Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1893 — ELEVEN MEN WERE KILLED. [ARTICLE]

ELEVEN MEN WERE KILLED.

Bloody Battle at the 'San Juan Mining Camp In Colorado, The San Juan mining caifip has followed the precedents of alj great mining excitements by baptizing itself’with human blood. A courier arrived in Bluffs City, Col., and reported a terrible battle, in which over one hundred shots were exchanged. He reported eleven men killed and a large number wounded. George Ferguson, an old prospector, and James Cody, known as “Blind Jim,” one of the best-known characters in Arizona and New Mexico mining camps, axe among the slain. The courier was in a state of breathless excitement and had left the ground, after the last shot was fired, to obtain medical aid. A private dispatch from Dolores to John Eddy, a Denver mining man, confirms the terrible report. The trouble grew out of a dispute over certain claims which have been staked out. There are nearly 5,000 men on the fields, and there has been very little attention paid to the people staking off claims. The prospectors have simply devoted their time to prospecting and scouring the sands to find the most promising locations. Thete have been a few claims staked out, however, in places where many dollars to the pan have been found, but the lines of the claims, it is said, were not recorded and a quarrel ensued. The direct cause of the trouble was the discovery of large nuggets in the bed of a small stream. Up to the moment of strike everything was all right, bub. the sight of the large nuggets had the same effect on the prospectors as a red rag on a Mexican bull. Each man claimed that he had first located the ground, and to settle the dispute guns were brought to bear. There were over forty men engaged in the terrible conflict. Few, if any, escaped unhurt. The information of the trouble has caused great excitement in Denver among prospectors, who were skeptical of the fabulous wealth of the new gold fields. The battle will undoubtedly bring thousands of people to the new camp, for the old prospectors regard deadly conflicts over mining claims as the best evidence of rich strik. s.