The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-05-22
WILL STEAL CHE ORE
Hard Work to Keep the Miners From APP
prOpriating Gold.


Denver, Col, May 1.-Superintenden
| z. B. Huntley of the Tom Boy mine
was in the city last night conferrin;
| with O. P. Posey and Z. NJ. johnson
two of the largest owners of the prop
erty, relative to details for working
the new strike recently made in the min-
! Mr.. Huntley feels somewhat anxiou.
about the water supply in the south
west during the coming fall as the snow
on the range is much less than during
| former winters. 4 generous supply OF
| rain, however, he thinks, will help ou
matters wonderfully.
Regarding the recent trouble at the
Tom Boy on account Of the stealing OF
ore by the miners, Mr.. Huntley was
willing to speak. at is a matter oil
impossibility for US 10 stop the stealing
altogether and we figure on losing two
or three hundred dollars a week when
in good ore" ne said. The thing has
been going on for years and persons
would be surprised to see the thorough
manner in which some of the men We're
organized. 1t seems a small matter
for man to carry away a small speci-
men occasionally but We realized the
immense drain on the property when
we got out search warrants andwent
through a number Of the cabins In
one a fellow had several stockings full
Of these specimens and had also poun-
ded up some of the rock in a mortar
As matter Of curiosity we had the
stuff assayed and he had just twenty
eight pounds of ore that ran $3.50 a
pound in gold. Another had twenty
six pounds that ran SO a pound and
the whole was worth $3.50 Others
We're the same way and few of the men
had accumulated their supply in a
greater length OF time than a month.
This amount a month for one man
in addition 10 his salary made a very
good showing. Luckily il cant be done
all the time. Il is only when she ore
chute runs through the big cVeyices that
the men can pick out the choice spec
linens and carry them away without
detection. Al other times taking away
pound at a time although some of
them did take away considerable stuff
which ran about a dollar pound
Nearly everyone of the men impli-
Gated had a prospect hole somewhere
down the mountain and when they went
70 dispose Of their specimens they would
claim thar the rock came from their
claims. To show the difficulty Of con-
viction. I might tell Of the way one fell
low makes 4 business Of buying our
ore from the cneu. The fellow has a
mine down the mountain that IS ship
ping fairly good stun L i really a
fair mine itself and he has sacks Of
ore standing around and being handled
all the time he buys The choice spec
linens from the Tom Boy and AZ once
nulverizes them and sca,ters the ore
through some Of his own and ;hen asks
Us what We are going 70 do about Il
OF course We cant Go . thing without
direct evidence
We have plan now thar IS result
ing in many sudden changes IL the
force .of men. We simply watch them
and occasionally one Of the men comes
into the office and tells Us that So-anGSo
iast week pounded out couple Of hun
GTed dollars from some rock from his
claim down the mountain. ~ the
same time We find that tae same man
had just a few days before asked for
n leave Of absence He felt sick on
account Of The attitude Well thar fel-
lows name comes of the pay roll and
possibly he = searched bat ii stops the
leaks tor few hours Then. If Ne are
in the good ore Il begins again and in
3 sew days some other fellow = reuov-
"a aad a new ma1 goes on Bur &C
casjonaly We So hold Of nan we feel
We can trust Taat fellow : taken
care IF and nothing : 900 good for
him as long as he stays witaus."