The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-03-02
LEADVILLE BOYS WIN
Campbell and Freethey Lose to Burns
and Burns.
EXCITING DRILLING MATCH
The Butte Hammersmen Measure
the Third Hole-Their Steel
Is Not Well Tenn
pered.
EXCITING DRILLING MATCH

drilling match at Leadville, in which
Mike Burns, John Campbell and Joe
Freethey of Butte participated. The
drilling of Campbell and Freethey at
tracted a great deal of attention and
there was considerable surprise that
they only secured third prize. The drill
ing match was held in the ice palace
at Leadville last Monday and the Her
aid Democrat had the following story
of it:
The excitement at the drilling con-
test knew no bounds. A great multi
tude, such as never before congregat-
ed within the crystal walls, surged
back and forth like tumultuous sea,
eddying back and forth into and out OF
the east and west pavilions. The ice
surface was gorged with shoals of hui
manity with upturned faces, anxious
for the outcome. The remarkable rec
ord made by Jack Mckee and Tim Sui
Ivan in the afternoon was believed to
be unassailable Their work was per-
feet. There was not miss and Nc
KEGS changes were without a flaw.
The record at the Festival of Mountain
and Plain was but So and a fraction,
and when Mckee and Tim Sullivan
drove the steel to depth of SO inches
and 5-16 it was accepted as having reg
endeavor, in the Gunnison granite,
which was almost as flinty hard as the
steel itself. When the Montana stall
warts mounted the raised platform,
stripped like gladiators. and raised
their Samson biceps to the view of the
spectators. every one said they are pro-
fessional athlets, and when they drove
the hammer like pile drivers, with the
clean cut blows, those who had wager
ed that the afternoon record would not
be broken began to look shaky and feel
for their money 1t was a magnificent
sight to see THE Big Men From
Butte make the steel dance in the
granite. No team had shown UP so
strong, and their blows were terrific.
But someway the steel did not seem
tempered for the rock and did not bite
deep into its vitals, but danced too
much. When the last drill was drawn
and the gauge was sunk into the hole,
there was an awful suspense. mingled
with salvoS of applause, the men who
had kept cases on their performance
having calculated that they had not
beaten the afternoon record. When the
judges announced that their hole was
"a 9-16, or ia inches less than that of
the Leadville team, Mckee and Tim
Sullivan, the applause was deafening.
Cheer after cheer went up at the fail
ure of the giants TO equal the perform
dIlCC vi tile lcduNluc OnOW-
shoe club shouted: Whats the mat
ter with LeadvitleT' and the response
reverberated through the great arch
ways OF the Crystal Palace, like an an
them sung by ten thousand voices:
she's all right"
The men who had made wagers that
the afternoon record would not be
broken counted their money sure gain.
But they reckoned without their host.
While the big Men From the North"
could not wrest the grand prize from
Leadville, there were other men of steel
from the Carbonate Camp 20 be heard
from.
James Driver and Tom Kreeger,
while they fell short of the grand prize,
made record of 33 Gle inches.
When Mike Burns and Joseph Burns
appeared on the platform, their friends
believed that they would at least cap
ture second prize from the Montana
team. 1t was barely limited that they
would capture the grand prize and
beat the 36-inch record. They were
known to be great drillers and Mike
Burns, while a Leadville man, had been
in Montana and had gained consider
able reputation by his performances
with the giants. The Burns team had
not used a half dozen drills until the
men on the platform noticed that they
were ahead Of their steel and had to
skip a drill, the steel being so deep in
the granite that the turner had not
room to purchase IL with his hands
The report spread that they had
skipped drill. When the thirteenth
minute of their time was announced,
they were on Their last drill, and this
fact was seized by the crowd as conclu-
sive that they had beaten the perform
ance of Mckee and Tim Sullivan The
excitement became intense. and even
the judges were nervous when they
came to apply the tape, except ]. S.
Sullivan, who remained as cool as a
cucumber when other men went daft
Marshal Burgess, who was stationed at
the platform to keep the crowd back
was noticed to be breaking his neck 10
see what the steel tape saw When
Sullivan announced that Burns and
Burns had drilled 81 lie, there was the
widest kind of excitement, and a scene
almost bordering on pandemonium
Men shrieked with hysterical delight
and Leadville's Drawn and muscle had
twice vanquished the giants from Mon
tana. No one anticipated such a tri-
umph. The record in Gunnison granite
up TO last night was 359s inches, made
in the same rock at knights of Labor
hall year ago by John Mckee and
Billy Dwyer. The next best perform
ance in this tough rock was made at
the reStiNdi OF mountain ana Plain
last fall. when Con O'Neill and Mike
Sullivan put in the steel 80 SIZE inches.
and brought home the silver bucket as
a trophy.
Joe Burns weighed but 153 last night
while Mike tipped the scale at 1876 They
were both boys together at Cleteor-
moor. England. but of Irish ancestry
Another Leadville team that did it
self proud was Tony Laughnbaugh and
90 ANr 1T hT
fraction Of winning third money from
Butte by putting in a hole that meas
ured 34is inches.
The last team to drill was the Victor
team, and there were enough Cripple
Creek people on hand 10 cheer them on
in their work. Joe Carboneau welded
the hammer in way to command the
admiration Of all good miners. and his
partner. Thomas Donovan, did some
! LII 4