The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1902-10-09
WITHIN AN ACE.
Fred G. Babcock Came Near Owning the
Independence Mine.

Independence Mine.
Fred G.. Babcock, the Kenosha real
estate dealer, is taking a great deal of
interest in the settlement of the estate
of the late w. S. Stratlon, of Denver,
on account of the fact that Babcock's
hard luck some years ago made it pos
sible for Stratton, and not the Kenosha
man, to be the owner of the great In
dependence mine at Cripple Creek.
The story which is now told by Bah
cock to his friends is the hardest luck
story that ever came out of the Wes-
tern mining camps, for Babcock claims
that the fact that mans going in
sane after he had located the Indepen-
dence mine for him, lost him the great
Stratton fortune. The story of Bah
cock is an interesting one.
For many years the Keuosha man
dealt in mining stocks IN Denver, and
j n 1892 he was clerk in the Oakland
Hotel in that city. AS clerk at the
Oakland he met many of the miners,
and was well acquainted with what
was going on in the gold fields. Among
the boarders at the Oakland was an
old Cornish miner. He had spent most
of his life in the Colorado mines pros
pecting. All during the summer of
1892 the old miner worked in the hills
about Cripple Greek, and when he re-
turned to Denver he brought with him
flour sack filled with float. The old
man seemed convinced that the float
was valuable, but the people at the
hotel laughed him to scorn.
Finally the old man approached Bah
cock and offered to share with him the
profits of any mine he might have To-
Gated if Babcock would pay for the
assay of the float. The float was taken
to the assayer, who after looking it
over, decided that it was worthless.
By this time the enthusiasm of the old
man had taken hold of Babcock, and
he insisted that the assayer test the
float.
Being assured of his pay the assayer
went to work and when Babcock and
the old man returned to the office they
were notified that the float vas the
richest that had been found in Colo
RADIO in many years. The float assayed
$12 to the ton. When the old man
heard of his great find he could scarcely
believe his good fortune, and he paced
the floor of the assayer's Office for
half an hour, seemingly out of his
mind.
AS soon as possible Babcock took
the old man to the hotel and put him
to bed and in the morning when the
clerk went to the old mans room he
found him a raving maniac. There
was no chance to discover the location
of the mine he had found and in
another day the old miner had been
sent to an insane asylum. Babcock
spent several months trying to locate
the claim which the old man had dis
covered but he failed to find it. Two
years later Stratton came to Cripple
Creek and led by the lode stone of fate
he located the mine which had been
discovered by the old Cornish miner.
In another year the old man was re-
leased from the asylum and made a
break for the Cripple Greek country.
But like the Kenosha man he came too
late for the mine which he had first
located was already covered with the
Stratton stakes. Babcock still refers
to the independence mine as his prop
erty by all moral laws, but it is prob
able that the will of W. S. Stratton
will dispose of the valuab bic property
and Stratton and his old Cornish
friend will not be remembered in con-
nection with the allotment of the es-
tate.