The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1937-04-17
REPORT FORTUNE
STRUGGLED FROM
VERY RICH NINE
HoMEsTAKE's TWO MILLION
GOLD MYSTERY is SAID TO
RIVAL LEGENDS OF WEST
ERN THIEVES
BY ROBERT GEIGER
AP Feature Service Writerl

LEAD, y. D.5 April 1f.--GOlu
and greed again have woven a
fantastic story of thigh grading
in the west. This time the ma
TONS richest gold mine has been
the scene of the alleged thefts.
Roland K. Goddard, U. S. Sc
cret service head at Denver, says
underworld gossip has it that ST.
100000 worth Of yellow metal
has been sto.en from the famed
Homestake mine here and whisk-
ed to a secret cache.
Five men are under arrest and
the elusive ''head man" in the
plot, described by Goddard as a
world-traveling soldier OF fortune.
is sought, but only $4,000 worth
OF stolen metal has been traced.
Listens In I'm Plot
Homestake officials deny they
have lost anything like $4,000
600.
But miners homes in Lead have
been searched and officers report
they have discovered god hidden
in gold fish bowls, in coffee cans
and other receptacies, presumably
secreted to be sold ''when things
cooled off"
This was but trickle of gold
dust compared to the fortune
which men of the underworld are
said to have plotted to steal from
the high graders, then skip to
Mexico and hide, Goddard midi
Gates. From Mexico the metal
might have been shipped back to
the United States and sold as gold
mined there.
Goddard planted a listening de-
vice in rooming house and heard
men plan, he says, to steal the gold
from the men who had taken it
from the Homestake. But he
doubts that as much gold as they
talked about could have been
struggled from the mine.
Many Ways To Sneak Out
Miners might have carried gold
from the mine, however, secreting
it in their clothing, their lunch
pals and by other means, to carry
to their homes and hide. Because
o. the United States gold act, pro-
hibiting possession of gold and
regulating its sale, the metal is
hard to dispose of.
This caused the secret service
to investigate reports that the gold
was pooled in one cache for ship
ment to Mexico.
Five men, Goddard reveals,
have admitted they plotted to
steal this gold. But thus far God
dard has been unable to discover
the "cache."
Just how much gold has disap-
peared, authorities may never
know. About $14,000,000 worth
passes annually through the
Homestake gates.
Can't Stop Thefts
The ore in the Homestake is low
grade, running from SO to 81 a
ton. The best opportunity for the
thefts occurs when rich vein is
struck. In the history of the Home
stake this had happened seldom.
But occasionally nugget is found
and it is comparatively easy for a
miner to hide this in his clothing.
Nearly every famed mine in the
west has been the target of high
graders and mining men say it IS
impossible to stop them.
In the old Cresson mine at Grip
pie Creek. Colo, where the Cres-
son "Vug" was struck, bank
vault door was placed at the head
of the underground chamber and
armed guards were posted over it.
The "vug" was an underground
pocket" of gold and the 'pocket"
was the size of large room. 1t
yielded more than $1,000,0o0 in
gold.
Miners were tempted to hide a
nugget or two IN their iurch pail
or in the cuff of their trousers rs
they went off duty. So some mines
installed a "change" room, where
every miner changed clothing as
he left the property each day.
NEW ARRIVAL IN