The sun., 1919-08-10
Born of Greed, 1t
w as a Hectic
Town, While 1t
Lasted With Ev-
erything Sudden
From Riches to
Death
BY WALTER A. DAVENPORT.

TT was a He Town while it lasted!
/ Greed built it and greed de-
stroyed it But 1t had its day
when the name Goldfield meant every
thing sudden-wealth. poverty. life.
death. JOY and misery. 1t saw an hour
when a Petrograd Moujilx. who didn't
Fnow whether New York was in North
or South America, knew that Goldfield
was in Nevada and that a man who
got there in time needed neither edu-
cation nor finances, but a pair Of
heavy shoulders and a stout heart to
become so rich that he'd need an edu-
cation to count it all.
But that was fourteen years ago.
To-day the sound of horse hoofs' in
the powdery alkali of Fifth avenue is
something to talk about until another
horse clatters through. The hum of
motor car creates a sensation Gold
field, the wide openest town in the
world; the slabsided, clapboard gold
camp that recognized neither God
given nor man made law, where the
only reason bad men did behave some
times is because they were afraid not
to; the mushroom El Dorado that
never had city or town government,
no police, no Mayor. no jail-nothing
but a deputy sheriff of the county of
Esmeralda-is as dead to-day as the
Court Of Darius
GOldheId's Downfall.
No one man, no one CORPORATION MIR
combination of corporations accom-
plished Goldfield's downfall. Nor yet
can combination of all her moral ills
oe saddled with the responsibility. As
matter of fact. Nature was the
chiefest factor, inasmuch as the lode,
While not exhausted utterly, became
puny under the assaults made upon 1t
and finally refused to yield ths rich
returns for which 1t had gained world
renown- It was when a certain un-
saVory crew Of wildcat promoters be-
gan to exploit Goldfield falsely; to is
sue the fake propaganda and sham
advertising, basing their writings and
suave assurances OF vast dividends
upon the Goldfeld of two years pre-
Nious. Overcapitalization, fake capi-
talization, watered stock and inflated
Irices followed as a matter of course
with this malmanipulation of stock
came the labor uprisings, and when the
promoters, most OF whom knew that
Goldneld was about finished as a free
Tor all source of quick and legitimate
wealth by honest methods, foresaw
the continued labor troubles. thew
stepped out from under and let their
word castles fall around the ears of
their victims. There remained of
course only the legitimate and honest
mining industries, which continued to
do business with profit But the Gold
held that is popuiarly remembered for
its sudden wealth and wilderness Of
excitement had passed.
IT Is not necessary that you should
have seen Goldfield back in 1906 to
appreciate the story. 1t does not re-
Quire an intimate knowledge of the
eaffron nights in the Oregon, in Tex
Richards Northern, in Shanghai
Larry" Suliivan's Palace, the Monte
Carlo the Del Monte, the Hermitage,
me Bank. the Gold Dust and Slivers
FcrTelrs place, where that popular faro
dealer used to enliven things a bit
with his sawed OFF shotgun. Slivers,
by the way. was prone to occasional
disregardings of family law. Slivers
turned the game over to Kitty Kansas
one afternoon, announcing himself
upon holiday. He went up to Reno.
where he and Mrs. Long Reach Peters
became a trihe too sociable to suit
Long Reach and Slivers was buried in
Hazen. Kitty Kansas ran the game
until Lizzie May Guthrie decided that
there wasn't air enough in Nevada for
Mr. Guthrie, Kitty and Lizzie May.
slivers's place sort Of languished after
Kitty vanished.
No. you need no personal knowledge
OF Goidfieid to appreciate the fact that
II Is now as forsaken as William of
Hohenzollern. The fame OF II spread