The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1889-12-29
DIDN'T KNOW WHO Inv HIll.

"A man gets some queer ideas in
his head when he's out all alone in the
mountains. said John Anderson. an
old prospector who has his headquar-
ters at FL Paso, but who makes sew
eral incursions to the mining districts
every year.
The Mimbres mountains lie in New
Mexico, down below old Fort Tule
Rosa, and they must be full of gold
somewhere, because the beds of the
creeks that find their way down the
sides are so rich in placer diggings
| that you can't pull up a sage brush
around there without seeing bright
specks among the roots. What /
wanted was to find the mother mine.
Il talked the thing up to Charley
! Burke. another prospector and friend
of mine, until he agreed to put up
half the outfit and join in the
search. We got couple of burros,
the necessary tools, and started early
in the spring.
THE VISITOR.
! ITO make a long story short, we
struck ledge one morning with out
Groupings that crumbled under my
pick and showed quartz all streaked
with yellow threads. Charlie, 1
yelled out, all afire at once, we have
struck itr
But before we sunk a shaft. we
| found something else that sent our
| hearts to our mouths. Tt was an, old
shaft, back a little WAYS. and in a
| claim, properly staked out, that COW
cred that very ledge. There was a
notification, according to law. on one
| of the posts, that Peter Sumner and
Joseph klautzy had taken possession
of the Big Six and done the legal as
sessnent work.
I'VE measured it, and it was only
down about half the required dis
tance, SO we took possession OF the
property, changed its name to The
| Treasury and went to work What
J had become of the two men was a
mystery. They had left no trace, ex-
| cept the notification board and shaft,
| and 1T gave me the creepS now
| and then to think that they might be
| dead. But we We're not in frame of
mind to let sentiment interfere with
business.
s. 4 reckon you can see, | replied.
putting as good face on it as posi-
bly, could.
lyon mean you've jumped it, you
| cursed theft
mo, | don't. There wasn't enough
work on it to hold it, and it was as
much mine as anybody's.'
8 You liev
''He looked at me over the sights
with his wicked, greenish eyes for a
full minute. Then he said
II suppose we had been there for a
| couple of weeks, when provisions be-
| gan to run short. We didn't want to
! both leave the, claim at pnee. SO. it was,
finally arranged that Charley should
go down the creek to camp about
fifty miles away and bring a supply.
| He took both burros and started off.
AT about noon of the second day
after he left was startled at what /
| thought was man crossing a little
gulch a half mile away. | only had a
view of it between two rocks. and,
whatever it was, it passed so quickly
that l was not sure. However, l.
waited a couple of hours, and then.
seeing nothing further, concluded
was mistaken, and went down into
the shaft. | filed the bucket with
| very heavy ore, climbed up, and had
it about half raised when man came
walking up the creek bed toward me.
Then | knew | was right before
. He was an ugly looking customer,
big and brawny, with a fiat, Seandi-
| nayian face, and carried Winchester
on his arm. / had o little stick that |
| slipped into the windlass handle near
1 the axle to keepit from turning back
| ward, and, leaving the bucket Just
where it was suspended half way up,
! | started toward the cabin to get my
arms. He covered me with his re-
peating rifle, and ordered Inc to halt.
What are you doing on my
claimY' he said
Did you ever praY?' M
Eyes, | faltered
Then pray now. Ill give you two
minutes to do it.
oh, for heavens sake don't muir
der me' ! cried 1 will go.
THE wINDLAss SETTLED HIM.
"The- man made no reply. For a
moment my head swan, and then,
with a sudden return of vision that
was excruciating in its clearness, / saw
him stoop slightly, rest the gun barrel
over the windlass handle, and marked
even that slight contraction of the
eyelid that just precedes a shot. The
next moment there was a crash, an
explosion, and a cry all mingled into
one. | saw the man turning head over
heels down the embankment, the Win
chester flying through a cloud of
smoke up into the air, and all the
while heard loud, monotonous, whir-
ring noise that was like some gigantic
clock running down.
II did not realize it at the time, bus
this is what happened:-When he
rested his gun across the windlass he
dropped the barrel right across the
little stick had thrust in to prevent
it from turning, and | knocked it out.
| suppose the bucket of ore weighed
100 pounds, aud the great iron handle,
/ swinging clear around, gained such
terrific momentum that when it struck
him fair in the face, which it did, it
4 lifted him off his feet Ike cannon
4 ball. The gun was discharged by the
shock, but the bullet was nowhere
near me. Before regained my senses
heard the bucket strike The bottom
| with a smash.
Z" When picked up the man he was
unconscious, but moaning 81 little, and
! the blood trickled out OF his ear. He
lay at the cabin for week or two, and
after Charley got back we managed to
4 get him to Silver City. There the
dNotopc mt hic faaa II, :, cont of Mas