The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-03-07

san FRANCISCO Chronicle: Inc 1all Oh
1863 found Austin a booming town of
some 5000 inhabitants A shit year
before a pony express rider found some
rich chloride silver ore in Pony canyon.
got drunk as a mate Of course ever
his good fortune and boosted of his
find and exhibited his specimens.
Within a month there were over 100
prospectors delving in the hillsides of
Pony canyon, and within a year a
town whose lots were selling from 500
to $4,000 apiece graced its banks. That
silver ore running from 800 to $1,000
per ton was found in the recently dis
covered mines was undeniable, for
every store and saloon possessed spec
mems of it. To be sure, the vein was
of the razor blade" variety; that is,
while many were very rich, they We're
also very narrow; but hope told the
flattering tale that when depth was
attained they would increase in size.
To be sure the ore carried no gold,
but this was before the preparation
of '.the crime of 49," and silver was
still good enough for anybody, so that
made no difference. In the rush to the
new Eldorado along with the miner
and the trader came the gambler and
the gun man." as the Nevada tough
was called. Pretty nearly every des-
perado of note on the coast whose
fame had not fiickered out with his
life befor its advent, saw Austin in
1854. Some even attained political
and official prominence. Nose Haynes,
the chairman of the board of county
commissioners of Lander county, OF
which Austin was the county seat, was
an ex-highwayman, who had escaped
from the penitentiary by peaching on
his pals when arrested a couple of
years before. His fellow commission
ers showed themselves worthy coad-
tutors by assisting him to run the
county over 100000 behind in six
months, with very little to show for it,
But that's another story.
The narrow lodges running in all di-
rections and often intersecting each
other, led to endless disputes between
the miners, and here the gun men
found their opportunity. One or both
sides would hire them to hold forcible
possession of the ground in dispute,
and there was man killed either on
the hillsides or in the saloons nearly
every day. With the tcughs and kill
erS who came to Austin were two men
who figure in this story. One, Barney
Mulligan came, from Sacramento,
where he had a local reputation as a
bad man" There was an underlined
impression among men of his ilk, how
ever, that he was more of a buffer
than a dead game sport. One of Bar
ney'S strongest claims to his reputa-
ton as a fighter was that he was
brother of the celebrated Billy Multi
gan of San Francisco, Dave ScannelfS
old deputy when sheriff, who was eX-
patriated by the vigilance committee in
1856. Now, there was no denying that
Billy was man of nerve, and mighty
handy with his gun. Tom Coleman was
a broad shouldered, heavy-set Irish
man, whose pleasant smile and jovial
manner did not betoken the tough. He
had won his spurs on the levee at Sac
ramento as a steamboat runner in the
early days, and had the reputation of
being a bad man to run up against.
That fall it was reported that new
mineral had been found in locality
about ten miles from Austin, and there
was a stampede to the new mines. 1t
was determined to organize new min
ing district, and a miners meeting was
called for the purpose of enacting a
code of mining laws and of electing a
mining recorder. Now the office of min
ing recorder in new and fiourishing
district was a rich plum and much
sought after. There were two candi-
dates for the position, and one of them.
in order to make his calling and cleo
ton sure, had taken the precaution of
employing Barney Mulligan and his
band of roughs to work" for him at
the polls. AS the election was not gov
erned by law and anyone that claimed
to have located 4 mine in the district
could vote. it enabled Barney to get in
some fine work, and up to noon every
thing was going his patrons way. Early
in the day the candidate who was be-
ing showed under by these tactics
dropDed on the game and posted off to
Austin. where he secured the services
of Tom Coleman and his band of toughs
TO offset the efforts of the Mulligan
gang. Shortly after noon Coleman and
his cohort appeared and the festivities
began. a dispute arose as to the rlgft
of n voter to cast his ballot and Cole
man stamped Mulligan's face and dared
him TO resent it. Barney weakened.
and with his forces withdrew from the
field. From that time ii was easy sail
ing for the Coleman crowd, and, of
course. their candidate was triumphant
" elected The talk of the town was
not the election, but of the insult to
Nulligan, and as to what he would do
about it. The consensus of opinion was
that he would do nothing-though some
of his admirers insisted that in good
time he would summon Coleman to the
field of honor that the insult might be
effaced in blood.
Soon it was rumored that Billy Null
ligan was coming by overland stage TO
revisit the scenes of his former great
ness after his seven years of exile. and
that he would stop at Austin TO VISIT
his brother, Barney. Shortly il was an
nounced that he was in town. and the
crowd in and about the big Stone
saloon showed that something more
than usual was on the tapis. 1t was
Billy Mulligan holding levee. At first
he was a disappointment Barney was
burly. broadshouldered rufiian,
weighing at least 100 pounds, while Billy
was short and slight and would barely
tip the scales at 14O pounds. But sight
of his face changed all this. A resolute
jaw, cruel mouth and cold. snaky
gray eye betokened a man whom II
would be unsafe TO enrage, and who.