The Coolidge examiner., 1935-07-05
GOLDEN
| PHANTOMS
Fascinating
Tales of tai,h, /. watson
Lost Mines ewsU.
DUTCH-IRISH MYSTERY


ested In the curious happenings that
came to their attention.
So when an Irishman and a
Dutchman came To Fort Collins with
load Of gold and proceeded to go
on lively spree. the soldiers no
ticed II, aud when this was repeat
cd several times they began To wish
that they knew the source OF an
this wealth They even went 50 far
as 10 hire an Indian To follow the
pair ON their next trip out
one day the partners set out up
the Cache la-Poudrc and their red
shadow Iurkcd behind just out OF
sight The ludian had made one
mistake-he had not figured on a
long Journey. hence had not taken
much In the way of provisions with
him. After three days. the smell
from his quarry's campfire grew to
be entirely too tantalizIug the In
dian took time out 10 hunt deer
and prepare square meal for him.
self. and while he was following
this new trail a deep snow fell, blot
ting out all signs of the two miners
On later visit to Fort Collins,
the odd pair Invested In a burro to
carry their packs, and a little later
they disposed OF the small beast and
bought an OK. Apparently. business
was good. Then. one day, they
came in on foot. tired and disgust
ed. and said that n bear had killed
the OK.
II was during this visit that the
Irish and Dutch temperaments be-
gan to pail on each other They
fought and the Dutchman went
down. and died as a result Of his
wounds.
Now was a splendid chance for
the soldiers to satisfy their curlos-
lty. and they grasped II eagerly.
The Irishman was a murderer, and
must be punished unless he might
be persuaded TO tell the secret
source OF the gold. With a rope
around his neck. he was harangued
by the men In uniform.
Perhaps the prisoner felt that he
could out-bluff his captors. No. he
shouted. he would tell nothing He
would die rather than let them know
the source of his goldl
Lets hang him "A little, boys
give him the feel OF the rope. May
De that will loosen his tongue" was
the suggestion. and the unfortunate
Irlshman was hoIsted into the air
Now let him down" and the rope
was slackcned. But the expert
ment failed: excitement. fear. and
rough handling had proved too
much, and the Irishman was dead
Billy Mellns left Nebraska in
1889 and went to Fort Collins 10
haul lumber for a sawmill on the
Cache In POudre. He often stopped
at a mining camp. halfway on his
route. called Manhattan. one Sat
urday night he heard that some
tourists were anxious about their
son. who had ridden away on his
pony and had not come back.
Mellns Joined In an unsuccessful
search. but the lad showed up next
day, and he had a strange story TO
tell.
He had become confused the aft
ernoon before. he said. and when
his pony started to follow an old
trail near nlghtfaIl, he was glad
enough to give the animal its head.
The trail led 10 a deserted cabin,
where the bones of an OK lay be-
fore the door, and some specimens
of ore sat on "a shelf inside.
Melins was interested. This must
be the lost mine that the Irishman
and the Dutchman had worked. He
found an old prospector, a half
crazy soul whose mind had gone
wandering out into the mountains,
and the two set out to find the
cabin, guided by the boys story.
Sure enough, the cabin was there
as he had said, and dim trail
evidently the trail to the mine-led
back up the canyon. The old pros
pector lost all sanity at the sight.
He rushed up the path, and Melins
hurried after, in time to see him
dash into a tunnel and almost i'm
medlately dash out again, followed
by a bear! The crazy prospectOr
was wild with rage. In his fury, he
leaped at Melins, and 1t was all the
younger man could do to protect
himself and get the old fellow back
to camp. After that Melins made
no more trips in search of treasure.
Previous to this time there had
been a large number of murders on
the old Overland trail. Men return
ing from California, bringing sacks
OF gold Ito show the folks back
East" had been waylaid and killed,
and their valuables taken. The
criminals had never been caught.
But, with the death of the quar-
relsome partners, the depredations
ceased. Some one who had mind
for adding two and two, began to
investigate, and this is what he
learned:
There never was a mine. The