The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-02-09
SCOTTY IN X. C.
Death Valley Miners Clothes Lined
With $1,000 Bills.

Kansas City, Feb. 9.-'Tve got to be
in New York by next Thursday to see
Harry Thaw acquitted I'm on my
way to Los Angeles now, but I'll get
back east in time to help celebrate the
windup of that trial, all right. You see,
I've got a habit of going places In
hurry when 1 decide I want to get
there"
The speaker was Walter Scott. or
"Scotty,' as everybody knows of him,
the Death Valley miner who gained no
toriety a year or so ago by making d
record run across the continent in a
Santa Fe special train He was stand
ing in the buffet at the Railroad club,
and as he talked he stopped every few
minutes long enough to tear large holes
in hundred dollar bills, via the wine
route.
..Scotty'' arrived in Kansas City yes
terday morning. He came unheralded,
in the city ticket office of the Santa Fe
railroad, where he went to have certain
changes made in his Pullman car reser-
vations to Los Angeles After buying
every man in the office whom he met,
he quietly disappeared. Later he went
to the Baltimore hotel, where ne TOOK
luncheon with a friend in the grill room
He did not register, nor was there any
thing about his conduct to attract at
tention. His dress, while somewhat
unconventional and smacklng OF the
hot valley whence he comes, was hard
ly extreme enough to attract more than
a second glance He wore long black
coat which partly hid his high-heeled
boots and blue flannel shirt A black
felt hat adorned his head and at his
throat was knotted the reddest OF red
neckties.
1t was the middle of the afternoon
before the fact was heralded that
''Scotty'' Scotty-was in town.
Then the real proceedings commenced.
The miner was discovered by a couple
of railroad men who claimed &C
quaintance with him and adjournment
was at once taken to a nearby thirst
destroying establishment; then, as
Billy Baxter would have it, the bunch
commenced to soak up wine like a
bundle Of blue blotters- "Scotty's"
friends began to multiply. Between
drinks the telephone was kept busy
summoning friends of the miner and
friends of his friends who had not
been in at the start.
Nothing was too good for "Scotty."
He declined to buy anything but the
most expensive wines and cigars and
always by the quart He paid for each
round with a fresh $50 or 500 bill
and usually refused to accept any
with that chicken feed" he said to one
bartender who offered him twenty odd
dollars in change for fifty. Keep it
and buy an automobile" Then he
eight bottles of champagne-one for
each man in the party.
Later the bunch blew into the Rail-
road club. It was there that "Scotty's''
height For a few minutes everything
stopped but the buffet, and the busi-
ness it did will go down in the history
of the club as an event to be remem-
bered as a red letter day.
Between drinks "Scotty'' talked.
mo more play acting for your Uncle
Walter he said. There's nothing to
it. Just as soon as 1 can take a little
run out to Los Angeles and then back
to the village of New York to see
where the mazzooma just lies around
and begs to be taken away and
spent
AS he talked he shifted nervously
from one foot to the other and contin-
ually bit at his finger nails. He ex-
planned that he had never signed his
name to a check and never even had a
dollar in the bank. He said he always
carried a little ready money with him,
however. and to prove his assertion,
carelessly opened his shirt and reveal
ed. pinned to his undertaking. 10 one
thousand dollar bills. The money he
had been spending he had pulled in
handfuls from his overcoat pockets.
Speaking of his flying trip across the
my trying to advertise myself and the
Santa Fe is all rot. 1 made that trip
for a purpose and 1 accomplished it.
paid for everything 1 got and if the
old women want to think anything else
about it, why, let them think So"
He talked much about his mine, but
was careful to let it be known that its
exact vacation was a secret. He said
that the shrewdest detectives in the
country had tried to locate it and to
learn how and where he converted his
ore into cash, but that the secret still
remained unsolved His mine is some
where in Death Valley; that he ac-
knowledges, and it is that fact which
has led to the theory that he is men
tally unbalanced. 1t is argued that no
human being can long continue a resi-
dence in a climate where the thermom-
eter never falls below the 100 mark
and retain his reason. Be this as it
may, however. the mystery surround
ing this man remains as battling as
ever. He continues to make periodi- |
cal trips to civilization, bringing with
him thousands of dollars in coin of the
realm. But where, or how, he gets it |
no man has yet been able to discover |
His last words last night before de- |
parting for Los Angeles were: You'll |
hear from me next week. I'm sure go
ing to be in New York at the finish |
of that trial. and I'm going to see Harry |
Thaw free man-just put that in your
pipe and smoke it,.