The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1905-05-26
Who Is Burton7


Since the Goldfield Bank and Trust
COMPANY failed to open for business On
Monday and the connection of Francis
l.. Burton with the looted institution
became known, the common question,
with more or less emphasis, has been,
"Who is Burton?" This il well an
swered in Critics Letter. in the Min
ing Investor uf Colorado Springs Of the
22i inst, from which the following is
taken:
If it is ever possible to discover hui
NOR in the work Of exposing mining
fraud it would seem possible to find it
in tracing mp the history of Judge
Francis l.. Burton. who has seen fit to
make Clear Greek county the seat of his
operations, but who now, it is said, has
hied himself to Goldtield, Nevada. The
Mining Investor, during its ten years of
existence, has exposed many a fraudu-
lent mining promoter, n we have
nailed them in many corners of the
earth, but never before have we had to
make record of nne who was so extreme
" smooth that he was able to induce
the very ones who had charge of his
body within The confines of a prison, to-
invest. The following from the Denver
Times is only one of several articles
which have appeared about the Judge
hut in a concise form it tells the story
we'll:
"a promoter who has operated extensively
in Denver. unloading doubtful mining stock
on many victims, turned the neateSt trick in
his career while serving "a term in prison, and
the suckers are officials Of the institution
The superintendent alone invested 81 900 in II
mythit al mine in Colorado and the storekeep-
or poured "A OF his saving in the 81 me rathole
The successful confidence man who worked
! nix ~ a tEtR fE4 NrIGn tnllG ara IN rrHGtn1
in Denver on the charge which sent him to
prison.
with his smooth tongue. Judge Francis l.
Burton, willy mine promoter and inventor of
innumerable skin games. has succeeded in sep
arnting the keepers of the Ger Island reform
atorv i'm Boston from about $4,000 He is well
but unfavorably known in this state. for right
here in Denver there are men who have sui
fcrcd the loss Of gold as the expense OF cOnfd-
ing in him. Many have been the tales OF I'M
told fortunes to be made in colorado mines to
people with money which resulted in Burton
getting the gold md then 81 Ipping for un
known parts until the matter had guieted
down.
at was while Burton was serving an eigh-
teen months sentence in the reformatory that
he succeeded in getting near the hearts of Su-
perintendent Gerrish and Storekeeper Bates.
He told them that in Dunont, Colo, there was
land loaded down with gold which could be
secured for a mere song, He was mild in his
work on the prison keepers at first and easily
secured their confidence.
Zone of the next to fall n victim to the affa-
! BILE Mr.. Burton was Charles +. Berry OF Dor
chester. Mass, whose Disappearance February
oath. revealed a shortage in accounts to the
amount OF 100000, most of which belonged to
widows and orphans. 1t is known that n great
deal OF this money was handed to the willy pro-
moter to invest in western gold mines. but the
exact amount has never been told.
There are n dozen Bostonians who are
mourning his disappearance to the amount Of
"While Burton got in most of his shrewd
work. he was serving IL sentence for swind1ing
the New York Central raiiroad company out of
z % INA fnr n A1InUnI 10 M a nn Innn bts VnrSnn
while riding on that road 1t was proved that
his inj~uries-for which the railroad company
~paid-were not received in an accident: but
came to him as his share of n brawl which oc-
Cured in Denver. Burton was arrested for
the offensc while in Denver on a promotion
visit. He Is now supposed to be in Nevada.
another brief item relating to this
matter appeared in the Denver Repub-
lican and in this Superintendent Ger
IRISH of the Deer Island prison is stated
to have frankly admitted that he was
swindled out Of $4,000 by the Judge
1t reads as follows:
"Boston, April IL Especially - Superinten-
dent Gerrish Of Deer Island prison frankly ad-
mitted today that he was swindled ont of sl5,-
600 by Francis Burton, while the latter was
serving eighteen months at the prison. Bur
ton claimed to be interested in Colorado mines.
That chap Burton was no ordinary wo k
err said Gerrish. He could make one think
black was white. If | knew as much about
nm then as | 90 now, ! not only would compel
him to serve out his time in full, but. what is
more, I'd try to keep him behind the bars as
long as possible. A man of his brand is dan
gerOus to have at large. And. besides, the
mines may yield returns, after all, if properly
handled Yes, there were really mines out
there. | went to see them last September,
three OF them, the Kokomo, Milton and Pho
neer.'"
"We are in position to substantiate
Mr.. Gerrish's statement that the Koko-
mo and Pioneer mines actually exist,
and, what is more, they are actually ia
vorable prospective mining propositions.
Just how title in them is held we do not
know, but it is perhaps doubtful wheth-
err they are actually owned by any COM
pany in which Burton is or was inter
ested. He or the corporation may have
owned a bond and lease of the proper
tv, but we doubt whether title was ac-
tually acquired. Up in the Clear Creek
district they will tell You that Burton
has left a great many debts behind him,
and it will probably be we'll to warn
merchants and the people of all the new
mining camps in general against the
wiles of this fascinating man."
A. I~-----