El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-09-07
THE "SALTED MINE"s AGAIN.
Mr.. Hardy, The Well Known Mining
Man, Tells His Side of the Story.

Man, Tells His Side of the Story.
NOGALES, Ariz. Aug. 10Th, $685.
To the Editor of the HERALD:
In recent issue of your paper there
appeared an account of how some indi-
viduals from Peoria, ILL.,, were feeced
out of a large amount of money by in
vesting in mine Osituated in the
state of Sonora, Mexico, about twenty
miles from here, known as Las Plan
chas de Plata" which had been ''salt-
ed" by myself and my associates in the
deal. In other words, they claimed to
have been swindled by US by means of
our having tempered with the ore TAX
en- from the property for assay.
The facts are briefly as follows:
Sometime during February of this
year my attention was called to the
property by M. w. Stanton, Esq, q
leading lawyer of Ell Paso, Tex, who
owned a one-fourth interest in the
property, his associates being Mr..
Miguel Bornio, also of Ell Paso, who
owned a one-half interest, and a Mr..
Larraza, of the City of Mexico, who
| owned the remaining one-fourth. The
property consists of 100 or more acres
of mineral land in Sonora, together
| with q ten-stamp mill and appurten-
| nances, which had been built and
| working, more or less, for Is or II
years. l went in person and made an
examination of the property and found
that it was an old mine which had had
| between 1000 and 5000 feet
of work done on it in the
! shape of tunnels. shafts, drifts and
wines, AMI also found that the proper
ty had in days gone by produced many
thousand dollars worth of bullion.
was satisfied with the property but, not
being familiar with the mining laws of
Mexico, 1 went to Messrs. Sandoval 81
| Co., well-known and reliable bankers
in Nogales, Sonora, just across the bOr-
! der; and after explaining the matter to
them they took a lease and bond Oh the
property in their own name, with the
understanding that | would run the
| mine and mill for an equal interest
with them.
| | took charge about the LIST. of March
and during the 80 days following took
of silver, as the books of Messrs. San
dovsl 81 Co. will show. Sometime
during the month of March, l met by
| accident in Nogales Mr.. Monroe Sci
| oerling, of Peoria, ILL.,, whom l had not
| seen in many years. In the course of
our conversation | learned that Mr..
| Soldering had been working
a prospect somewhere south of Hermo-
sillo, Sonora, but that it had not
L L
attention to the "Planchas' property
and invited him to come up and see the
mine and mill and witness the clean
| up. He did so and at the same time
made a thorough examination of the
| mine and mill and saw the ore smelted
| into bullion. This was some time in
April, 1 think. The product of the
run was five bars of bullion which
brought about s. 900. Mr.. Seiberling
was so well pleased with the outlook
,hat he wanted to know what amount
of money would purchase the property.
L told him l would take 100000,
gold, for three-fourths in
terest in it. retaining one
fourth interest worcestershire. The
amount above stated would have en-
abled me to take up the bond from the
owners and also to pay some indebted
ness existing against the property and
would have left me one fourth of the
property in lieu of a commission. Mr..
Seiberling. then suggested that instead
of selling a three-fourths interest in
the property for 100000 1 should sell
only one-h half interest, retaining the
remaining one-half for himself and
myself Jointly. In other words that
| we each retain One-fourth.
Upon this basis the deal was closed,
with the understanding that he,
(Seiberling,) would organize q compa-
ny in Illinois, calling it the big Four
Mining and Milling Co., "end that one
half of the capital stock would be is
sued TO me, of which l would transfer
one-half to his (Seiberling's) wife.
| Before the deal was cOnsum mated ,
Mr.. J. K. Schuebly, also of Peoria,
appeared upon the scene, and he and
| Mr.. Sieberling went to the property
again, taking with them
| their own assayers, and
spent two weeks upons the ground,
taking samples, having assays made,
having other experienced men do 60 for
them. After the examination Mr.. Sci
berling went to Illinois to arrange for
| the purchase money, and upon his re-
turn he brought Mr.. S. A. Knott with
him. The sale was completed and
SO, 900 of the purchase money was paid
to Mr.. LarraZa, acting for himself and
Messrs. iBornio, Stanton * Co. 1t
should be stated here that portion o.
this $4,000 went to pay previous in
debtedness of the Bornio company.
| Articles of Incorporation were filed
and advertised according to the laws OF
Arizona and meeting of the stock
holders was held, directors and officers
| were chosen and bylaws were adopted,
Mr.. Seiberling being elected president
and l being elected one of the direc-
tors and superintendent of the proper
ty.
| The mill on the property was not in
| good condition. 1t was old and constant
ly getting out of repair, and Seiber-
ling, Schnebly and Knott knew it.
After and examination and due deli
beration it was decided to build a new
one and bids were called for an 80 ton
plant, and representatives of Fraser q
chalmers. the Gate Iron Works Of
Chicago, and the Colorado Iron Works
OF Denver visited the mine and made
an examination and pronounced it
great proposition. The result
was that Soldering upon his return to
IChicagO closed contract with
Messrs Fraser x Chalmers for a
| plant and two or three carloads of ma
chiuery and lumber were shipped. I'm
der the agreement with Mr.. Soldering,
he and Mr.. Schnebly took charge of the
mine and mill and directed who should
be employed. They insisted that the
assayer then at the mine should be
made foreman, and the very men |
then discharged at their behest are in
their employ today. Mr.. Schnebly, al
| thnunb hs6 had