The San Francisco call., 1903-12-06
Sagebrush
Sketches
This Is the
Twelfth of These
Clever
Articles
Copyright. 1908, by Thomas Fitch.)

IVY AAEA III AeSSt ~ AAS--~~ - -~O---s
Some Of the great fortunes OF the
Comstock lode came 10 their possessors
through methods which elsewhere
would have made those who practiced
them candidates for the striped suit
Of the convict rather than the toga OF
the Senator, and would have entailed
general oblOquy rather than general
esteem. The impulse which begets and
directs the sacred golden fury is usu-
ally an impulse OF the pit, and those
who are infiamed by it often prepare
for the mad race by stripping them
selves Of conscience and turning deaf
ears to the monitors of good faith and
honor. The evil consequences are not
confined TO a few. The paresis Of in
tegrity which results extends TO the
masses and lessons the moral upright
ness OF those who neither participate
IN the dishonest act nor share in the
plunder. Often. indeed, the baleful in
fiuence thus created extends TO and
poisons the literature Of the period.
Bret Harte made OF John Oakhurst
such a sanctifed sport as never really
existed and he laundered the gar
ments Of his scarlet women to a pale
pink color. Yet the probabilities are
that John Oakhurst cheated at cards
and that the fair Delilahs Of the foot
hill mining camps never suffered their
spasmOdic acts of kindness to interfere
with teeir regular business. Some Of
the millionaires Of the COmstock We're
shameless in their lives. One Of these
had a home IN which the exterior de-
cencies Of civilized life were preserved
and where he raised his family, and
had another residence in which there
was no attempt at concealment Of con-
slant debauchery and where he raised
the devil Another took the air every
afternoon In an open carriage. accom-
panied by some public woman, and
many instances might be related Of or
gies as public and as debauching as
those which Tacitus ascribes to Nero
and his court.
Breaches OF trust by which millions
were obtained were as brazen as the
dissipations Of the millionaires. To this
day men relate as an exhibition Of
financial and business acumen the act
Of a California mining boss and county
politician who at a low ebb in his for
tune was sent 10 a relative to take
charge Of a quartz mine in Nevada.
The mine was owned by a corporation
and its shares were selling at IS each
IN the San Francisco Mining Stock
Board, for no considerable body of ore
had been found. One afternoon the
superintendent was present when the
miners broke into an ore body which
two hours work with the picks dis
closed TO be enormously rich and ex-
tensive. Obviously the plain duty of
the manager was TO make public the
news or at least to communicate 1t to
the stockholders, whose trustee he was.
Instead OF doing so he ascended to the
surface, hastily collected bedding,
blankets. cooked food. wines, liquors
and cigars and lowered them down the
S00-fOot shaft, accompanied by a note
10 the shift boss stating that the men
might cease work and make themselves
comfortable; that they would be kept
there for a few days. during which time
their pay would go on; that each man
would receive 800 as a gratuity. and
that the families Of those Imprisoned
would be told that an accident TO the
machinery was the cause of their de-
tention.
This being accomplished the superin-
tendent hauled up and detached the
wire cable, took out some necessary
pieces Of machinery, closed and locked
the hosting house. and placed a trusted
ally on guard. That night he rode on
horseback to the railroad station forty
miles away, caught the train and the
next day at noon was in San Fran
cisco. His relative was man OF large
resources and within three days they
had quietly bought up two-thlrds OF
the stock in the mine. Then the i'm
prisOned men were released, work was
resumed. the bonanza was developed
and within one month the stock had
advanced from IS TO $500 per share. and
the trust -betraying scoundrel-for he
was nothing else-was worth $1,000. 900.
and was at once admitted to social and
business communion with all the other
magnates OF the Comstock.
Another operator in charge of q
bank loaned the money OF it's stock
holders 10 mining corporations TO en-
able them TO continue development
work in advance Of the collection Of
assessments. II the company struck
IL RICH" something happened to the
pumping machinery and the shaft filled
with water. The operator" and his
friends bought in the stock, then the
mine was pumped out. the bonanza un-
covered and more miIlionaires were
created.
The trustees OF the principal mining
companies created a milling corpora
tion and contracted with themselves
TO crush all the ore at a high price
per ton. The rich ore was mixed with
poor ore and the poor ore with bedrock
and the stock OF the milling company
paid dividends while the stockholders
Of the mining companies paid assess
ments.
Two humble Adventures IN the lar
ceny line resorted TO more primitive
methods OF obtaining other peoples
property They were employed in the