Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-07-07

dence standing, the home of William
B. Ogden and just how this house es-
capped the flames was mystery. Mr..
Ogden and his family returned to their
home after the fire was over but they
we're compelled to leave again, SO bit,
ter were the burned out citizens that
this house had been left standing while
their homes were a mass of ruins"
Favor Returned.
Chicago returned the favor when
during the recent high water Mayor
Harrison generously placed at the dis
posal of the city the services of a
steam fire engine and crew and refused
to accept any pay for the services of
either. 1t was many years afterwards
yet the action of the Chicago mayor
showed that the citizens of that me-
tropolis have not forgotten the debt of
gratitude they owe to Ottumwa and
the entire country for the generous re-
Spouse to their cry for aid over thirty
years ago.
The Briscoe Gold Fever.
Mr.. Meek's other trip to Chicago was
of an entirely different nature. yet it's
| outcome was watched with far great
er interest here than was the former
one. In the fall of 1881 j. o. Briscoe,
who was then prominent citizen of
OttumWa. claimed that he had discov-
cred gold in the sand obtained from
Bear Creek and that, he had obtained
assays of a stratum of limestone that
ran from trace to $40 per ton in gold
The town went crazy, syndicates were
formed for the purchase of the land in
the vicinity and one case was noted
where $4,000 was paid for the mineral
only that lay in a tract of forty acres.
The land adjoining the Briscoe farm
was sold for prices ranging from 500
to $500 an acre and everyone wanted
slice of the bonanza
Exhibited Gold Brick.
A nugget of gold, weighing nearly a
half ounce, was exhibited, which it was
alleged was taken from one of the
rockers of the Bear Greek gold mine.
This increased the fever and hundreds
of people rushed to the diggings to see
what they could find. Briscoe mani
Tested what the people believed to be
full faith in his discovery by erecting
a mill at the cost of $4,000 for reduc-
ing the alleged ore on the premises
and for many days the farce of gold
mill in full operation was enacted. A
gold brick given out as the product of
the mine, was displayed at Baptist
church festival and this only added
fuel to the flames. Practical miners
who had worked in the gold fields Of
California and the Rocky mountains
denounced the whole thing as fraud,
and the Courier, then edited by Major
A. II. Hamilton, discouraged the fraud
through the columns of the paper, but
the craze was in the air and could not
be subdued.
Committee Sees Assayer.
Finally committee of business men
took up the matter for serious inves-
tigation and procured number of spe-
cimens of the gold rock. ]. G. Meek
and o. M. Ladd, the latter now resi-
dent of Denver, Colo were selected at
the meeting to take the specimens to
Chicago for assay and accordingly the
two men set out, sleeping in their
berths on the train with the nuggets
under their pillows When they arriv.
ed at Chicago Mr.. Meek went to John
V. Farwen, who still conducts large
wholesale interests in Chicago and
with whom Mr.. Meek was well ac.
quainted, Mr.. Farwell was known to
have made several mining investments
and he was known as thoroughly re-
liable man. Mr.. Farwell was asked if
there was an assayer in the city who
was strictly honest and he directed the
Ottumwans to an assayer who conduct
ed an office in Chicago during the sum-
mer months and during the school year
was professor of mineralogy in the
University of Colorado. The speci-
mems were presented to him and he
made a sealed report that was not OPP
ened until Mr.. Meek and his fellow
committeem an returned to Ottumwa.
Gold None, Silver, None.
There was crowd of 1000 people
at the train when the Ottumwans re-
turned and some one in the crowd pro-
posed that the meeting adjourn to the
city hall and that the report of the as
saver be read there. This was done
and the city hall was packed when Mr..
Meek and Mr.. Ladd each read the seal
ed reports of the assayer. The reports
read gold none, silver none" and the
boom was over; sanity was restored;
the farmers owning the land adjoin.
ing the Briscoe farm were richer, the
quasi gold miners poorer, but calam-
ity that threatened to destroy the pros
perity of the thriving young city was
averted and soon the matter was for.
gotten.
What They Demand.
Headaches, liver complaints, bowel
disorders demand DR.. Kings New Life
Pills. They are gentle, but cure or