Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-01-25
JANUARY rs. I94l
Gold Thieves
Drove Suffer
To Madness
Stripped Of Possessions.
Shocked by Newsboys
BY EDWIN C. HILL

BY EDWIN G. HILL
THERE always has been a
= touch of madness connected
with gold. 1t has the strangest
possible effect on human emo
tions-as if, indeed, ii was en-
dowed with some sensate
quality.
The beginning of the new
year saw the anniversary of the
discovery of gold in America.
The tale goes back indeed, GEN.
fury to that day when Johann
August Suffer. a penniless Swiss.
passed through the gates of
Castle Garden to become the
citizen OF new land.
He was a native of Baden, and
attended military school at
Berne and served IN the Swiss
Guards for Charles X of France
before sailing for New York.
crossing the continent to Van
couver and shipping TO the
Hawaiian Islands and Alaska.
Finally he went TO California
and prospered greatly.
GUTTER had the Midas touch.
~ His lands, his haciendas,
stretched over countless leagues.
His cattle dotted a thousand
hills.
He brought pianos, furniture.
silverware from Europe. across
the Isthmus of Panama. He in
corporatcd hundreds of Indians
in his benign feudal state. He
imported exotic trees shrubs
and flowers. studied agriculture
and schooled his vassals in IL.
1t was sunny land His were
thrones, powers and dominions.
He was at peace.
On Jan. !. 1S4S. Marshall. one
of his carpenters. discovered
gold
Tell no one" said his master.
ut means ruin"
MARSHALL didn't tell. but
WI somehow. the secret got
abroad Like an apocalyptic
curse came the horde OF gold
seekers-worse than a plague OF
locuStS, respecting no mans pos
sessions, jeering at law, footing.
burning. killing and throwing
the once tranquil life OF Cali
fornia into anarchy and chaos.
Johann Suffer owned the
ground on which the city OF San
Francisco was to rise in queenly
beauty. That and all the rest of
his possessions were stripped
from him by the horde of
thieves.
He grew old. mumbling and
querulous at Washington, i'm
ploring Congress for the restor~
alton Of his rights. which were
unquestionable.
4 SIMPLE soul. he believed
"a that justice must prevail.
and so he went 10 Washington
and knelt. almost literally, at
the feet Of Congress. imploring
II TO restore his unquestionable
rights. At the very moment
when the government was about
10 drive the thieves from his
property. the gaunt. hollow
eyed. ragged Suffer sank wear
lily 10 the bottom step of the
Capitol building in Washington.
He was alone against the
baekdFep great stone columns
and pediments. august and i'm
personal as the law, A crowd Of
ragamuffin newsboys rushed up
10 the old man.
General" they hrie k Q 4.
you've won. Congress has just
voted you 100000, 900. It's all
In the papers"
THE old man rose. trembled,
L tears coursed down his
grimy cheeks He raised his
annotated arms TO the skies and
Threw back his head. rendering
thanks to a Just God. Then he
sank to the ground, inert. gro-
tesque under his rusty old In
verneSs cape. He was dead The
newsboys were merely joking
lie was Gen. Johann August
Suffer-. whose great feudal do
main had yielded the gold which
made the California gold rush,
and which today is again Turing
multitudes TO 'those same gold
fields where Suffer and the lusty
buccaneers of the forties and
fifties once "gloried and drank
deep.
A short while before the old
general died, the Washington
police found a demented old
man. groveling on the ground.
stuffing his pockets with gar