The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-10-27


known mining men were seated in the
barroom of the Palace Hotel when one of
them remarked that he would wager the
drinks for the crowd that no one present
could tell of the first mining sw1ndle per-
petrated on the Comstock.
Senator Jones would never allow bet
ting bluff of any kind to float past him,
and said Immediately that he would &C
cept the offer, and told the following:
1.-The first instance of a square -toed swim
die in connection with mining on the Com
stock was where Jim O'Riley let contract
to three miners to sink shaft 100 feet in
depth. After he had paid 20 per cent of
the contract money to bind the bargain
he brought a 100-foot tapeline to the
miners, and stipulated that when the tape
line fell from the windlass and hung clear
in the bottom of the shaft without touch
ing he would pay the balance of the
money, amounting to several thousand
dollars. Shaft-sinking was pretty expen-
sive in those days. Well, in course of time
the miners called upon him for the balance
of the money, and took him to the shaft
where they pointed to the 100-foot tape
line hanging from the windlass to the bot
tom, with an inch or two of free space
under the end of it. O'Riley, after COM
plimenting them upon their work, gave
them the balance of their money, and in q
few hours they had disappeared.
THE next day, when ORiley took
more careful inventory of the work, he
discovered that the miners had cut twenty
feet out of the tapeline. thereby making
the shaft twenty feet less in depth than
they had contracted for. He buckled on
his six-shooter, and started out in quest of
rebate on the job; but when the story
got around the ledge it raised such a
laugh at his expense that he dropped the
subject and relet the contract to other
parties. He said that the splice where the
twenty feet was cut out was made SO
neatly that 1t took him nearly an hour to
locate it. A few days afterward he got a
package from Sacramento containing that
portion of the tapeline that was missing.
They wrote to him saying that they had
taken it away through an oversight, and
they returned it that he might put it back
where it belonged, in order to complete
the sinking of the shaft with mathemat-
ical accuracy. The twenty feet of tape
line was exhibited for many years in the
Delta saloon.''
When Jones had finished the story Billy
Foote, who had offered to bet, ordered a
round OF irrigation goods for the entire
party, and Jones, after moistening his
throat, remarked: fIf anybody wants to
make another wager for the same amount
| can tell the second operation there of the
same nature" No one interrupting him he
continued:
"Some of the boys had a claim up on the
side OF Mount Davidson when the stock
excitement was pretty lively. Their claim
did not prove to be of much account, and
they accordingly introduced the sailing
process for the first time. Quite a rich
strike was made in the Ophir on rock that
ran into the thousands. One night they
extracted several sacks of ore from the
Ophir shaft, and dumped it into their own
prospect hole. They spread the report
that they had just got into a rich forma-
tisn, and quite number of people were on
the ground when the first bucket came up
next morning. OF course, they bounced
on the specimens and in few minutes the
rich chunks of ore were finding their way
into the nearest assay offices. The result
was that a forty-eight hour excitement
ensued and wild scramble for the stock,
during which time the owners cleared up
$4,000 or $50, 000.''
Speaking of sailing Mines" said Lon
Hamilton, ~ never shall forget the time
when some stock operators sent some
mining experts to spy out the prospects in
the Gould q Curry. A diamond drill was
being run, and they wanted to know what
it struck. The experts reached the Com
stock looking like ordinary miners, and
very readily secured a job in the mine.
They considered themselves very fortu-
nate when they were put on level within
easy reach of the diamond drill. The joke
of the thing was that the insiders who
were working the mine got the tip from
below. They were all prepared for their
visitors. They Systematically sailed the
drill, and left the key where the other
fellows could find it. The natural result
was that in a few days certain brokers
Col; l.
Gould & Curry in the expectation that
when the drift reached the ore body they
would reap a fortune. But no drift ever
followed that drill-hole. as it was barren
rock, and in few months the California
street sharpers who had engineered the
job found themselves very beautifully
dumped, and the biters proved to be the
bitten"
"Do you mind the time when Captain
John Kelley of the Lady Bryan had the
Holy Bible sailed on him ?' There seemed
to be general desire to hear the anecdote,
and Ben Fitch, after emptying O tum bier
of red fluid, proceeded: "You see, John
Kelley was working the Lady Bryan mine,
down in Six-mile Canyon, and sent the
drill ahead to prospect for an ore body.
Meanwhile, the miners, who had large
quantity of the stock at low figures, sailed
the drill-hole, and as a result one morning
Captain Kelley was in very excited state
of mind. He believed that he was about
to make the strike of his life, and that
Lady Bryan would prove to be second
Consolidated Virginia. In his enthusiasm
over the prospect he gave number OF his
friends the tip, after which the miners had
no trouble in disposing of their stock at
handsome valuations. The drift was
pushed to the end of the drill hole with all
possible dispatch, but 70 ore was found:
During the next week the air was blue
with the blasphemy that circulated around
the head of John Kelley, and he feared for
his life. In order to demonstrate his inno-
cence of the charge of swindling his
friends be held sort of inquest on the
defunct ore body. He made all the miners
come into a room and submit to an exami-
nation. He had put large Bible, weigh
ing about twelve pounds, on the table in
the dining-room Of the company's cook
house. Each miner when questioned was
required to advance to the table and kiss
the book. The scene was very solemn
one-the victims of the deal being at one
end of the room and the miners at the
other. Kelley meanwhile was seated at
the head of the table acting as sort OF a
judge. Each miner swore by the book