Hammond Times, Volume 2, Number 49, Hammond, Lake County, 14 August 1907 — Page 3

Wednesday, Aii. 14, 1907,

THE L&KE COUNTY TIMES i

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By REX E. Copyright, 1905, by (Continued. "The judge told her it had some-thins to do with prcpariuj; the way for Lu court," eaid Dunham, "and that if the papers were not delivered before he arrived It miht cause a lot of trouble litigation, riots, bloodshed aud all that. He filled her up on generalities till the eirl was frightened to death and thought the safety of her uncle and the whole country depended on her." "Well," continued Struve, "it's dead easy to hire men to Jump claims, and It's dead easy to buy their rights afterward, particularly when they know they haven't got any. Iiut what course do you follow when owners go gunning for you?" McNamara laughed. "Who did that'" "A benevolent, silver haired old Teinn pirate by the name of Dextry. lie's one-half owner in the Midas and the other half mountain lion, as peaceable, you'd imagine, as a benediction, but with the temperament of a Geronlmo. I sent Galloway out to reheato the claim, and he got his notices up in the night when they were asleep, but at G a. m. he came flying back to my room nnd nearly hammered the door down. I've seen fright in varied forms and phases, but he had them all, with son.e added starters. " 'Hide me out, quick!' he panted. "'What's up?' I asked. " 'I've stirred up a breakfast of grizzly bear, smallpox and sudden death, and it don't set well on my stummiek. Let me in.' "I had to keep him hidden three days, for this gentle mannered old cannibal roamed the streets with a cannon in his hand, breathing fire and pestilence." "Anybody else act up?" queried Dunham. "No; all the rest are Swedes, and they haven't got the nerve to fight. They couldn't lick a spoon if they tried. These other men are different, though. There are two of them the old one nnd a young felfow. I'm a little afraid to mix it up with them, and if their claim wasn't the best in the district I'd say let it alone." "I'll attend to that," said McXamara. Struve resumed: "Yes, gentlemen, I've been working pretty hard and also pretty much In the dark so far. I'm groping for light. When Miss Chester brought In the papers I got busy lnstauter. I clouded the title to the richest placers In the region, but I'm blamed if I quite see the use of It We'd be thrown out of any court In the land if we took them, to law. What's the game blackmail?" "Humph!" ejaculated McXamara. "What do you take me for?" "Well, It does seem small for Alec McXamara, but I can't see what else you're up to." "Within a week I'll be running every good mine in the Nome district." McXamara's voice was calm, but decisive, his glance keen and alert, while about him clung such a breath of power nnd confidence that it compelled belief even in the face of this astound ing speech. In spite of himself Wilton Struve, lawyer, rake and gentlemanly adventurer, felt his heart leap at what th other's daring implied. The proposition was utterly past belief, and yet, looking Into the man's purposeful eyes, he believed. "That's big awful big-too big," tha 5 younger man murmured. "Why, man, ' it means you'll handle ,$50,000 a day!" Dunham shifted his feet in the si lence and licked his dry lips. "Of course it's big, but Mr. McXamara's the biggest man that ever came to Alaska," he said. "And I've got the biggest scheme that ever came north, backed by the , biggest men in Washington," contiuued the politician. "Look here!" He displayed a typewritten sheet bearing parallel lists of names and figures. Struve gasped incredulously. "Those are my stockholders, and that Is their share in the veuture. Oh, yes. we're incorporated under the laws of Arizona; secret, of course. It would never do for the names to get out. I'm showing you this only because I want you to be satisfied who's behind me." "Ivord, I'm satisfied." said Struve, - laughing nervously. "Dunham was with you when you figured the scheme cut, and he met some of your friends la Washington and Xew York. If he says it's all right, that settles It. But. say, suppose anything went wrong with the company and it leaked out who those stockholders are?" There s no danger. I have the books where they will be burned at the first sign. We'd have had our own' land laws passed but for Sturtevant of j Nevada, curse him. He blocked us; in the senate. However, iry plan is j this." He rapidly outlined his proposi-J tion to the listeners, while a light of j admiration grew and shone in the! reckless face of Struve. j "By heavens. jou"re a wonder!" he; cried at the close. "And I'm with you! body and soul, why I like it." "Dangerous?" It's dangerous that's ' McXamara shrugged Bah! Where is the his shoulders. danger? r? We've got the law, or, rather, j e the law. Now, let's get to ; we are work It seemed that the boss of Xorth Dakota was no sluggard. He discard-

