Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-28
CLAIM JUMPERS WAYS
SETTLING THE TITLE TO vALUA-
BILE GROUND.
High Court Of the Six shooters-Gun
wielders In Mines-Ths Cabot
From Arkansas.

| From the San Francisco Chronicle.
| The halcyon days OF the claim jumper and
| the shotgun miner were antecedent to the
| squatters' wars OF San Francisco. In old
Phoebe when the Raymond and Ely and the
Meadow Valley mines were In litigation
| over q rich ledge, men handy with the gun
were paid SO an hour to go underground
| and hold the drifts, and they had many
a bloody battle In the dark.
In the rush to the Comstock, also. much
confusion arose In the location OF claims
and the shotgun prospector found oppor-
tunity to get in his work. Two OF the tough
citizens OF Virginia even had the effrontery
to jump lot that had been presented to
Father Manogue as a site for his church.
The Comstockers loved the robust priest,
and when he told a few Of them that jump
ers were on the church lot they went with
him to adjust matters promptly and vigor-
ously.
and one OF them spoke insuitingiy to the
priest when he requested them to move OF
the lot, whereupon Tom Riley became hos
tile and roared: Stand aside. father, and
let me get at the Irish blank daahe'
Priest and Jumpers.
tut, tut, Tomr' said Father Manogue.
reprovingiy. Leave out the Irish my
SON. And then the father peeled OF his
coat and offered to settle the matter person
ally with the insolent jumpers. The lot
was saved to the church.
James G. Fair saved part of the Bonan-
"a ground from claim jumpers by differ
ent method. Long Brown, dean of the gam
bling fraternity, had long run Of bad luck
and needed money In his business He
made a deal with Waller Defeat" Prem
tiss, and they hired two miners and began
of the Bonanza companies. They worked
SYSTEMATICALLY and by the time the shaft
had been sunk a few feet their operations
attracted the attention of Uncle Jimmy
Fair, who strolled over to the scene of the
new strike and found Long Brown and
Prentiss, we'll heeled with guns, bossing the
two miners.
well, my son." said Mr.. Fair In HIS most
suave manner, and what might you be
doing here?"
We've located this claim and are doing
our assessment work." replied Long Brown
cheerfully
"And have We any capital, my SOM" in
quired Mr.. Fair, with friendly solictude.
Yes, we've got little; enough to make
the rifle, reckon
And how about the title, now? Is your
title quite straight, dye Think"
Mr.. Brown admitted that there might be
a colud upon the title. but he added: Were
not going to fool away any of our capital
in hiring lawyers; we need 1t all In running
the mine. You see. Uncle Jimmy, we don't
go much on litigation. and me and my part
ner Prentiss allow that we can attend to
any little matter of that sort"
mo doubt assented Mr.. Fair. And
now what might your claim be worth on
fair and reasonable estimate. dye sup
poser
worth about $1,000, and he went over to
Col Fairs Office and got check for that
amount.
Dick Prentiss.
Long Browns partner In that mining
deal, Dick Prentiss. earned an evil reputa-
ton even among the bad men of early
Comstock days. In the early seventies a
dispute arose over the ownership of the
Waller Defeat shaft OF the Woodville mine
and Prentiss was hired by one of the con-
testing parties to hold the property by
shotgun title. Under some color of legal
authority Prentiss and several companions.
acting as deputy sheriffs, took possession
of the hosting works and would not per-
init anybody to approach the buildings
The other side managed to get some sort
of order from another court, deputized
half a dozen men as constables and sent
them to take possession of the works at
midnight. The constables attempted to
force an entrance to the shafthouse and
were fired upon without warning from the
inside. Six of them were killed, and ii was
believed the CoEnstock that Prentiss
fired all the deadly shots.
From that time he was known as
waller Defeat Prentiss and looked upon
as a cold-blooded murderer. and the Com
stock boycotted him socially. He became
morose and surly, and eventually dropped
down to the level of a barroom outcast and
"check guerrilla" being denied the distinc-
ton and respect accorded by the Comstock
to the bad man" who gained the title in
fair fight.
Prentiss, was one of a gang of shotgun
miners hired by Ned Boyle to carry on
war underground In the Alta against the
Justice crowd in a dispute over an ore body
on the line between the two mines. The
working miners objected to the presence
of the fighting gangs in the drifts and the
miners and mechanics unions took the
matter in hand, marched masse to the
Alta works and told the superintendent to
hoist his shotgun men forthwith. Boyle
demurred, whereupon the miners sum-
marily took possession of the works, put
their own men in charge of the engines
and sent committee down the shaft to
order the fighters out of the mine.
1t was known that Waller Defeat Prem
tiss was one of the gang, and 1t had been
decided that II he were caught with a gun
in his hand he was to be snaffed out on the
coming to him, and he escaped from the
works disguised as a mechanic with kit
of tools instead Of a. gun in his hand
Got His Reward.
In 1880 Prentiss had a dispute with a
rancher about a debt of 49, and went to
the mans cabin in Six-MiIe Canyon to col
lect the debt with, g. gun. He invited the
farmer to come out and be killed, but the
farmer poked a shotgun through the win
dow, pulled both triggers, and the coroner's
jury allowed that the hand of Providence
was clearly discernible in the pointing of
the gun that called Waller Defeat Prem
tiss to his last account
OF different type was the Bad Man
of Costumes" whose character was the
subject of story told one night by DR..
George Chismore In the Bohemian Climb
1T was back in the sixties when l first saw
my desperate" said the DOCTOR He came
into Costumes one day without any par
ticular swagger to proclaim that he
was a bad man, but the camp sized him IN
at once as either very tough customer
or a four-fush desperate. He was tall
angular and wiry, and he was not hand
some. He wore black broadcloth and a
silk hat, was scrupulously neat in the
matter of linen and personal appearance
and the right leg of his trousers was tucked
into his boot to accommodate an enormous
Bowie knife. The set of his frock coat over
his right hip also indicated gun
Gibbons was calm and deliberate In
painfully polite. and spoke with a
southern drawl He seldom swore and