The morning call., 1893-02-23
STRUCK 1T RICH.
NJ. w. Fox Admits the Gold
Discovery.
He DENIES ALL FRAUD.
shining Circles Are in a
FIutter.
MILLIONS NOW IN SIGHT.
The Other Side of the Steele Com
plaint-The Defendant Tells
His Tale.

the sworn statements Of Oscar I. Steele ana
Samuel T. Curtis as to the finding of new
and wonderfully rich body of gold-bearing
ore on the ComstOck. published yesterday
in THE CALL.
Il seemed like old Bonanza times to hear
The comments on the story OF the Two wit
nesses in the case of Steele VS.. West Con-
soldated Virginia Mining Company, ana
further developments in the case viii be
watched with interest
In a statement made yesterday by NJ. W.
Fox, the vee-president of the company.
against which the suit is entered, the tale oil
the ore discovery was fully corro0orated'
though IL was more Of an admission on MI.
Fox's part than frank statement OF fact.
Mr. Fox was plaintiff in the celebrated
Hale & NorcroSs suit wherein he charged
the defendants with fraud and misrepTe-
sentaton, and obtained judgment for
ever S. 100000; and now he finds the tables
turned against him in the suit over the West
Consolidated Virginia mining property, in
which the big ore body was recently found,
estimated at millions of dollars
The trial Of the suit of Steele against
Fox and the West Consolidated Virginia
Gold aud Silver Mining Company now
going on promises to be more sensational
than the Hale & NOrcross suit.
Mr.. Fox most vigorously denies the
charges made against him and claims he
will show at the trial the suit is put-up
job.
said he to a reporter Of TIE CALL yester-
day:
Il was just reading the account of the
suit in The CALL, and will just tell you
the true inwaTdness of this action.
"Mr. Steele is not the real plaintiff at all.
but the suit Is brought by certain of the
defendants IN the Hale & Norcross case in
his name to get even with me for my fight
against them in the Hale & Norcross suit"
Mr.. Baggett, who is Fox's attorney, and
who was also present said: "See our
answer to the complaint. every word of
which we can prove 1t contains a specific
denial of every charge Of conspiracy. fraud
and Misrepresentation. and alleges that the
agreement with Steele has been kept. II
further alleges that Steele transferred his
stock in the defendant corporation and
has been induced TO bring this action by
the persons to whom he made such transfer
for the purpose Of haTTassng the plaintiff and
to get control Of the stock of the defendant
corporation and destroy It's property"
when we made the agreement with Mr..
Steele TO develop the property" said Mr..
Fox. she was made superintendent at $500 a
month. We kept BIN until we were CON-
PEELED to remove him for inattention to his
work, but We still kept him at minor
employment
During the whole time previous 10 the
suit Steele never made any complaints about
the way e managed matters, as the many
letters We have viii show. He no doubt
felt some soreness about being removed
from the superintendency, and could be
easily Influenced against US.
The trial of the Hale & Norcross suit
had been set down for July, 1891. had
made serious charges in my complaint Of
conspiracy and fraud in the working Of the
Mines and in the report made of The profits
therefTom, and Levy. Jones and other de-
PENDANTS proposed to offset my charges by
showing l was no better than they were.
Knowing how matters stood with Mr.
Steele and of the prospect Of a rich body
Of ore in the property Of the West Con-
sOldated Virginia Company they went to
Mr.. Steele and purchased his shares in the
defendant corporation. They employed him.
believe. and then persuaded him to con-
sent TO this suit being brought in his name.
THE suit was commenced the month
previous 10 the month the trial Of the Hale
& NoTcrOss suit was set for, so that by pub
LEGATION of the charges it might influence
the public and the jury at the trial, but
more than this was intended. for the suit
was brought on the day before the annual
election Of officers Of the defendant corpora
ton.
AT the same time an Injunction was OBJ
tanned tying up all the stock Of the COM
pany other than Steele's. They thereby
expected to capture the organization on
election day and squeeze US out, but in this
they were frustrated as well as In the effect
they expected to produce at the Hale & Nor
cross trial.
This suit has been just standing in the
same position ever since without any at
tempt being made to bring it to trial till
short time ago, il having become necessary
70 make assessments ON the stockholders to
pay the outstanding Indebtedness OF the
company. motion was made in the court
to dissolve the injunction, which motion
was granted.
In the meantime Levy, Jones and others
In working on property adjoining that of
the defendant company have taken out large
quantities Of ore from the ledge on this COM
the action has been brought.
THE sum ana substance OF the charges
are that we did not list the stock on the
Stock Exchange as agreed and that we have
charged the defendant company with large
sans which We should not have charged for
the purpose OF making it insolVent in order
10 get the property.
Il Will just show you how groundless the
charges are. IL was agreed among Mr..
Steele, Mr.. Brown and myself that no stock
should be listed until ore was struck.
certain amount of the stock was set
apart TO be sold for working capital. Every
sockbroker in the city knows how mining
STOCK mas been on a steady decline, and it
would have been folly to attempt 10 list it.
We therefore adopted the only course that
could De taken and sold small portions here
and there on the street
I'VE realized S25, OOO which was expendad
In development work on the mine When
the money was gone we advanced $4,000 our
selves. Then, the ore not vet being struck,
We did what any sane man would say was
most ADVANTAGEOUS for the company, but
which Mr.. Steele makes the ground for one
of his charges OF conspiracy and fraud.
Inc Andes Mining Company had prop
erty adjoining that Of the West Consoli-
dated Company, which had been lying idle
Tor fourteen years undeveloped. We got
control Of the Andes stock and got the con-
sent o! that company to rua drift from the
bottom OF shaft 400 feet deep on the prop
erty adjoining on the other side of defend
ant company's property and run through
the defendant conpany's property to deyol-
op the Andes property
Two years were spent In the work, two
drifts were run, and between $4,000 and
100000 expended.
The Andes Company has not vet made
the least demand on the West Consolidated
Company for any portion of this expense.
though the work actually developed It's
property and discovered the big ledge of ore.
''And yet Mr.. Steele, having a majority of
the stock and being the person most bene-
flied by the work done for nothing, makes
this the ground for a charge of conspiracy
charge as baseless as is the claim that
heard a rich ore body was found on the
property of the Consolidated Virginia
Cnmnanv and that / made a misrenresantn.