The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-11-28
PLEA Of APROSPECTOR
William Cooley Has Been
Forbidden to Seek
WEALTH IN THE WICHlTAS
His Case Put to the Public
in His Own Words.

OakdaIe, o. T., Nov. 27.-To the Editor
of the Eagle: have been prospecting
for mineral deposits. for gold, silver, cop,
per, iron, zinc, etc., in the Wichita noun
tains for four and half long years. Hav-
ing had much experience in other min
ing countries-Colorado, Montana and
Arizona-I firmly believe that L under
stand my business. although am what
IS termed by some of those fne-haired
experts, ''scallawag miner" I class
myself as a poor, old, ragged miner, but
l am what am q man, and a free born
Engllshman, and an American citizen OF
these United States. and loyal to my
adopted country and am sworn to obey
the laws, which 1 have faithfully done.
L now make my complaint to you, for
publication, for the benefit of my many
friends in FL Reno, Kingfsher and in
other parts Of the world, of the condition
l was placed in last week. I was haul
ing out some specimens Of rock to Noun
tain City, where L have my mineral dis
play, to assay and to find out how much
minerals they contained, and on Monday
morning, November 10, as 1 was proceed
ing along the road, or main public high
way to Mountain City, and when / came
to the tank on blackberry Creek, or
South Rainy Mountain Creek a white
man and two Indians rode up 40 my wa
gon and halted me from proceeding any
further. The white man said: Haiti
1 stopped. He said: you've got some
1irewoOd to make coffee" I said: Yes"
How about those rocks?" he asked and
1 said, ''They are my specimens "Oh"
he said, you must go TO Rainy Mountain
School with this Indian, and stay there
until I come back tonight" He then
suddenly grabbed my double barreled
shotgun out of my wagon and gave it to
the Indian, saying to him: Take this
man to Rainy Mountain School and keep
him there until I come home tonight and
If he attempts to escape, shoot down one
Of his horses" But" 1 said Il want
To go to Mountain City with my rocks"
He said, sharply, You go with this In
dian; move on" SO 1 went along calmly
and quietly and made no resistance, the
Indian following along behind, driving
me in with my own gun. prisoner. just
q
ready to shoot down my poor old horses
if I attempted TO make my escape. I
arrived at the school before noon and re-
NAMED there until Tuesday morning, No
vember H. when I was ordered to proceed
on my journey with five more wagons
and teams, which he had captured cut
ting wood. The woodE2ul-rs were rush
ell in that night and were confined in
room or place all night but I stayed on
the roadside, ten miles west of the
agency and the next morning, November
u. 1 arrived there and was made ac-
Quainted with the agent. The agent
said to my captor. Il have nothing to do
with this man. If he has violated the
law, let him suffer the penalty" The
marshal then kindly presented me to the
United States commissioner and the said
commissioner, understanding my case,
and the condition | was placed in. did not
press the case. He said You are an old
man and a poor man. and if you promise
not to haul out any more rocks you may
~ free. bat if you haul out any more [
shall issue a United States warrant for
your arrest" OF course promised not
u do so. which l will faithfully do until
some action is taken upon this case and
permission is granted me to so into that
forbidden country and take off the lid
that covers W the golden treasure chest
which God has placed there, waiting pa
tienly for the strong arm and intelligent
brain of man to bring it to light. For
the benefit Of all mankind, I now. Mr.
Editor, enter my protest against my ar
rest ana preventing me from bringing to
hight the precious metals that the Wich-
tia mountains contain. and 1 ask your
assistance and all mankind
WILLIAM COOLEY.