Denver labor bulletin., 1918-04-20
THOMAS P. WALSH
ONCE ACTIVE in
KNIGHTS LABOR
WAS TRENCH DIGGER IN
MASSACHUSETTS.
Later Dug Millions in Gold From
Mountains of Colorado; Credited
With Being an Active Union
Agitator Back in 1872.

fine job helping to dig Worcester's
new sewer system. He got S1.50 per
day for his labor, and had to work
only ten hours at that. Now his re-
lations in three communities are get
ting ready to fight for possession of
his fortune of $10,00O,000, and the
family row is on. 1t is only fair en-
passant to admit that Tom Walsh did
not achieve S10,000,000 fortune from
his savings in Worcester, no matter
how faithfully he stuck to his pick
and shovel in the sewer trench that
was headed down Shrewsbury street,
says writer in the Worcester (Mass.)
Labor News.
lie seems that he became wearied of
the chances for saving up to buy a
farm which was his cherished object
when he was swinging his pick thru
the Meadows, and after getting his
pay started for the West. Some
body told him that you could pick up
gold in California just by looking
for it, and Tom Walsh found that to
be true, only he didn't have to go as
far as the Golden state. He found
his nuggets in Colorado, and he found
tons of them.
1t is barely possible that the easy
facility that Tom acquired in Worces-
shovel stood him in good stead when
he landed in Cripple Creek. He was
what the rough-handed miners in that
| part of Colorado called "broth of a
| boy" meaning that Tom was there
with his fists whenever a festivity
was in progress, and he often battled
few hours at night in the Gold Gulch
saloon after digging in his claim all
! day. There was one mighty good
point about Tom Walsh-he was not
| booze fighter. He would, and could,
and did fight-but not old John Bar
| leycorn. He was an experienced
rough-and- scrapper in the
camps at Cripple Creek and Lead
vile, and often had to be as quick
with his siX-gun as he was with his
sluggers.
It's a tradition in Colorado that
everything that Tom Walsh did turned
, out lucky. When other miners gave
up the quest for quartz rock in the
Pixies Peak district, Tom Walsh
branched out on a prospecting trip
of his own and located the mine that
became the famous Camp Bird. That
hole in the hill brought Tom Walsh
nearly $5,000,000 before he sold it
and opened up the Bonanza. He
| achieved money as fast as he could
find a place to stow it, and his mil
lions stacked up on him faster than
he could invest them.
Tom got married, and had two chill
dren. His evil luck began to trail
him as soon as he gave up the rough
mining life and began to hit the high
places in society. Tom had about as
much use for society as duck has
for rubber boot, but Toms wife
was of another stripe. She broke
into Washington society with ghirr
and a bound-that is, she expended
Toms golden hoard entertaining hun
gry-looking foreign Counts" Dukes"
and "Earls" Washington is full of
fake nobility, and anybody with the
price can get into Society" the so
ciety that is composed of petty poll
ticians and others who are there on
the make.
Bad luck followed poor Tom Walsh.
His only son Vincent was terribly
mangled in an auto accident, and his
only daughter was made a cripple in
a horseback riding mishap.
And now relatives in Worcester,
Washington and Denver are getting
ready to fight for the millions that
Toms fate threw into his hands. He
has cousins in Worcester who are
about as close to his estate as any
body, and his high society spouse has
dennlCe sum SeIIled upon ner.
Away back in 1872, Tom Walsh was
one of the pioneers in the Knights of
Labor movement in Worcester, and
he was an earnest talker in favor of
shorter hours and better wages for
workingmen. They were building the
insane asylum near the lake in that
year, and work was also started on
| the old union depot. Tom gave up
his job digging dirt for the sewer
trench and got a job on the stone
work at the asylum. Some sort of
labor trouble brewed there, and Tom
shifted to the depot job, and did his
share of digging the deep foundation
hole for the clock tower. A panic
happened along that year and the
foxy contractors who were jobbing
the depot cut down the wages of the
workmen. Scores quit, and among
them was Walsh. He collected his
pay and decamped for the West.
Ten million dollars is whole lot
of money to fight over, but the very
size of the sum ought to interest the
! lawyers, who, in the final chapter of
the ruckus, will get goodly portion
of it. I.