The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-09-23
Camping on the Trail
"reminiscences of Phoebe, New.
CBY JOHN MAGUIRE0

CBY JOHN MAGUIRE.)
I saw an engraving once of a famous
picture. 1t was Marius weeping over
the ruins of Carthage. The subject en-
thralled my fancy. l pondered long and
my sensitive soul went out in sympa-
thy to the mourner in his desolation. A
few days ago l stood on the hillside
I overlooking the place that once was
| Phoebe, and beheld the almost absolute
humiliation of that mighty camp. No
Marius ever felt more tearfully for the
grandeur and greatness that had passed
away than / did when I looked over
the devastation that surrounded me.
! Nothing but ruins, and even these fast
disappearing-now mark where the
mighty hoists and smokestacks of the
! Raymond & Ely, the Meadow Valley,
| together with many other large mines,
gave life's sustenance to thousands.
The throbbing of the engines, the
whirr of the machinery, the changing
of the bells. as they gave warnings to
the engineers, the belching of the fires,
! and the vent of the sibilant steam and
that general hum of activity which fills
| the air where great industries are gen.
Grated. the hammers ringing salute to
! the anvil. and o, blessed music. the
sound of human voices-all. all are gone
and nothing is left but the silence of
/ desolation
1t is only generation ago when the
/ place was the great financial and min
! ing arena of the west, and scarcely sec
ond to the Comstock. Millions have
/ been taken out of its mines. The Ray
mond & Ely alone paid more than S12.-
| 100000 in dividends. The Meadow VAL
/ ley makes close second, as a big finan-
! cial producer. While nearly all the
/ mines were paying dividends. So high
/ ly priced was every inch of ground in
! the immediate vicinity of Phoebe that
contests for possession were of every
/ day occurrence between contestants,
who, disdaining the laws delay, en-
! ployed shotgun brigade to defend
their disputed titles at the rate of $40
| per man per diem. Hence was it that
! Phoebe became the Mecca for as big a
/ lot of thugs "as ever cut a throat or
! scuttled a ship" Here is the camp
! where the big corporations did not
! bother about owning the judges as in
| other places I might mention, but mere
| ly when the game was worth the can
! die saw to it that the sheriff got his
! price to fix the jury, and Phoebe juries
! in mining cases were like Barkis-al-
ways willing"
The most notable case however. and
| exceeding all others in Importance up
! to the present day, excepting perhaps
! the case of the Minnie Healy mine in
! Butte. was that of the Raymond & Ely
versus the Hermes. Here both parties
! claimed what was mutually conceded
the richest piece of ground in the camp
and contiguous to both. consequently
| both claiming it as their respective
/ property. Such vast interests were at
stake that at no time in the west. nor
in any case, not excepting the famous
! Davis will case. was there a greater
aggregation of legal talent employed.
When it is remembered such great
lawyers as Colonel Harry /. Thornton.
the greatest mining lawyer that ever
pleaded case; his partner, almost
equally famous. Judge John CARRIER
| now of San Francisco: the Hon. Tom
Wren, Delos Lake. Judge Messick,
Judge Perley. Bishop and Sabin, and
several other nOtables were engaged or
! either side some idea of the magnitude
of the interests at stake may be gained
But there were other retainers. Theirs
was the shotgun brigade employed by
each party to the suit. to guard the
windows and doors communicating
with the jury. as both sides had al
| ready bought the sheriff and hence both
sides had some doubts as to the deiiv-
cry of the goods for this special jury
knew their value and so did some of
the agents deputed to handle them.
=
Speaking of handling the jury. This
is no secret. as all Phoebe was cogni-
Zant of the facts.
Among the agents of the Raymond
{, Ely TO FIX" the jury was one of the
leading saloonkeeDers of the camp.
Mike McCloskey. Mikes place was
the headquarters for Pioche's 400. 1t so
happened that during the trial alluded
TO above Mike was seized with severe
attack of the govt, which prevented his
presence at his place of business. There
was an appreciate sympathy among
his friends. and numerous were the
callers at his residence to express their
coincidence, among others the writer of
this true history. 1t was Sunday morn
ing I was a visitor at Mikes home
There sat the invalid his limbs from
the knees down heavily swathed in
f1annels During my stay neighbor-
ing merchant came in and after some
private conversation he soon departed,
but it was less than ten minutes when
he returned and as he entered the door.
he cried out in the utmost excitement:
Good heavens. Mike the safe is emp
~. Somebody has robbed the safe.
"W-h-a-t?'' exclaimed McCloskey.
How can that be. when there's some
body always on Shift"
1t must be understood that McClos-
keys, like all other Phoebe saloons was
open day and night. Mike who il must
be remembered had not been out of his
house for several days. era bbed hold
Of a pair of crutches and hobbled down
to the saloon, the merchant and my
self accompanying him. and all feeling
the excitement natural to such an
event
On entering the place of business Nc
Closkey Immediately went TO the safe.
opened it: sure enough it was empty so
far as cash was concerned. Now a
week before the barkeeper on watch
had begun WORKING for McCloskey. He
was on the night shift, and should have
been relieved at s D. m. but had on
this occasion arranged with the man
who was TO relieve him to remain on
duty q few hours longer. Mike turned
to the barkeeper, and in tragic tones de
manded TO know if he had left the bar
at sny time during the night. The man
replied he certainly had not
.rrhen. by Cd. you must know who
has been at the safe.
Not soul has ever been near that