The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-02-03
Ea5y Money.
Copyright. 1911

II was because the clothing store in
the east in which he was employed
made cut In salaries that james
Halpin went west During the next
six years he was cowboy. miner. pros
pector and teamster. AS a prospector |
be made miserable failure Of 1t. In
the other vocatlons he put In honest |
work for his money. Among his ac-
quantances he was spoken Of as an
honest man and was often trusted.
There were men who sneered ut his
principles. For instance, when he dis
covered the $1,000 nugget In the dump
at the Golden Lious mine and turned
1t in to the company as its property he
was sneered aud laughed at on all
sides. The company did not even hand
him out a cigar for his problty
Then there was the case OF the train
hodup. The robbers got the express
all right. together with q big lot OF
registered mail. but in their hurry they
abandoned mail bag and dropped two
or three packages. Halpln found them
among the rocks aud sagebrush. There
was over $4,000 In ALL The express
company started out to reward him.
but finally ended up by notifying him
that he ought to be glad that he had
not been arrested as one Of the sus-
poets. Uncle Sam received his mall
bag and said nothing and did nothing
AS a prospector Halpln discovered
| the Double Cross mine and told q
friend of 1t In confidence. The friend
hastened to the land Office and located
| the mine In his own name and within
| two months had sold 1t for quarter
of a million dollars. He was a man
| without sand" and Halpin could have
gone to him with gun and at least
made him divide, but he did nothing
| OF the kind. 1t thus came about that
| the men who knew Halpin had two
saying to at his case. One was "As
honest as Jim Halpln" and the other
"As big a fool as Jim Halpin." He
was simply trying to be square man
1t was In his blood, and 1t took long
time to Convince him that all the rest
OF mankind was on the make and that
he would get the worst of the deal
every time. He had to be reduced to
rags and hunger before he would be
lleve 1t.
One day Jim HaIpin woke up, He
had Travelled over good part OF three
western states and was familiar with
the better portions. He got the loan
Of a suit of clothes aud u few dollars
In cash and brought up In the town iu
which certain member OF congress
was living. They had talk. They
consulted maps. They made a bar
gain. Halpln wasn't to be fooled
again, and the bargain or agreement
was Ironclad. The congressman would
have left loopholes by which he could
later ON swindle the man who hac
come TO him as they had planned tt
swindle Uncle Sam, but he had to aban
don this part Of the programme. Whef
all was ready Halpin set forth TO 10
timbered lands. coal lands and hill
filed with iron and coal. They wer'
entered under different names as home
steads, desert lands. soldiers lands an'
other trlckery, and In one year the!
had gobbled up more than millioI
dollars worth. Then Halpin sold hi
share for a hundred thousand dollar
rather than wait longer he also hat
: other plans he wanted to carry out
and he needed the money to do so.
Jim Halpin with hundred thousan
dollars to his credit in the bank wa
no longer sneered at He had bt
come man to take OF the hat t
They dropped "the honest as Jill
Halpin." They knew that he had mad
his money by sharp practice, but the
thought all the more OF him for 1
The man who can make a fortune an
Just escape the law in doing 1t receive
more praise than an honest man wh
. tolls lifetime TO get $4,000 togethe
] The "Jim" now became Judge"
r Colonel" when men addressed him.
! In locating the lands Halpin had NJ
5 played square with the congressman
He had left out certain coal fields. +
Q now located them for himself He WI
e even generous enough to pay the go
e ernment $3.50 All acre for land .yort
t perhaps hundred thousand per aer
J. and thus he had nothing to hide. III
\ coal lands were In the mountains al
the towns and cities on the plains.
. carry out his plans the two must
q connected by railroads. Mr.. Halp
: went to three different legislatures,
!, few members could be made to s
:, what a great thing 1t would be II til
and that town could secure coal at 4
= price Of buffalo chips, and they we
ready to grant charter. A number
others saw it only after they had be-