The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-09-04
IN HOTEL CORRIDORS.


TT is by no means an uncommon thing
for tenderfeet to be deceived by sailed
mines" said an examiner, who spent a
good many years of his life in the west.
There are different Methods Of sailing
mines and many men have paid big prices
for mines that did not contain a particle
of ore. except that which was used for
sailing. One of the favorite methods OF
sailing was to load a shotgun with gold
dust and shoot 1t into the walls of the
mine and there were other ways Of doing
the trick. I remember an attempt to sell
a sailed mine about twenty years ago
that created a great deal of interest all
over the country. The men who worked
the scheme had done so successfully a
number of times before, but this time
they intended to make a haul that would
pay them a sum hat would warrant their
quitting the business, so they gave the
old gold mine fake the go by and reported
IONA The report created a great sensa-
ton, but no one doubted it for it is well
known that the country strong
~ that section of South Africa where the
diamond fields are located. and 1t had been
stones possessed by the Aztec were dug
from somewhere in that region. The mine
prospectors who reported the find would
not reveal the location. They had SAM
said they had accidentally discovered
While prospecting for mineral and their
TRReyy had 'h Been also o1t for w Weeks ln when one
or the men noticed q peculiar pebble in an
who had worked in South Africa, and he
instantly recognized it as a diamond. Fur
which they supposed the ants had carried
up from the gravel below. This story was
plausible and the diamonds were pro-
water. In addition, a report was secured
from a well known mining engineer. The
syndicate of wealthy men who were to pay
100 for a half interest, when. it was
The syndicate sent a man to investigate
the find and after a terrible journey across
the desert he discovered the fraud and
stopped the swindle. One of the men had
gone to South Africa and secured the dia-
A lu4aon - with the tRes int ana 1lo Of ec snfm % g
fortune by the swindle. The scheme cost
q lot Of money and labor. but # it had
them. 1t was probably the biggest at
tempt + sailing ever perpetrated in this
country"
1T was down in Greenwood county last
w Wee n ana met ne b an 3 oid h6 5line tf frIend Of Tai nine {
politician, who had dropped in at the
BuPris. owned q cattle srIfno rian MaOs about naf twen-
ty years age and it was in those days that
he made things, interesting. when he came
up and down the street shooting. but he
would take a little liquor, play a big game
of poker and put the other boys up to all
HI would get mean and there was no tell |
He had a friend in kansas city who was
in business there. and this friends wife
came to the country and was very anxious
to learn the ranch business. The friend
5nopg 8 letter e B 50 6im. an wb,gg Sy in dne Eng Engli the
Briton presented in person. 1t happened
the day the Englishman arrived in town
him back to the ranch. Burris did not
like the foreigner, and told me so before
r ns nsaF to take hem him Da as his hH f fpiend n had wen rel
quested it and the Englishman wanted to
sick of ranch life that he viii be glad to
said Burris, as he left my store, |
so pa he h dIa. az TIVE Mof aFs do tslng 5fh oFy the 6id meas was
but ne sens hi to eifp1p6g y II, so me fo next ea w dag
he did want and he said so. They
gave him one OF those ponies that buck
it gets its bucking done, settles down and
IS good for the hardest kind of riding. The
gan. He stuck to it as well as could be
of a tenderfoot. but finally he
The fail resulted in a broken leg and a
bruised body 1t was thirty miles
doctor closer than that. SO the boys set
the leg as best they could and let the
stay in the house alone while they
fore they returned and took him to town.
una the leg had been set properly.
where he could have a regular physician
Examine it and said he was anxious to
for a more civilized region, as he had
q all Of r~anching."
when a railroad man in Mexico Is
by an accident while on the road,
Is generally buried where the inquest
telling a few of his experiences to a group
at the Fifth Avenue. when / first went
to that country about fifteen years ago
tried to give all Americans who were
on our division a decent burial, but
had to give 1t up, because it cost too
We took to burying them where
died. or, If we did not personally do it,
arrange with a Greaser to nave it
done. All along the line you could see
little crosses which marked the graves of
men who had been killed. The
Greasers would keep the graves marked
because they have a superstition that I'm
the graves in their Immediate neigh
are marked with a cross, the
of the neglected graves occupant
will forever haunt them There is one
on the International where 81 OF
IS marked by a cross. The men who are
buried there were killed in an accident
the road was being constructed, and
the greasers have kept the graves marked
a cross. The crosses rot and fall
7oWn. but once q year regularly they have
been replaced or Strengthened by the
who live in the neighborhood-
My redeeming feature that I was ever
bile to find in a Greaser- 1t has been sew
aral years since I left that country, but
would venture a bet that every grave
was marked when I left is still mark
I'd by the little cross"