White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1911-03-05

threats, outlaws and renegades who
would kill a man for the sake of
dotng 1t. ] have seer some rough
hl4ing camps in my time but, as a
usual thing, a man never got into
trouble unless he was looking for it.
The gun-fghters killed each other
and the ~peaceable citizen was not
molested.
These outlaws and %cut-throats
thai infested the little, outlying set
Elements, were men who had been
run out of the big mining camps by
the yigilantes.
Now, ! am going to tell you how
our little mining town, then a
county seat, got rid of its bad char
acters.
A quiet, Woodworking, inoffen-
siye MAI by the name of johnson,
owned a small tract of land, neal
the town, which he sold to a new
conner for six hundred dollars; he
had gone into the c~ounty-seat to ex-
ecute the deed and receive his money.
Everybody knew about the trans
action, including the price to be paid.
Shortly after the deal was closed,
Johnson met two old friends from
Bridgeport, California, whom he had
not seen for a number of years.
They wanted TO have a visit together
and as 1t was along late in December.
1t was too cold to stay out of doors
and they naturally went into a saloon
which was the only public place in
town where they could go in, sit
down and talk. They had a drink
or two, during the course of the
evening, but that a all, for they
were not drinking men.
About eleven O'Clock Johnson told
his friends that he would have TO go
home, shook hands with them and
went out.
Let me explain that the saloons
never closed, day or night. Perhaps
Johnson had been gone half an hour
when the ~barkeener, who ven on at
midnight. came in and Immediately
told the b%arkeeper, who was still on
duty, that he thought IL was an in
fernal outrage to get a mar drunk
in the place and then throw him out
in the snow to freeze to death. This
was Indignantly denied and, as a re-
suit of the controversy. a lantern was
lit and all hands went out TO look at
the nan lying in the snow. 1t was
Johnson. stone dead. A pistol shot
had been heard, just after he left the
saloon, but no n thought anything
about II. for pistol shots were too
common. in those days TO excite COM
ment. Johnson had deposited his six
hundred dollars in the safe of the ex-
press company. so his %murderers got
nothing.
His two friends from Bridgeport
took charge of his body and then dis
appeared. The next day, the best
citizens of the place. including the
responsible business men, seemed TO
have been called II of town-at
least they were not to be found.
When night came, my uncle did
not come home for supper and father
said he would go and see what kept
him. On his way past the court
house. he heard a tap on the window
and a man there motioned for him to
come in. He went in and found all
lnt mlS1luB GlllEeuS u lnt lONns
about two hundred, including my
uncle, the sheriff and every county
official. They were going to send a
note TO my grandfather to come up
TO the courthouse. but they con
cluded not to do so as he was an old
man and rather feeble. However,
they sent a note to the house, telling
grandmother not to worry.
The two men from Bridgeport had
taken command of everything and
had obtained inforreatio which set
tied IL clearly. in their minds. who
were J~ohnson's murderers. There
were supposed to be four of them
and during the mex day, three of
them were captured and taken to the
courthouse. A room in the court
contained several hundred
Springfield rifles, with ammunition.
stored there by the United States
government. This room had been
opened and every mar had a rifle.
with belt and cartridge box. Armed
went out through the town.