The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-02-03
NOVEL GOLD MINING.
A NEW Workers. METHOD OF saw
ING THE kURIfEROUS WASTE.

How "F.rocious Fred Got Even with
Mining Company - Crawling into
Flumc at Dead OF Night-A Poetic
Retribution.
Among recent arrivals from the west
WAS that Of a man whose name does not
anneor ON any Of the big hotel registers,
| bnt who is nevertheless pretty well known
about town He is part owner of placer
| claim in Dakota. and is interested III sew
eral other mining ventures, notably one
whose field of operations IS not far re-
moved from that of the great Homestake
Mining company This gentleman, whose
surname is suppressed here at his earnest
solicitation. has been nicknamed Zero
cious Fred' by his associates, principally
because he wears mustdches OF KIND
| that would have brought tears OF envy 10
the eyes Of the guar dsmen Of Louis NV.
A wOEBEGONE APPEARANCE.
Fred arrived in the city and was met ut
the Forty-second street depot by party
of friends. who were very much surprised
at finding him with one arm in sling,
with strip of court plaster extending
across his forehead just above his eye
! brows and presenting n woebegone APP
pearance generally. Fred explained that
| his iniuries were received during an alter
cation he had had with n pack mule in his
mining camp, and his statement was ac-
cepted as matter Of course. Most Of his
| friends had read humorous paragraphs in
reference 10 the foolhardiness Of toying
with the pedal eXtremties of mules, and
Fred's condition did not excite so much
sympathy ~ it would have done had his
! iuiuries been sustained in almost any
other manner Last night however IL
leaked out that Fred had deceived his
! friends. While in cOnyivial mood he
admitted the true origin OF his disilgura-
ton. and this is the story of bis latest adj
venture
Once n year for the past four years Fred
| has paid "a dying visit 10 the mining
regions Of Colorado and Dakota, Oston.
sibly to look after mining property, but
i'm reality To do little mining Of very
npcuiiar sort Fred, in common with
many other small placer owners in that
neighhorhood, has long cherished feeling
Of resentment against the llomcstakc
! Mining company. II is alleged that the
latter has cobhlel up all the water rights
| I'm the vicinity of the mines, and refuses
to rent them to such other operators as
have good paying claims, hoping thereby
| to force them 10 sell for nominal sum
ut DEAD OF NIGHT
| II was while casting about for a way in
which 10 "get even that Fred hit upon
this plan: The lIomc,f0kc iiume, n COW
cred wooden gutter about two miles in
! length. that carries of the wafer passed
! through the ore crushers terminates on
the edge OF a bluff fifty feet high, down
the sides Of which the water gently
trickles when the crushcrs are in opera
/ ton Alta certain hour every night the
Hood gates above are opened and for
short time thereafter the water PUSHES
out Of the hume in a perfect torrent.
Once "a year, FOR the pas. four years, Fred
| has crawled into this llume al dead Of
night with a "gunnyn bag and a tallow
candle aud CLEANED it up on his own ac-
count The process, rs described by him,
consists in scraping out Of the cracks in
| the flooring of the Hume the gold amalgam
| that escapes the sieyes at the crushers and
settles there. The plan worked success
| eullv the first three trials each time net
Iting him something like s 1900 for his
nights work.
Quite recently he made his accustomed
| descent on the wooden gutter. Unknown
TO him. however, arrangements had been
made 10 flood the Hume on the very night
ne had selected for his annual visit Fred
sc-aped mp a considerable quantity Of gold
amalgam and was crawling backward out
of the hume dragging his bag after him,
when suddenly he heard roaring noise
and a rush Of wind eXtinguished his
candle. 4 moment later great body Of
water came down on him with irresistible
force. Fred and his bag Of amalgam were
swept out Of the 1ume, over the bluff and
down into the rocky bed Of a creek fifty
/ feet below His arm was broken in tho
! fall. and his head came in contact with 4
rock so forcibly as to render him for
time obliyious of his surroundings
When he regaincd consciousness Fred
found that the bag containing the ANAL
gam had been split open in the fall and
the proceeds Of his honest labor washed
OF in the Hood Disguised with his eX-
perience, he dragged himself to the nearest
mining camp, where he explained that he
/ had fallen of bluff while prospecting
and managed to get his wounds dressed.
Then he started back 10 New York, hav-
| ing made up his mind in the meantime
that the resources Of the HOmestake were
too great for him to cope with.-New
| York Star.