The Lakeland evening telegram., 1914-06-03
CHAPTER vi.

II the Eagle Tail mine had been To-
Gated In Arizona-or even farther
down in Old Mexico-the method OF
jumping the claim would have been
delightfully."- simple.
The title had lapsed, and the land
had reverted to the governmental
it needed in Arizona was new set OF
monuments, a location notice at the
discovery shaft, pick and shovel
thrown into the hole, and few legal
formalities
But in Mexico it is different. Not
that the legal formalities are lacking
far from it--but the whole theory Of
mines and mining is different. In Mex
leo a mining title is, in way, lease,
a concession from the general gov
ernment giving the concessionnaire
the right to work a certain piece of
ground and to hold it as long as he
pays a mining tax Of three dollars an
acre pear year.
But no final papers or patents are
ever issued, the possession of the sur
face of the ground does not go with
the right to mine benath it, and in GER
tain parts Of Mexico no foreigner can
hold title to either mines or land.
A prohibited or frontier zone, eighty
kilometers in width, lies along the in
ternational boundary line, and in that
neutral zone no foreigner can de-
nounce mining claim and no foreign
corporation can acquire a title to one.
The Eagle Tail was just inside the
zone.
But-there is always "but" when
you 60 to a good lawyer-while for
purposes Of war and national safety
foreigners are not allowed to hold land
along the line, they are at perfect lib
erty to hold stock in Mexican corpora
tions owning property within the pro-
hibited zone; and-here is where the
graft comes in-they may even hold
title in their own name II they first
obtain express permission from the
chief executive Of the republic.
Not having any drag with the chief
executive, and not caring to risk their
title to the whims Of succeeding ad-
ministrations, Hooker and De Lancey,
upon the advice of a mining lawyer in
Gadsden, had organized themselves
into the Eagle Tail Mining company,
under the laws Of the republic Of Mex
leo, with headquarters at Aqua Negra.
It was their plan to get some Mexican
to locate the mine for them and then.
for consideration, transfer 1t to the
company.
The one weak spot in this scheme
was the Mexican. BY trusting Aragon,
Henry Kruger had not only lost title
to his mine, but he had been outlawed
from the republic. And now he had
bestowed upon Hooker and De Lancey
the task of finding an honest Mexican,
and keeping him honest until he made
the transfer.
While the papers were being made
out there might be a great many
temptations placed before that Mexi-
can--either to keep the property for
himself or to hold out for bigger re-
ward than had been specified. After
his experience with the aristocratic
Don Cipriano Aragon y Tres Paacios,
Kruger was in favor of taking chance
on the lower classes. He had therefore
recommended to them one Cruz Men
dez, wood vender whom he had
known and befriended, as the man to
play the part.
Cruz Mendez, according to Kruger,
was hard-working, sober and honest
for a Mexican. He was also simple
minded and easy to handle, and was
the particular man who had sent word
that the Eagle Tail had at last been
abandoned. And also he was easy to
pick out being little, one-eyed man
and going by the name of "El Tuerto."
So, In pursuance of their policy of
playing waiting game, Hooker and
De Lancy hung around the hotel for
several days, listening to the gossip
of Don Juan de Dios and watching for
one-eyed men with prospects to sell.
In Sonora he is poor and unimag-
NATIVE man indeed who has not at
least one lost mine or "prospecto" to
sell; and prosperous-looking strangers,
riding through the country, are often
beckoned aside by half-naked paisanos
eager to show them the gold mines of
the Spanish padres for hundred dol
lars Mex.
1t was only a matter of time, they
thought, until Cruz Mendez would hunt
them up and try to sell them the Eagle
Tail; and it was their intention re-
luctantly TO close the bargain with
him, for specified sum, and then
stake him to the announcement fees
and gain possession of the mine.
As this was commonplace in the
district-nO Mexican having capital
enough to work claim and no Ameri-
can having the right to locate one-it
was a very natural and inconspicuous
way of jumping Senior Aragon y Tres
Palacios' abandoned claim. If they
discovered the lead Immediately after
ward it would pass for a case OF FOOLS
luck, or at least so they hoped, and,
riding out little each day and sitting