The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-22
THE CURSE OF GOLD.
CHASTITY HOoDOO THAT HANGS
OVER A NEVADA MINE.


of Its Discovery.
From the Chicago Inter Ocean.
Here is a wild story from the Sierra Ne
vadas story OF gold mine which has
| brought death to fifteen people. The mine
which possesses such a tragic record is
now known as the Marguerite gravel and
quartz mine" Ii is situated near the
headwaters of the Middle Yuba river al
the boundry Of Sierra and Nevada coun-
ties, in this state. Until a year ago it
was known as the Gold Ridge mine The
| superin tendent of the last company which
still owns the ill-starred mine. was Rich
! ard Phelan, an experienced miner. From
him the broken thread of the Gold Ridge
has been picked up, though in odd places
it is but poorly connected, owing TO the
| lapse of years and the difficulties OF getting
all the details of incidents now almost
forgotten.
Back in the sixties, about thirty years
| ago." said Phelan, ''three men discovered
the Gold Ridge mine. After certain
amount of prospecting and sinking two
shafts. which are still to be seen, they be-
came satisfied that they had an extremely
rich property, and thereupon concluded to
send one of their number to San Francisco
to negotiate it's sale They formed a CO.
partnership and went about the business
in a really business-like way.
The partner who went to the city sue
| ceeded IN interesting William Ra4ston in
the enterprise, and also in reaching a sat
| isfactorY agreement as to the price. 1t
| .t.,,. tn an
.nection with the mine. The negotiations
with Ralston were conducted through an
agent, and he and the miners partner
plotted to DIVIDE many thousands of dol
| lars of the purchase money by repre-
| senting to the partners at the mine that
the price was far below its actual figure
! But The two men who remained on the
! land In some manner learned of the de-
| ceptiou practiced upon them by their part
ner, and, having become daily more i'm
! pressed with the value of the mine, re
| fused to sign a deed 10 Ralston, and 50
| the deal fell through-for a time, at least.
Then a bitter feeling was engendered be-
tween the false partner and his compan-
| ions, which ended in an open feud and
! wholesale murder.
Some time later this false partner in
| duced Ralston to take, his one-third in
| terest in the mine representing that it
was his Individually, whereas thert had
! been no division of claims, and the whole
property was owned jointly by the three
! partners. This man, whose name was
Beardsley laid claim to the best portion,
and Ralston, before accepting, decided to
investigate the value of the property by
| prospecting. He sent word to Beardsley
| to employ men and go 10 work, and he
| would send man later to report on the
| appearances.
'fBeardsley hired a dozen Chinese and
| started to work, but in four or five hours
the other two partners arrived on the
| scene in company with a few friends and
opened fire on the crowd. killing five of
the Chinese and wounding others, and the
| remainder escaped through the timber and
over the hills.
THE assailants claimed that they did not
| see Beardsley at all that day, and that he
| was subsequently seen alive in San Franz
cisco; but in cleaning out an old SHAFT
| three years later COD the bones of a large
man were found by me. These bones were
generally supposed TO be the skeleton of
| Beardsley, as they were much larger than
the bones of a Chinese, several Of which
were unearthed in 1894. In this first trouble
| from seven to nine lives were lost, and II
was very shortly afterward that Mr. RaIs-
ton met an untimely death in San Fran
cisco.
II have not been able to learn much of
the particulars of the two surviving part
ners, only their fate was as tragic as the
rest. One of them, travelling over an I'M
known part of the mountains was lost IN
a terrific snowstorm. His skeleton was
| discovered the following summer by sheep
herders; it was all stripped bare by wild
beasts. The remaining partner took in
another man with him, but being old and
poor. they were unable TO operate the mine
themselves or dispose of Il to advantage
They merely held possession, living in a
cabin on the Middle Yuba river, and you
can see the cabin there to-day, deserted
and Stunned of men, Being in need OF
supplies one of them went TO Eureka, now
known as Graniteville, about eighteen
miles distant over the mountains When
he returned he found his partner dead up
on the floor. He himself soon after dis
appeared from the place and was never
heard of afterward. The belief is that he
was either drowned in the river or lost in
the mountains.
THE property then fell into the hands
of a San Francisco man named j. W.
Brown, who did enough work annually
| during the summer season to hold it, and
in the winter he left 1t in care of a man
named William Davis. In 1892 Mr.. Brown
interested me and my borther James in
the mine, when we were at Vallejo June
ton. and soon after a corporation was
formed with myself and some San Fran
ciscans having the largest interests in the
property.
Upon my first visit to the mine with
Brown we learned that Davis, the watch
man, had been swept off the Milton dam
shortly previous thereto by a mountain
torrent, caused by a cloudburst. His body
was not recovered until the following
year, 1898 when it was found in the middle
Yuba river by young man from Sierra
City.
"The new company pushed work on the
mine, and among other things a two-story
log house was built. In running the tun-
mel, in March, 1895. another fatality fell
upon the Gold Ridge. Two workmen, John
Rennie and George Day, We're in the tun.
nell Rennie set off some giant powder a
little too soon, with the result that he
himself was badly shattered and blinded
of one eye and Day was killed, meeting a
terrible death In the bowels of the earth.
About this time fierce feud began be-
tween two rival factions IN the company
and it developed into a bitter suit at law
After a while a compromise was affected
and affairs went on smoothly, but when,
in August, 1895, very favorable offer was
made for the mine by an Eastern svndi-