Troy weekly news. (Troy, Idaho) 1897-1933, 1907-10-25
How the Rip ROarer
Mine Changed Hands.



was an institution Of Colorado. There |
had been a great deal of manipulation
in the stock, and most of the original
investors had been frozen out. This |
having been accomplished, the man
ayers were using the original pay
ments to sink a shaft, with a view to
striking an immensely rich vein Of ore
which they had reason to believe ex
tended within the limits of their prop
erty. If they struck this vein and 1t
proved as rich as in its other parts,
the Rip Roarer mine would be worth
many millions of dollars; If not, Rip
Roarer shares would continue to sell at
5 cents on the dollar.
Now, the men who had got control of
majority of Rip Roarer stock had no
intention that a ''strike" should ac-
crue to the benefit of any one except
themselves. Consequently they built a
high fence around the mouth of the
shaft, beyond which they would per
NIT none of their miners to go nor to
have any communication with the out
side world. The men were permitted
to write and receive letters, but every
outgoing letter must be read by the
company's censor. The object of all
this was to prevent news of any prob
able strike getting out before the man
ayers had picked up all the floating
stock there was on the market at min
imum prices.
One day a mulatto. ragged, but
strong, applied for work at the office
of the Rip Roarer company. Several
men had been caught the day before
endeavoring TO throw bits of paper
tied to stones over the fence. Their
messages contained no information
about the mine, for there was no in
formation to convey, but the managers
proposed to stop every leak and dis
charged the perpetrators. They wepf
therefore glad TO get the -mulatto and
took him in at once
Maggie Benton was the wife of a
miner who had saved a nest egg and
invested it in the shares of the Rip
Roarer mine at $50 a share, par value
500. At cents Benton's savings had
been wiped out. One evening when he
was out hunting for work Maggie re
ceived q letter from him. 1t was such
a letter as he ordinarily wrote her,
containing nothing of Importance. Ben
ton was an uneducated man, and his
letter was perhaps more than ordina-
rily illiterate. Maggie laid 1t down to
put the baby 10 bed. ate her supper.
| do Ara
Of logs In her stone and mud fireplace,
then sat down to read her Jim's letter
over again.
The WING was high. and the fire
burned hot Maggie was tired. discour-
aged, sleepy. She had but 80 cents In
the house. and Jim had not told her
that he had got work. One feature in
his letter she could not understand.
He told her to be sure to keep the
baby warm-hot He'd rather have II
hot than cold. Warm everything in the
house If necessary to keep that baby
from taking cold. Maggie wondered
what induced him to write IN that
! way. She. a mother, surely knew more
: OF a baby's needs than a man. She
puzzled over these sentences, holding
the letter between her and the fire tC
screen her from the heat till she drop
ped into doZe.
When she awoke there was the let
ter still before her eyes. but with re
= markable addition. Brown letters ap
a peared across the face Of it:
2 Tel Critchlow Rip Roarer. JIM
! Maggie was but half awake whel
these words stared her in the face. bu
e they completed her awakening. Sh
knew Critchlow was the broker a
Colorado Springs through whom jim
had bought and sold some minin
shares. But how should she tell Critch
low the words Rip Roarer? Then sh
. noticed Jim had spelled tell with one
:, Didn't he mean telegraph? Taking he
II 60 cents, she went to the telegraph OF
S fee and sent the following telegram {
e Critchlow:
y Rip Roarer. jim.
The next morning on the Colorad
Springs Exchange there were consit
cradle sales of Rip Roarer. The pric
d rose slowly from to 6, then Z. 8, 8, II
uatl ut noon it struck y cents EeTl