Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1904-01-21

These two companies were evidently
created by Wright and Franklin for
the purpose of more thoroughly con-
cealing the real nature of the trans
fers made. Fenton paid n visit to
the Colorado tract of land, and IL
proved to be in the heart of rich
mining section. Originally Wright
had bought it for n song and had
looked upon 1t MS very Indifferent
speculation; but in 90 years great
changes have been wrought, mines Of
vast richness have been worked, and
now it turns out that the eyes of all
the gold diggers in Colorado are
turned grecdily toward this tract of
land situated among the hills. To
the northeast of the tract o very
successful mine has been conducted
for number of years. Recently the
vein of ore became richer and richer
until finally it ran dead against tre-
mendous wall of solid sandstone,
which some upheaval of nature had
thrust into the precious vein. For
days and days the miners sought to
discover the broken thread, but in
vain, until an old fellow who owned
n "dog" came along. The "dog" is
some kind of mystic apparatus which
will indicate the whereabouts of gold,
Just as the witch-hazel is said to point
out n subterranean stream of water.
Well, this old fellow climbed over the
great wall of sandstone into rocky
reach of land; and as he was going
about with his dog" he soon dis
covered violent symptoms, as it were,
of gold. The vein was continued with
apparently double richness on the
other side of the intervening sand
stone. Fenton was fortunate enough
to meet an old fellow out there who
had gone west from this section of
the country and who had bought that
tract Of land for Wright; and as soon
as he learned of it's possibilities he
wrote to Wright telling him that he
probably had large fortune in it, if
he had continued to hold it. Wright
wrote back that the land was still
his, and that the taxes had been paid
upon it regularly. This letter has
been secured. OF course the news of
the discovery of this valuable vein on
Wright's land created intense excite
ment. and Frederick Merivale, the
largest stakeholder in the adjacent
mine, at once placed himself in cor
respondence with James Franklin.
Just what has taken place between
them is merely matter of surmise.
but this is doubtless the cause OF
Merivales visit to Nilus."
mo wonder they were willing and
ready TO spend money, and to employ
all sorts of means to thwart the in
vestigation of the truth. 1t is now
only too plain that the murder of
John T. Wright was simply part OF
a great conspiracy to get possession
of the mines"
Not n doubt of it: and there is no
reason to suppose that the conspira-
tors will quietly allow this paper to
remain out of their possession. They
will do some dark scheming to get
hold of it. l think, therefore, that
we had better take n copy OF it,"
The lawyer got from his desk
piece of paper, old and somewhat
soiled, which could very easily be
taken for the paper on which the
original agreement had been written,
and then he instructed Warde to
make a copy just as much like it as
deft penmanship could contrive. Irv-
ing was expert enough to make one
that could hardly have been told from
its prototype. This was held before
the fire so as to dry the ink and
draw out its blackness. 1t was then
folded and backed with the words,
John T. Wright's Copy of the Agree
ment," just as the original had been.
Hardly had this task been accom-
plished when the door bell rang and
soon afterward the servant an
nounced that Col. Franklin desired
an audience with Mr.. Everett. The
lawyer saw that it would arouse
Franklin's suspicious if he declined
an interview, and he was not averse
to contest of wits with that astute
individual. At first he was puzzled
to know what to do with Irving. 1t
would not do for him to 60 out in
the hall and risk being seen by the
colonel
The left side of Mr.. Everett's IL
brary was covered with book shelves,
but one of the cases was revolving
door and. bookcase combined. A
slight push turned it sideways and
permitted entrance TO the next apart |
ment, which was a sort of lounging |
room for the lawyer. There were a
great many easy chairs therein,
lounge, and ali the facilities for the
dreamy recreation of reading. When
the lawyer wanted to work he occu-
pied the library; when he wanted to