The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-23
Denver Post.)

nm, became possessed of thirty pro-
duclng mines valued at millions, in one
OF the richest mining camps of Colo
rado, is one that would scarcely be be-
heved did not the records in the case
coIroborate the narrator.
Forty years old, good looking, with
gray tinged hair and of splendid physi-
cal health, William Wood. a charge on
the state Of Kansas, although a mill
nonaire, is a unique figure among the
rich men of the country. And the best
news that comes to the conSerVator of
his estate is the opinion of several
noted insanity experts who have been
called into consultation at the asylum
IN Topeka. They were told that the
superintendent read to Wood letters
from z. l.. Hubbard. the Denver at
torney, telling of the steps he. was
taking TO win back the golden dreams
Of his boyhood when his father, d
patient man and a hard working one,
was tramping over the mountains with
the prospector's pick and a grubstalle,
and for day the insanity would be
gone to the extent of an intelligent APP
probation of the gold almost in his
grasp. He would lay plans how TO spend
it-but the morrow? He had forgotten
and marched up and down the asylum
yard with his keeper, hooking the
birds.
For the faint CLEAN OF reason the
physicians were thankful. and now
they write Attorney Hubbard that
there is a prospect Of a cure should he
he taken TO an asylum in a lower alti-
tude.
So the insane heir as he has been
styled, can laugh. He has had re-
Nenge and a heart crushing onei So
completely was he ignored that no at
tention was paid by his brothers to
court notices And the insane heir
swept everything before him after
nearly ten years of fighting. everything
for the famous Wood heirs have con- /
Nerged into one and he has wrecked /
Jerome b. Wheeler and the Aspen Min ]
ing x Smelling company until the sal I
wage wouldn't be bid on at any figure. ]
IT is an interesting story.
Archie Fisk of Denver grubStakad I
William ]. Wood. and because OF the I
grubstake was regarded as one of the |
locators of the celebrated Little Emma
mine. Wood was Canadian. who said |
little about himself and whose one |
aim was to strike it-lich.' Ii was in /
1881 that he started for the Hills with .
gold in his Itlckets and new tools. Be- (
fore he came to Denver he had been
with Tabor at Leadville. He was we'll /
known over the state, for every new
camp saw the riotously-inclined Wood,
the powerful SiN-foOter With struggling
Wood was not rarticular-his rye
tasted just as good out Of u Tin cup as
a bottle. /
He stumbled on rich ore on ground
Immediately adjacent 10 what is now
the thriving town of Aspen. 1t was
silver. but the immensely of the ind
was not apparent. He turned it over
to Fisk and another man. offering to
sell his share, a third interest, for $500,
but he could find no takers.
Then he left Aspen. In the latter half
of 1881 q. big strike was made in the
Emma. but Wood was unaware of it.
He was tramping the hills in the
vicinity of his first love-Leadviile. His
stock Of provisions was very low and
his money had almost totally disap
peared when the vision of wealth be-
came apparent 10 Jerome B. Wheeler
and other Aspen mining men.
William J. Wood disappeared. His
body was found a week or so after
death. in the mountains near Leadville.
Whether he had been killed or starved ]
TO death could not be ascertained. J
While there was a suspicion of foul
play, nothing was ever proven and the {
death of the proSpector remains just as s
much a mystery today.
Jerome B. Wheeler bought the Empna !
from Archie Fisk soon after it was dis
covered to be rich. He diligently went
10 work to discover the heirs of William / !
J. Wood and found his wife, now Mrs. I
Margaret Billings living in Canada, ]
and four sons, William Wood. just of {
age and insane in Wichita. Kan, James
,. Wood. Thomas L. Wood and Charles s
:. Wood. There was alsc a daughter, {
4 Mrs. Scott of Wichita. 1t was in her /
house that young William Wood. then I
lad of ID. was struck on the head dur
nd had his l
lethroned. In this quarrel were en- I
"a ed some thirty or forty men or +
women. Mirrors We're shattered. the O
Heavy muSk-scented carpetS-for it was b
n Kansas in the early 70s-were stain a
d with blood; the lights We're shot out d
md windows crashed. one man was E
-illed outright. another was virtually
lead when they got him out. Women l
we're stabbed and some ten or twelve
men and women were badly injured. s
IN an effort to protect his sister-she Y
vas a handsome woman, with deep blue I
yes and glossy black hair-William p
vas struck a vicious blow. He sank t
nder a table. and when consciousness "
etuYned he had lost his reason.
The heirs were bought up. each for il
mall amounts. The aggregate sum
-as not more than 100000 Afterward e
came out in court that false repre-
had been made as 10 the a
1jne's value. As soon as he secured W
ossession. Wheeler put in machinery il
nd a large force Of men and took out p
norlnOuS values. II was the Emma Il
nj the other properties discovered in
: vicinity that made Aspen, and made e,
Wheeler and those associated with him 7,
All over the country went a
spGrts of the bonanza of Aspen. and c,
ne heirs of William J. Wood awoke.
homas 4. Green, now a national fig
Ii rl,4,
on and dishonesty against Moses Hal
tt United States circuit and district
idge for the district of Colorado and II
is recent disbarment on that account, hi
as employed as an attorney TO fight n
7heeler and the company he had .
rmed to mine and smelt the product VI
the group. whose output is esti- al
ated to have been $1o,o0o,o00 in ten d,
ears. n,
Attorney p L. Hubbard also came -
TO the case. The Woods applied to u
ldge FIallett at Denver to set aside tr
e title obtained by Wheeler from the ca
airs. ON the grounds that it was OBJ oI
ined by fraud and misrepresentation
TO the value. Suit was instituted in W
SIS. 1t was appealed 10 the supreme m
urt Of the United States twice. and +
rec times to the United States circuit III
urt of appeals. Wheeler lost a big tv
rune in fighting the case. He never ii
lined a. point and was near the end of
his string when a final decree was w
ndered in the United States circuit WI
urt in July, 1894, setting aside the co
lie. The heirs secured d judgment of m
80 900 for ore extracted from the he
operty, in addition to an undivided tn
e-half interest in nearly sixty mining NJ
aims around the Emma The heirs fe
ere all satisfied by Wheeler except an
mes o. Wood, who is a captain on a wi
Ike Michigan passenger and freight co
OF