The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-04-15
ROY Fits, The
MICA EMPEROR
Bow Yet in Teens Becomes
a Millionaire.
WAS HUNTING DEER
Shot From Gun Revealed
Fortune to Him.

two years ago. Now he is millionaire
ost in Colorado.
There is probably not another eighteen
year-old boy in the world who can point
a winchester at a black-tailed deer and
lit a s13, 10000 mine.
That is what Roy Fits did. The bullet
did not hurt the deer and it did not hurt
the mine but made Roy Fits rich and
famous.
They called him the 'Tenderfoot Kid"
when he came out from the East. with
his brand new clothes and his shining
Winchester and his carefully roache1
hair. But he was a 'tenderfoot'' such as
Colorado has seldom SEEN
He never shot anything much in the
way of game but when his bullet hit that
$4,000 900 mica mine it made amends fer
many weeks of idle tramping. 1t was
q short cut to success such as few have
ever found It enabled him to organ
sze a 81, 100000 mining company with an
independent fortune in stocks in his own
right.
Luck? Well, to a certain extent. But
Roy Fits success was mostly due to
the fact that he is a quick-witted, adj
venturous young American who knew
enough 10 seize his golden opportunity
when it came
Out of New Yorlts half a million school
boys Roy Fits was probably one of the
last that you would have picked out as
sturdy wealth winner.
He was sixteen years old when he left
New York two years ago, and weighed
less than ninety pounds.
Two of his chums were going west with
their fathers who had gold mines at
Guffey. near Cripple Creek, Col, and Mrs.
Fits allowed Roy TO accompany them
Ito see if it would make him grow" as
she explained the other day to a reporter
OF the World.
Roy's first purchase when he arrived
at the little mining village of Guffey was
q Winchester rifle. His chief delight was
TO wander over the moutains with MS
gun and to shoot at anything he might
see in the way of game. He was not at
al particular about the size of It.
He had been hunting a month before
he sent his mother a large deerskin as
proof of his prOwess.
One morning Roy started on the hunt
ing trip which changed his entire course
OF his life and made him a millionaire.
He had Travelled several miles, when
he flushed a big black-tail deer from a
bunch of oak scrub.
He succeeded in getting within fair
rifle-shot of the deer and slowly rose
20 his feet behind a projecting ledge of
rock. The sun shone brightly at his back
and he brought his rifle to his shoulder.
A sharp crack. a puff of smoke and
away went the deer faster than it had
ever Travelled before in its life.
But, wonder of wonders, Straight be-
yond where he had stood. fifty yards or
more. there flashed into the air a con-
stellation of minute stars-a sort of Sill
very spray that rose and sank and died.
Then the boy went down TO investigate.
He came upon what appeared to be an
old cavern.
Hundreds of dark brown slabs were pro-
jecting foot or more from the ground.
Here and there were great jagged open
ings in the ground, as if a charge of dyna-
mite had been exploded.
What impressed the boy most of all as
he explored this extraordinary mountain
was the dazzling beauty of its openings.
Large fat sheets of shining substance
as bright as polished silver, framed in
tose-pink feld-spar and white, sparkling
gold quartz, made the boy rub his eyes
10 see if he was awake.
If fifty mirrors were turned toward the
sun and imbedded in pink and white mar
BILE spangled with gold dust the effect
would be similar TO that produced by the
cavities in the great mountain of strange
mineral which young Fits had discover
ed.
Boylike. he took some Of it back to Cuff
fey.
Mica" said an old miner refiectively.
'1s there much Of it?'
Roy told him there were acres and
hcres-more than he could ever dig up.
Its worth a fortune. kid said the
miner.
The boy had been in the west long
enough to know the mining customs. SO
he Immediately proceeded to stake his
claims. The next day. borrowing a horse
he rode to Fair Play. the county town.
and registered his claims, which were
fifteen in number and covered 100 acres
The entry had to be made in his mothers
name, as the boy himself was too young
10 take up the claims legally for him
self.
On returning to Guffey he learned that
local storekeeper had a legal right 10
part Of the land he had staked out. but
this did not obstruct the plans Of the
sixteen-year-old capitalist. Roy PROMPT
y made the storekeeper cash offer.
which the latter accepted and has re
GREETED ever since.
According TO the laws Of Colorado. no
claim is valid unless 500 worth Of work
Is performed on it every year for five
years.
Young Fits therefore at once hired flvc
skilled miners 10 do this -'assessme ut
work. in order that he might establish
q clear title to the land.
Then. as his pocket-money was spent.
as well IS what he could borrow from
his friends. he wrote TO his mother TO
come and assist him in his undertaking.
I've found something better than
gold mine. he wrote. The folks here
are all going around with their noses to
the ground hunting for gold and they
have walked over the best thing in The
state
This was not fsnciful statement. as
Stratton. the sold king of Cripple Creek
had travelled over the mica region without
noticing its wealth and a few months
previously had bought small mica quar-
~ in New Mexico
Samples of the mica which Roy sent -
experts convinced them that he boy was
night. and his mother n once took tn
train for Colorado.
Meanwhile the young prospector was III