avs in disguise: George Hankinson !,
md Henry Plummer were hauled up
~ vigilantes and strung up without the !
ielay and formallty of trial. Plum
ner was great rascal. In the early +
lays of the mining camps of Montana.
olummer was elected sheriff Of the :,
amp about Virginia City. He was the
irst locator of the rich ground about !,
virginia City. but thought he could :
make more money and quicker, too. by
aking what was already mined than :
~ laboring in the gulch day after day !:
md getting it by hard. honest toll. But J
le was t.ipped mp at last and died a :.
ringing. miserable coward. on the :
allows of his own constructiOn.-FOrt
ieogh (IM. IT, Cor. MilUautee Sentinel.
LEGAL ASSISTANCE.