The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1905-06-30
A STORY OF ~GRAFTERS.
Who Unwittingly Made Big Money for
Their Victim.

Then there be some well-meaning
souls who DO not recognize opportuni.
ty, and she forces her favors upon
them. breaking over the rule that she
has laid down for the rest of man.
kind.
One of these was the g~atekeeper of
IN irrigation ditch at the foot of the
Rocky mountains. The ditch was the
property of a city, and it controlled
the waters that went swirling down
the cutters every afternoon and flood.
I'd the green lawns and the pretty
park. The ditch was managed of
course, by the city administration, and
that body was, like the municipal au-
thorities of some other cities, looking
out for the members welfare a little
harder than it was for the prosperity
of the community.
One of the things in which the city
fathers were interested was "a mine
the kind of a mine that forms the
basis for large issues of stock. When
he was met with the question, "Would
you not like to buy some stock in the
Double Back Action Mining COM
pany?'
He knew what that meant, and
hough he also knew it meant that he
mst mortgage his home, and, though
e felt morally certain that the stock
ras worthless, he said:
eyes, I'd like to take about $500
vorth.' He needed a job badly.
This was more than he was expected
o take. but the grafters did not OBJ
ect-and he got the place at $35 a
ronth. He was thrifty and the work
ook but a few hours a day, so the
lortgage was soon paid, and he often
ooked at the beautifully ornamented
reen and gold certificates of stock.
.ar value $1,000, for it was only 10
ents a share in those days and it
eallv seemed like wealth to him. One
%fternoon he read in the Mining Re-
lew that the Double Back Action
zine had struck it rich and stock had
Dubbed in value. A week later it
loubled again, and the promoters be-
an quarreling among themselves as to
yho could control the property, now
ecoming desirable. Then one after
zoe the mayor called upon the gate
Keeper.
"Don't you wan to sell that
,tocke'' he asked.
at is doing pretty WE'LL was the
eply. 81 don't see how l can
IN give you par for it, came the
,ffer, but the gatekeeper refused. La
er came dividends and higher quota
ions-the mine had become one of the
ig money-makers. The gatekeeper
.eld 20 his stock and drew $500 per
nonth. in addition TO his salary of
;35. until he retired and took a trip
o Europe. He never did exactly TN
lerstand how fortune was forced up
on him against his will.
OF course it is easy TO tell Of men
Who have made fortunes out of the.
'egular ruts. There is the Oklahoma
nan who drove into II town eight
ears ago with Il wagon and Il pair of
9uckskin ponies. and has now made
$4,000 by raising wheat; taking the
.rop to buy more land to raise more
wheat. and so on. in increasing ratio.
And there is the old western miner
Who the other day sold his mine, the
first great find of his life, for $4,000
IN spent it all in three days. throw
ing away the double eagles AS if they
we're confetti, until, dead broke, he
took his pack mule ana started again
or the hills. But these are every day
happenings; they do not meet the de-
hands of a finer example Saturday
Evening Post.