The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-25

/ trate, Notwithstanding that ne was no
more qualified for such a position than
| horse thief The Mullen reign logically
proved corrupt and terrorizing. Elections
were unfairly manipulated, and justice
| that Magistrate Bib dispensed became a
mockery. For some time the better ele-
ment," whose business interests depend
I ed upon law and order. had been working
| up an opposition to the gang when one
| day in early August Mullen threw long
! haired cowboy" evangelist and his wife
/ into Jail for obstructing the streets or
/ some such charge. The local correspond
/ ents of the Denver papers severely crlu-
/ csed the act, with the result tnat the
terrible Bob set out to overawe the press
by a murderous personal assault upon
VIII Kerr, the representative of the Den
yer Times Kerr was nearly killed from
blows on the face and head, and this
proved the occasion of the uprising of
the community against the tyrannous
Mullen dynasty. A placard was nailed
up in the postoffice, and it read like this:
NOTICE.
Citizens not concerned, especially women
and children, are requested to stay off
the streets. Patience has ceased to be
virtue. We, as citizens, now propose to
act.
Committee Of o. Il. NJ. X. X X. COO.
That meant but one thing-the lynching
of Bob Mullen But the desperate jurist
was qNickly covered by a guard of police
who escorted him to the station, and
the "necktie party" failed to come off.
Mullen has not since been in the camp,
and doubtless never will return.
One of the camps institutions" is the
music or dance hall. This is something
very terrible, but il is a fixture of the sit
uation. Cripple Creek is now advanced"
enough to forbid lewd houses and dance
halls on the main business street; they
are all sequestered on one thoroughfare,
which, appropriately enough, leads
straight to Poverty Gulch." where the
luckless wrecks of gold seeking are finally
cast up to await the last great reckon
ing one of the most distinguished resi-
dents in the "gulch" at present Is the
man who discovered the Ell Paso Gold
King mine. And there are others.
In the dance halls one sees a bar In
front and a space for dancing in the
rear. A railing separates the one space
from the other. and the front portion Is
usually filled with miners drinking or lis
tening to the music of the orchestra and
watching the Waiting couples within the
rail When the music stops the girls
come outside and escort their partners
to the bar, where the man is expected to
buy beer at Is cents a glass. The girl
who had induced him to dance, is allowed
10 cents on the beer, and the house makes
its profit out of the cents on each glass
remaining One does not look for hero
ism or rare cases Of self-sacrifice among
the women outcasts who frequent these
dens. But one such case they tell about
was that of a woman whose husband be-
came dependent upon her through sick
ness, and who, as last resort to earn
support, entered a dance hall and danced
with the miners and adVenturers who
patronized the resort. In telling this story
to you the old-timer insists that the wo-
man through it all remained faithful and
pure, though she was treated with pro-
priety always, and that she soon came
to be regarded with universal respect.
This may be a bit Of embryonic folklore
such as gets abroad in mining camps, yet
its quality as material for the rising young
novelist cannot be ignored.
Columns might be written about the
gold mines from the viewpoint of the
mining expert or the eastern Spectator.
But most of the holes on the steep hill
sides are really grayes-the graves of dis
appointed hope. For where one man sue
ceeds hundreds fail And by no means
does it follow that the man who succeeds
was smarter, more intelligent or better
educated than the hundred who Tail.
There is a wealthy mine owner who
struck it rich" but short time ago. The
other day he emerged from the local bank
with a check in his hand, and, meeting an
acquaintance, shouted:
Hello, Jim, sign my name for me-"
% JIM SlesIltu the Olllct man > HAMS oll
the back of the check, and the latter re-
turned to the bank and had it promptly
cashed.
Yet the "tenderfoot," they say, is at no
disadvantage in competition with old pros
pectors in this region, because the gold is
not found deposited in the rock here as it
generally has been in the older gold
camps. But this is too technical a sub
ject to pursue. If one comes tender
foot" it is impossible to conceal the fact.
The first time l dned at the leading res
taurant 1 revealed all. The waiter
brought a srloin in the customary oblong
dish, but he brought no plate. So l said
in an injured tone:
Waiter, bring me plate"
I got the plate after the waiter had
paused to survey me in momentary sur
prise, and then, on looking around, l saw
that everybody else was eating his meat
or his fish, or his eggs, right off the dish
1t was served in. Then the awful truth
dawned upon me. No one in Cripple Creek
uses a plate,