The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-23
FATAL QUARTZ CRAZE.
Once 1t Lays It's Deadly Hand Upon a
Man All Hope Departs.
From the washington Star.

From the Washington Star.
"a man may recover from a crazy de-
sire for gambling or give up whisky,
after he has been it's slave" said Rob-
ert Searles of Denver at La Normandie,
but when he goes quartz crazy there is
no further hope for him unless he strikes
a bonanza. Then his insanity will be
none the less intense, but it will not be
so pronounced, because he will have the
means to pursue his passion without I'M
dergoing discomfort or creating remark.
What do l mean by quartz crazy? Well,
it's evident you have never been IN the
western country Out where the noun
tains are piled up on top OF each other
those lunatics abound. man who is
quartz crazy is an individual who catches
the mining fever and becomes convinced
that his mission on earth is to find the
greatest vein of pay ore ever discovered.
In pursuit Of his quest he suffers more
hardships and oVercomes more obstacles
than did all the knights who ever
searched for the holy grail. He will
leave home, family, friends, and comfort,
and, all alone, with a meager supply of
provisions and few tools, he will plunge
into unknown wildernesses, and when he
finds a place that holds out a mineral
prospect he will burrow in the treacherous
mountain side like rabbit and dig from
stroke of his pick to uncover his expected
fortune. Nearly every prospector in the
west, or the rest of the world for that
matter, is afflicted with the malady
have described. Some of them keep up
their ceaseless search with every recur-
ring season, and sometimes strike a good
thing. In such cases somebody else, the
party who has the money to develop the
find, reaps the profits.
There are exceptions, however and old
Tom Cruise of Helena is one. Tom was
and is a character. He reached Montana
when Last Chance gulch, where Helena
is now located, was yielding up the riches
of its gravel to the desperate pioneers, who
had struck the place when starvation
seemed the next thing to contemplate.
When the gulch gave out he began to
travel through the mountains looking for
his bonanza. He could neither read nor
write, but his mineral knowledge was
something wonderful. Every spring for
years he started out with grub stake and
every fall he returned empty handed but
Vet fulI of hone Everybody laughed at
him and made him a butt for their jokes,
but old Tom took 1t good-naturedly and
Invariably found somebody during the
winter to fit him out for his journey in
the spring. At last, one August day sew
eral years ago, Tom came into Helena
with a bag of specimens that opened PEG,
ple's ewes They were from the lead
which resulted in the discovery of the
world famed Drum Lummon mine at
Marysville, Mont. Toms common sense
helped him to beat the moneyed people
who tried to beat him. He owns the big
gest part of the Drum Lummon yet and
has a banking house at Helena as side
issue His life has had its tender romance
and pathetic tragedy, too. The winter
previous TO his strike a waiting maid in
one Of the Helena hotels had been quite
kind to the old man. When his fortune
zane he asked her to share it with him
and she consented. They were devoted
couple and old Toms cup of happiness
was Drumming full when his wife died,
after being a bride for year. Has he got
over being quartz crazy? Not bit Of it.
This last summer he disappeared from
Helena, and it was given out that he had
zone east but he hadn't. lie was out in
he mountains with a prospectors outfit
reveling in the search for another Drum
T,ummon. All, no, a man never RECEIVERS
from quartz craziness, and the malady mas
Titled more brave. strong, enthusiastic
men than a dozen epidemics of smallpox
or yellow fever.