The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1894-12-15

ventures Oi Baron Munchauscn or
studied the somewhat eXtravagant tales
OF Swift in The travels OF his weird
Lemuel Gulliver without baleiul conse-
qucnces. are invited TO test the tenaoity
Of your endurance upon the following,
with strict injunction to apply in small
doses:
Special 10 the Chicago Record
Green Bay, Wis, Dec. IA history
OF the details OF the financial manage
ment Of many OF the iron mines ON par
ticularly the MenoIninee range, IN the
vicinity of Florence Wis, would contain
disclosures worthy OF a place beside the
achievements OF Chicago's police depart
ment II would open the eyes of some
of the many Chicago investors iu mining
properties up there TO discover the
bare-iaced manner IN which they were
and are being swindled."
so spoke one OF Green Bays most
prominent contractors, who has spent
several years in business IN the iron
country, and who has been III positions
which enabled him TO learn the exact
state OF things.
"Iu the early days OF mining, and up
/ 10 the present day for that matter"
continued this gentleman, n man who
was on the inside couldn't keep from
making money-uuless, oi course, ho
/ had n conscience
"My experience has been that the
mine-owners are looked upon Us leelti
mate prey and ANY scheme to' rob them
is all right Supplies, while ] was up
there, were ordered with the understand
| ing that they were never 10 bc delivered.
i Bills were prcscr ted, OF course, and the
bogus articles were paid for by the mine
owners, while the parties to the fraud
lpocketed the money. The stockholders
uf the mines ould examine the books,
of course, but they didn't 90 down IN the
mines and count the shoyels aud picks
or inspect the machinery To see whether
they really possessed what they had
paid for.
"Some OF the mine superintcndcnts
and bosses operated on the quiet but
Others made no attempt To conceal what
they were doing and openly buastcd oi
il. | RENE mber one old fellow who used
to say. DO YOU think I'm up here Tor
my henlth2' You couldn't make any
kind az a deal with this man involving
the payment OF money until he knew
how much there was IN It Tor hum.
~ remember one particular case, OF
which knew all the details, where two
leNpensive pumps were ordered Tor a mine
compnnv. The pumps never lett the
Chicago factory and Tor all know may
still bo there There was no need for
them i'm the mine, but the stockholders
didn't know this. Somebody got the
benefit Of the money that they had cost.
The same thing was done with other
supplies of all kinds. IL was u rich
: hnrvest and il was made the most OF by
the many INSCRIPTIONS officials
"An architect, who was on 10 his
lob. 10 use an expressive slnng phrase,
went up TO Crystal Falls, Mich, with u
set of plans for a court house. He
! steered The committee having the matter
in charge into a private room, and amid
the popping of champagne corks-iOr NO
chenp drinks went up ia that country
his design was accepted without qucs-
ton While this was being done another
, architect, with far better design, was
hunting about town for that committee.
He did not find them, Vt y unnecessary
Co add. The successful architect mnde
: an estimate which showed that the cost
OF the building complete would be S32,
900 The amount appropriated WAS
$50 900 The building was put up, but
no statement was fled NJ Co what IL
cost. The Taxpayers finally kicked and
an order from the court was procured.
: compelling the filing of statement. The
cost az the building was just Si7 900.
"In another county up there all orders
on the county treasurer were made pny-
: able TO bearer. Those who stood in
} with the gang had orders made out pay
! able to fictitious persons and drew the
money for them. OF course, the county
! officials came i'm for u handsome rakc-oW
I "No attempt was made 60 investigate
: these orders, but az long ~ the county
. clerks stub book agreed with the county
treasurcrs vouchers, rs IL naturally did,
everything was lovely except the people
$ who paid the taxes.
Q "Those OF the latter who were nom
a residents, finally got wind OF the way
things were going aud there came a sud-
den spell of indignation. A certain
G county official and also publisher ol ~
Q newspaper has been travelling Tor his
health ever since an investigation was
made into his method oi conducting bus
incss. But understand the police have
him located md may induce him TO re-
turn.
n None of these things has ever been
q shown mp because 81 the bad effect they
. would have upon the places where they
= occurred, but they are nevertheless true,
!. and they are also nm intimnuon of the
r crookedness that Is going ON through
i that region.
A., No wonuer lnat CnpitnlHls VINO nilN'
invested money in That region have ire
= qucntly met with losses. The only sur
I, prise is that any ~ them can tell ~
!. profits they hnvc mndc. !, Tor my part ~
) concluded the speaker. would hnvc
{. never believed all this II IL had not becn
: my good fortune Co secure actual proofs
4 Of.it"
e II the fellow who gnvc vent to ihcnbove
!, was not too deeply in his cups 10 know
I truth when he heard IL hc would, indeed,
G as AN accomplished liar, put 10 shame
n the genius who invented designs ior
Annanins, down in Syrin.
= There is In the above slnndcrous iabri.
- cation. not one, solitary truth expressed
d 10 contains. nt casual estimate. nine
hundred words, which, at an average OF