Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1905-12-16
(BY SAM P. DAVIS

inc Big F0uf, Jonn Mdchly, James
Flood, William O'Brien and himself
The stock was kicking about with no
one. not even a California mud hen,
to 10 i, reverence
Mackay was already worth a few
hundred thousands accumulated by
honest mining Ia California, The other
Two ran 4 Bit whisky mill some whore
along near The city front IN Frisco.
Fair took them In and thew soon
bought a controlling interest In the
Con, Virginia. The stock that had
been selling for 10 cents never stopped
until it had reached $500 d share.
The mine began to yield 100000
month I'm dividends. one who lived
there In these old bonanza days pauses
ana brushes the cOOWeps from DIS
memory. We All thought 1t would last
forever. and governed ourselves accord
ingly, No one had any use for money
except TO scatter It, IL was q time
when the tramp Of today might BE- king
of the ledge ere another moon should
wanc
Sharon was irrltated that In the race
for prominence someone threatened to
pass him. He spoke contemptuOusly
Of Mackay and said he would make
John pack hls blankets over the Ginger
grade" and Mackey sent back the re-
tort: 81 car pack a pair OF blankets
over any grade which is a id sight
more than Sharon can do" Physically
Mackay lowered above his sarcastic
rival. Sharon allu.ed 10 the other two
as "blt whisky singers
Flood, when he heerd II, swore that
he would sell dit" whisky over the
counter of the bank OF California.
Things were coming TO a crisis. IL was
Might on the Numldian desert. and all
the lions ""
Disaster and Death,
The Bonanza firm closed IN ON their
play when they wrecked the bank OF
California. They slowly gathered In all
the Indebtedness and called on the bank
70 liquldate. 1t was q Wild day on cali
iforna street. when the run began. 4
mob packed the thoroughfare from
Montgomery TO Sansome. Frantic
men, distracted women and squads NJ
police battling with the mob. The
bank was unable 20 steam the tide and
closed its doors, The Bonanza firm
had stormed what was conslder-
ed an impregnable financial cit
adeL and captured Il. Flood, clited
at his success attempted to sell whisky
over the counter, TO make good his
threat but lphn Mackay, with a strong
right hand and good horse sense
grabbed him by the collar ana prevent
ed him by main force.
Ralston was unable 10 survive the
blow and In a few days the waters VI
the bay closed over him. sharon was
brought 20 brook and compelled out OF
his private fortune to stem the tide Of
the banks Indebtedness. lie did 1t with
his usual flourish OF trulnpets ana got
IN to the lime light when he made good,
but It was the law that made him do II
and no generous impulse of his own.
OF the two men Ralstun was the lion
and Sharon the tiger off the partner
ship. Mackay and Fair were the two
pythons that coiled around them In the
deadly conflict Of the stock jungle and
crushed them TO death. The Nevada
bank then became the strong financial
institution Of the coast. 1t was erect
ed as one might say upon the ruins ~
the Bank OF California. The latter bank
was rehabilitated but IL had TO take
second place.
THE Big -Four"
McnWhtlc the Bonanza firm were the
lords Of finance and lauded as the rich
est quartet in the world. This was
more than n quarter Of century ago
and Il brings a smile TO the faces Of
the hnanciers of the present day to
think OF such q combination as being
regarded MS heavy weights. Presently
Fair got In such bad odor that the Ne
vada bank had to get rid Of him. Near
" every crime In the catalogue was
laid at his door Fred Smith, the miner
who helped him run the secret drift
from the Curry to the Con Virginia,
was killed By a man named Kosser a
prize lighter, Fair was openly charged
with being behind the killing to get him
out of the way and there were hun
Ureds OF capitalists who had been be-
trayed by Fair and done up to the
queens taste" as they put it. He was
false 70 everything and everybody and
delighted IN dupllclty until he was al
ways alluded to as slippery jim
He got out Of the firm and sold his
stock with the supposltion that Mackay
was also buying Floods and O'Brien's,
When he found that he had been Sc
lected as the solitary individual to be
ousted, he plotted his revenge and 1t
came when the famous wheat corner