The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-12-23

tiaI conduit Of twelve-inch iron pipe!
In a fash the whole criminal mys-
tern involving the ostensibly flooded
mine was Illuminated for me. Haul
away | called TO the two above;
and when they had drawn me up 10
the pits mouth and l could get upon
my feet. l yipped at Daddy and the
marshal TO come on, and led them in
an outdoor race along the mine ledge
TO the eastward: a hundred-yards
dash which brought US TO the banks
of the swift little mountain torrent in
the right-hand gulch.
brief search revealed precisely
what ! was expecting to find; what
anyone in possession of the facts pre-
eedent would have expected to find.
In the middle of a small pool slightly
upstream from the path level-a peck
eted bit of water neatly screened and
half hidden by a growth of low
branching spruces-we saw a cone
shaped whirlpool swirl into which a
good third of the stream flow was
vanishing. Below this pool an appar-
emily accidental heaping Of rocks
formed a small dam which kept the
little reservoir full.
Without a word, Daddy Hiram and
the Angelic marshal plunged reckless
ly into the stream and with their bare
hands tore away the loose-rock dam.
With the removal Of the slight barrier
and the consequent clearing Of the
course of the stream, the pocket reser-
voir Immediately sucked dry, the inlet
of the cataracting pipe was exposed,
and the secret of the flooded Cinnabar
vas secret no longer.
The scheme which had been elab-
grated and set in motion to soak"
Grandfather Jasper was a premedi-
tated "holdup." The Cinnabar, in OPP
Grafton and producing to its capacity,
was worth. so Beasley asserted, all
that my grandfather had paid for it,
and more. But with the branch rail-
road built to it's very door, its value
would be doubled Two alternatives
had thus presented themselves TO the
owners, who were Cripple Creek
mining spectators who had bought in
the stock at a low figure while the
main vein was as yet unexpected: they
could 60 on mining the ere and stOr-
ing it against the time when the rail-
road, with its cost-reducing advan-
tages. should come along; or they
could suspend operations for the same
length of time, setting the losses Of a
shutdown over against the increased
profits when they should start up
again.
With our discoveries of the morning
the plan of the robbery became per-
fectIy plain. Some giant of finance
among the spectators had evolved a
| scheme by which the mine not only
| might be shut down during the inter
| val of waiting for the railroad to build
over the bench, but at the same time
| be made to yield a bumper crop Of
profits.
Taking it's various steps in their or
der, the first move in the game was to
| sell the mine TO Grandfather Jasper
while it was still going proposition ;
| and this was done. But one of the
| conditions of the sale (Beasley told us
| this) was that the selling corporation
4
| should continue TO operate the mine,
not as lessee. but under a contract
| by which the operating company
| should receive certain percentage Of
| the output: an arrangement which
/ gave the holdup artists ample OppOr-
tunity TO prepare for the coup de main.
How these preparations were made.
| ,:,a 'ie .a-.rt, al them kept from leak.
| ~ OH. ~ remained one of the un-
| HiNed mysteries. though BeaSley sug-
| Gested that probably imported work
| men were employed, and that the work
| lad been done under jealous super
vision with all the needfu precautions
| taken against publicity. The tight
| wooden bOX-which would figure as a
part of the shaft lining-had been
| built, and into the box the creek had
| been diverted by means of the small
| dam and the underground conduit.
With the water admitted. TO rise in
| the box to the level of its intake in
the creek reservoir. the trap was set
| and was ready to be sprung.
Beyond this point there was a gap
| we were obliged 10 bridge by conJec-
| ture. but the differences were all plauSi-
| BILE enough. Doubtless the plOtters
had notified my grandfather that his
mine was flooded and was no longer
workable. Doubtless, again, he had
| authorized them to buy the needful
pumping machinery and to install it
which they did.
In this barefaced imposture the plot
tiers had cOnceivably buuded some
thing upon Grandfather Jasper's ad-
| vanced age as an insurance against
| any too-searching investigation; but
| beyond this they had carefully dis
armed any suspicion that he might
| otherwise have harbored by encOurag-
ing HMM the actual purchase Of the
| prOperty-to take expert advice, and
| by craftily printing him. by under
/ IF rhnrn