The Washington times., 1903-10-10
YEAR OF EXPERIENCES
IN THE WOODY WEST
Mine Owner Has Excitement
in Multiplex Forms.

Richard Phelan. Of Salt Lake City. has
had some thrilling experiences within
the past year. He killed two men and
badly wounded third; he was dis
charged at a preliminary hearing on
charge of murder, and later convicted
and sentenced to serve twenty
years at hard labor; he failed to get a
new trial, and finally. last week, he
received an unconditional pardon from
the governor
Mr.. Phelan is the. owner of several
mines in the Sierra Nevada in Califor-
MIA. He would never impress one as be-
ing the typical bad man. His nationality
| is indicated by his name. and he re-
tains much OF the rich brogue which
he brought over from ireland. He IS
about forty, a little above medium
height. of rather slender build AID
straight as an arrow.
! 1T was on December 81, 1902 said
Mr.. PheIan, that 1 became engaged IN
/ the fight which brought me a great deal
OF unwelcome notoriety- ! had for some
I NAAAC bN~A NAAPACsNA 80 super AANNAN-eAAb
/ of the Gold Ridge Mine, on the Middle
Yuba River, in which 1 held an in
terest, when 1 became aware Of the fact
that some Of my partners we're en-
deavoring 20 freeze out some of the
I smaller stockholders.
Y 81 was invited to enter with them into
the conspiracy, and upon refusing to DO
so I was included among those against
whom their scheme was directed. The
plan upon which they worked was to fail
to do the assessment work necessary 10
hold the various claims. then at the be
ginning of the new year to jump he
claims in the names of themselves AMI
some OF their trusted friends.
Battle With Three Men.
ION the night of December 81. went
to the Gold Ridge Mine to levy on the
tools and supplies there for the pur-
pose of recovering about $500 back salary
due me. On entering the log cabin
which was used for mine headquarters.
was met by three armed men, who
laughed at me when stated my mission.
and one of them soon engaged me in i
dispute for the evident purpose Of Civ
] ing them an opportunity to put me out
of the way.
LAS the dispute became more bitter.
backed into a corner. so that the three
men were facing me, and when the lie
was passed 1 struck the one who was
making the talk and then grappled with
him, keeping him all the time between
me and his two companions. one OF whom
had a Winchester rifle, the other shot
gun with buckshot. The man with the
Winchester fred several shots at me.
but was afraid of hitting the man IN my
grasp and the shots went wild.
In the meantime managed to get in
position to use my gun and. succeeded
in disabling the man with the shotgun.
Then the man with the rifle became
desperate and tried TO shoot me through
the body of his partner. whom I was
using as a shield, but the bullet struck
/ the mans revolver. which he carried
in his hip pocket, SCATTERING the handle.
Two Dead; One Disabled.
Il don't know just how it happened
but when the fight was over the man
with the rifle and the one with whom I
had the wrestling match were dead, and
the third man was not in condition TO do
me any harm. I found out afterward
that a second gang of the enemy had
approached the cabin while the shooting
vas going on, and. thinking from the
fusillade going on that I had secured
help. went away again without attempt
I ing to render assistance to their friends
II went before the proper authorities
as soon as possible and gave myself up
and on preliminary trial was discharged,
but later found myself against a con-
spiracy even more serious If possible
than the first one-a conspiracy of law
yers. After my discharge they succeed
ed IN having the case reopened and rail .
roaded me to State prison for twenty
hve-year term
The disputed mining claims?" said
Mr.. Phelan. in reply to a question. "Oh.
1 filed on them myself and own them to-
day, but I changed the name. They are
now the Middle Yuba group.-New York