The record-union., 1891-02-02
SOMETHING OF A MIDDLE.
Judge catIin Has Avery Knotty Prob
lem to Solve.
A Placer Mining Case That Involves
Many Litigants and Fifteen
Lawyers.

The Superior Judge of Placer County
has called upon Judge Catlin of this city
to unravel very badly mixed case be-
fore his court, according to a report in
the Auburn Republican. That paper says
that Judge Catlin visited Auburn few
days since to take Judge Prewett's place
on the bench and hear the Eclipse Mine
case. The whole Auburn bar, assisted
by attachments Of lawyers from all the
adjacent counties, was in the case. and
before night Judge Catlin wished he was
dead or in Jail. Fifteen lawyers said:
May it please the Court" and buried
the clerk under pile Of demurrers in
tervenors, exceptions, cross-complaints,
answers, cross-counters, upper-cuts,
half-nelsons, hammer-locks, mortgages,
mechanics liens, writs of habeas corpus,
lie exeats, mol prosequis, ultra wires, mo-
dus vivendi, double-shuffies, etc. Then
they explained the case in fifteen differ
ent ways, and no matter which one had
tie floor, all the rest were against him
and objected to everything that he said.
The Judge listened the whole afternoon,
and then he took the papers home and
studied theEa all night to get general
idea of what it was all about.
What the suits are about, the deuce and
the lawyers alone know, but bird's-eye
view of the case is this: J. b. Patterson
owned the Eclipse Mine at Ophir and
bonded it TO e. A. Poage, an eX-preacher,
who went East and sold it to lot of folks
who didn't know any more about mine
than cat knows about heaven. They
formed corporation, and Patterson took
tenth of the stock and job as superin-
tendent at $500 month. Poage took
n hn ctr
AZ salary of $500 month. Mr.. Lewis,
another preacher, got the secretaryship,
and such other salaried places as could be
found or invented We're given to relatives
Of the promoters of the enterprise.
The company erected huge mill, on
tick, bought expensive machinery-on
tick-and hired men to get out ore and
run the million tick. The ore taken out
by IMMERSION ticl-wasn't rich enough
to pay gilt-edged salaries to all the ex-
preachers in the concern and leave any
thing for the men who did the work, and
when the miners had lived about as long
as they could ON Poage's promises to pay,
they quit digging ore and put laborers'
liens upon the mine and mill. Patterson
also filed liens for his salary as Superin-
tendent, and the mine was shut down.
Some of the miners had dependent
families, and the failure of the company
to pay wages caused them great deal of
actual suffering. One man named
Trevatnan remained at the mine. after it
was shut down, to take care of the prop
erty, relying upon Poage's promise to
pay him his wages, which amounted to
nearly 800 overdue. The firms that sup
piled some of the machinery took less
stock in promises, and removed their
property from the mill. The swindled
miners came up to Auburn to see Poage
and Lewis about six weeks ago, and
Poage promised that he would pay them
their wages on certain evening. When
that evening arrived Poage and Lewis
had gone away. They left on the morn
ing train, and Poage had a pocketful of
large greenbacks when he went away.
Neither one of them has been seen here
since, and the miners are still whistling
for their money.
The case being heard by Judge Catlin is
complication of liens and claims against
the mine, and of the partners against
each other. j. +. Patterson is repre-
scented by Hale IL Craig and attorney
Holl. Hamilton d Hamilton are the attor-
neys for the laborers who hold liens. Wal
lace d Wallace appear for Iowle Bros, who
hold liens for lumber supplied for build
ing the mill. Chamberlain d Searles rep
resent an Eastern stakeholder, Mrs
Preble, who loaned $1,000 to the COM
pany. Attorney Lardner appears for the
Placer County Bank. Judge Spear rep
resents Poage, who has some sort OF a
claim against the company, and futile,
Fulweiler & Tabor appear for the Eclipse
Mining Company. Attorney Oatman is
looking out for the interest OF Schaw,
Ingram IL hatcher, Of Sacramento. who
sold machinery to the company and never
got paid for it.
One Of the lawyers amused himself in
court yesterday by sketching adiagram
of the case. He drew gigantic spider
web, tenanted by dozen or fifteen
spiders bearing the names of the attor-
neys. When asked, "Where are the
tlies?' he replied, 'They are the lien
holderSD