Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1898-01-08
The Old SILVER TRAIL.
N MARY {. SUCKNEY.
CHAPTER v.

u
thence to Orodelphia, the county seat.
and the one town Of considerable i'm.
portance in that part of the country,
where he betook himself to his attor-
ney, Donald Bartcls.
brigham has gone back on US" was
his abrupt announcement, rs he sank
wcarily into the chair the lawyer had
Hospitality pushed forward.
"No!"said Bartels, looking very grave.
"What are your reasons for thinking
so?"
"Col. Meredith rode over to see him
yesterday. l found that out by acct
dent, and Of course my suspicious were
aroused at once. To-day I rode over to
Tomtown myself, and the first look at
the fellows face told me that I was
right"
"Did you put the question to him
straight"
"No; where would have been the
use? He was prepared to deny It, nat
urally. thought It more to the pur-
pose to raise my own bid-and did not
raise 1t high enough. I saw that in his
face, too, although he was cannily nom
committal. Either he is intending to
skip out before the trial or"
1--WE can have a subpoena issued for
him." put in Bartels, thoughtfully.
"But il he has gone over to the other
side he would be of mighty little use
t, us. believe you will have to raise
YOUR bid again, Neil. What did you
offer him?"
"a thousand dollars II we win, and
his expenses from the time / got him
here. paid him good wages rs long
as he was working in the Grubstake,
you know"
"Yes; but you will have to make the
figure q good deal more than that, /
imagine, If the colonel is in the market
against you. We want him, II 1t is q
possible thing"
"Yes; but the question is, what Is
he worth to us?"
"Well, with the average jury, he
would be worth good deal. He not
only worked the Grubstake long enough
to have the lay of the land and oil his
figures down pat, but he had that con-
versation with McCready which is
worth more to us than all the rest. II
we can bring him to swear that Nc
Cready told him he didn't care If they
were on Mascot ground-that he owed
you one, anyway, and he'd see that
the ground was stripped so clean that
there would be mighty little left for
you by the time the court could stop
him-that might be mighty good testi-
mony for us. In fact, brigham is our
principal witness, OF course, and we've
got to hold on to him if it is within the
range of possibility. You'd better see
him and have q perfectly clear under
standing mt once. Find out what the
colonel's figure was, and 60 him one
better"
sand next thing the colonel will be out
bidding me again, and ! shall be facing
the same proposition with an added
cipher, / suppose" Neil gloomily re-
Joined. 1.-THE poor old Mascot seems to
have been hoodooed from the first to
last"
"Oh, don't know. am not particu-
larly concerned about the results in this
case, can tell you. The decision of the
United States supreme court in the
Amy-Silversmith case has put stop
ITO all controversy in respect to an
owners right TO follow his lode in Its
townward course beyond his side lines.
S-he ruling is clear beyond question that
the owner of q claim, where the apex
ST his vein crosses the side lines and not
its end lines, has no cXtra-lateral rights
at all; that is, he cannot go outside his
lines upon any pretext whatever. The
fact that the Grubstake was the prior
location cuts no figure. AS was held in
the case Of the Iron Silver versus the
Elgin Mining company, II the original
locator Of O claim cannot or does not
make the explorations necessary to as
certain the true trend OF his vein and
draws his end lines ignorantly he must
take the consequences. The claim OF
the Grubstake that its vein makes q
turn at the point where It crosses the
Mascot, assuming that 1t would hold
water, effectually disposes Of any extra
lateral rights by virtually conceding
that the apex OF the vein crosses the
side line. It only remains for us 10
prove the continuance of the Mascot
vein, which, with the developments you
have been making, should be easy
enough. Oh, no; il we only get the
right kind Of jury, have TO appre-
tensions as 10 the verdict"
"But what possible chance have we
to get the right kind Of jury?" re-
turned the young man, dejectedly, re-
garding the cigar he was nervously
turning in his fingers Us though the
fact that 1t had gone out WINS one more
happening in the train Of III luck that
pursued him. "It seems to me that the
hverage- jury is simply o pack Of
asses."
"Too true. But asses may sometimes
be led by the nose, you know"
"And sometimes they are UP for sale
to the highest bidder"
"Oh, us to that, you know the sheriff,
and II you think that Meredith is going
70 touch him with any ordinary fig
ures@"
ain the case of Brigham we seem to
have evidence that the colonel Il CO.
pdble Of extraordinary figures upon oc-
casion."
swell, he can afford to pay pretty
liberal percentage to win, for n fact"
Bartels imperturbably rejoined. "Dut
gou carry a chcck-book as well as he.
To tell the truth, though, the jury Is
not troubling me; / am a good deal
-