Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1907-06-05
How the Rip ROarer
Mine Changed Hands.
Ioriginal.l

! The Rip Roarer Gold Mining company
was an institution of Colorado. TIER
had been 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 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
8 cents on the dollar.
Now, the men who had got control of
a 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
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 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 were
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 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 letter from him. 1t was such
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 to bed, ate her supper,
/ washed the dishes. made up fine fire
OF logs in her stone and mud fireplace.
then sat down to read her Jim's letter
over again.
The wind was high, and the fire
burned hot. Maggie was tired, discour-
aged. sleepy. She had but go cents in
the house. and Jim had not told her
that he had got work. One feature in
his letter she could not understand.
Re told her to be sure to keep the
baby warm-hot. He'd rather have it
hot than cold. Warm everything In the
house II necessary to keep that baby
from taking cold. Maggie wondered
what induced him to write In that
way. She, mother, surely knew more
OF baby's needs than a man. She
puzzled over these sentences, holding
the letter between her and the fire to
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 a re-
markable addition. Brown letters ap-
peared across the face Of 1t:
Tai fyritchlovv bin Ioaror rrS
Maggie was but half awake when
these words stared her in the face, but
they completed her awakening. She
knew Critchlow was the broker at
Colorado Springs through whom Jim
had bought and sold some mining
shares. But how should she tell Critch-
low the words Rip Roarer? Then she
noticed Jim had spelled tell with one |.
Didn't he mean telegraph? Taking her
60 cents. she went to the telegraph Of
fce and sent the following telegram to
Critchlow:
Rip Roarer. I'M
The next morning on the Colorado
Springs Exchange there were consid-
cradle sales OF Rip Roarer. The price
rose SLOWLY from 10 D, then 7, 8, 8, 10,
until at noon 1t struck IL cents. Early
In the afternoon an order came from
the managers Of the Rip Roarer mine to
sell 10000 shares, doubtless to depress
the market This put the price back a
few points, but the shares offered were
all absorbed. Then the stock jumped
with bounds till it reached par.
he a
was washing the dinner dishes she
was caught In the arms OF a big negro
Mag" he cried, you're smarter
than chain lightning. never believed
you'd understand about heating nv
letter. but you did. We're rich as Croe
sus. I own one quarter Of the Rim
Roarer mine. I've got a million and q !
half"
Jim Benton had played the men who
had frozen him out OF the Rip Roarer