The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-26

calls a little experience I had in mining at
Deadwood in n, and, 1 can tel yon to
mine in those days was no fun. There was
more danger from murderous Indians and
bandits out there than there is in Alaska
to-day from the cold. And, speaking of
bandits,I have had my share of experience
with them also. L will tell you later how
a train on which 1 was travelling was
held up out in Kansas.
Il owned a third interest in a mine at
Deadwood, and in the winter of II de-
cided to go out there. 1t was my first trip
out west and I was not prepared for the
kind of journeyingI experienced. 1t took
sixty hours by stage to travel from the
end of the railroad to the camp. The In
dams had been on the warpath during the
entire winter, and the stages had been
frequently held up. The stage which made
the trip before us had been attacked and
in the encounter one of the passengers had
been killed. 1 had been hearing these
stories from the time 1 left the train, and
naturally listened with interest. But I
was determined to reach the camp. start
ed to get into the stage, and the driver
jumped down from his seat and walked
over to me-
" Are you armed?' he asked.
Il told him that I was a tenderfoot
and that 1 didn't know how to handle the
gun. He told me l would have to carry
Olle anu Ssilu lie WOulu l6dCn me now TO
use 1t. So he put me through a course Of
training, and after he finished he said he
thought l would get along all right.
You can imagine l was not at all anx-
ious to be put to any test of skill, and
fortunately 1 was not. 1t was bitter cold
during the trip, and aside from loss of
sleep, I didn't suffer very much. There
were Indian outbreaks all along the line,
but we did not happen to encounter any
Well, we arrived at Deadwood safely and
after 1 was rested, felt much better and
began to explore the camp and surround
ings.
II walked through the camp, and the
first thing that attracted my notice was
crowd of miners carrying a rope and
headed for a big rock at the top of hill L
thought / would investigate the matter
and find out what was at the other end
of the rope. 1t appeared that the vigil
lance committee had caught a fellow
whom they had suspected of being a MEM
Der of a gang which had robbed a coach
few days before. One of the passengers
had been killed and there was great ex.
element in the camp
The fellow was a newcomer and had act
ed in suspicious manner. The committee
had decided to force a confession from
him. They tied the rope around his neck
and dropped him down over the rock three
times. The scheme worked and he con-
1essed all. They sent him to Jail and his
companions, l learned, were all captured
and the ones who caused the murder were
strung up.
our claim promised to be one of the
richest in the vicinity. 1t was not very far
from the famous Homestead l returned
to New York well satisfied
81 guess we must have expended about
$4,000 in working the claim. l was offered
$50O,000 for my interest but the mines
promised to pay so well that refused to
sell out We held on and just about the
time we cleared expenses the claim ne
tered right out
The time l was held up was when was
coming from California 10 Chicago. I was
travelling in private car The hold-up'
occurred in Kansas. The car of the mana
ger of the road had been attached to the
train at one of the stations and l was sit
ting in his car chatting with him when
the car came to a standstill at a small sta
ton.
1--WE thought nothing of II until we
heard several rife reports in quick sue
cession. We both jumped UP and rushed to
the door As we looked out we saw half a
dozen cowboys. mounted on horses, shoot
ing through the windows. Both the engin-
Ger and fireman were held at bay at the
point of revolvers. Some of the bandits
were on the platform of the station. They
were apparently drunk. The attention of