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BEACH. Rex Beach. ed coat and waistcoat and tackled the documents which Struve laid before him, going through them like a whirlwind. Gradually he infected the others with hi3 energy, and soon behind the locked doors of Dunham & Struve there were only haste and fever and plot and intrigue. As Helen Chester led the judge toward the flamboyant, three storied hotel she prattled to him light hesrtedly. The fascination of a new land already held her fast, and now she felt. In addition, security and relief. Glenister saw them from a distance and strode forward to greet them. lie beheld a man of perhaps threescore j'ears. benign of aspect save for the eyes, which were neither clear nor steady, but had the trick of looking past one. Glenister thought the mouth, too, rather weak and vacillating, but the clean shaven face was dignified by learning and acumen and was wrinkled In pleasant fashion. "My niece has just told me of your service to her," the old gentleman began. "I am happy to know you, sir." "Besides being a brave knight and assisting ladies in distress, Mr. Glenister is a very great and wonderful man," Helen explained lightly. "He owns the Midas." "Indeed!" said the old man, his shifting eyes now resting full on the other with a flash of unmistakable interest "I hear that is a wonderful mine. Have you begun work yet?" "Xo. We'll commence s-luicing day after tomorrow. It has been a late spring. The snow in the gulch was deep and the ground thaws slowly. We've been building houses and doing dead work, but we've got our men on the ground waiting." "I am greatly interested. Won't you walk with us to the hotel? I want to hear moro about these wonderful placers." "Well, they are great placers," said the miner as the three walked on together. "Xobody knows how great because we've only scratched at them yet In the first place, the ground is so shallow and the gold is so easy to get that if nature didn't safeguard us in the winter we'd never dare leave our claims for fear of 'snipers.' They'd run in and rob us." "How much will the Anvil creek mines produce this summer?" asked the judge. - ! "It's hard to tell, sir, but we expect to 'average $T.000 a day from the Midas alone, and there are other claims just as good." "Your title Is all clear, I dare say, eh?" "Absolutely except for one jumper, and we don't take him seriously. A fellow named Galloway relocated ,us one night last mouth, but he didn't allege any grounds for doing so, and we could never find trace of him. If we had, our title would be as clean as snow again." He said the last with a peculiar Inflection. "You wouldn't use violence, I trust?" "Sure! Why not? It has worked all right heretofore." "But, my dear sir, those days are gone. The law is here, and it Is the duty of every one to abide by it." "Well, perhaps it is, but in this country we consider a man's mine as sacred as his family. We didn't know what a lock and key were in the early times, and we didn't have any troubles except famine and hardship. It's different now, though. Why, there have been more claims jumped around here this spring than in the whole length ansl history of the Yukon." They had reached the hotel, and Glenister paused, turning to the girl as the judge entered. When she started to follow, he detaiued her. "I came down from the hills on purpose to see you. It has been a long week" "Don't talk that way," she interrupt1 coldly. "I don't care to hear it." "See here, what makes you shut me out and wrap yourself up in your haughtiness? I'm sorry for what I did that night. I've told you so repeatedly. I've wrung my soul for that act till there's nothing left but repentance." "It is not that," she said slowly. "I have been thinking it over during the past month, and now that I have gained an insight into this life I see that it wasn't an unnatural thing for you to do. It's terrible to think of, but It's true. I don't mean that it was pardonable," she continued quickly, "for it wasn't, and I hate you when I think about it, but I suppose I put myself into a position to invite such actions. Xo; I'm sufficiently broadminded not to blame you unreasonably, and I think I could like you in spite of it, just for what you have done for me. But that isn't all. There is something deeper. You saved luy life, and I'm grateful, but you frighten me always. It is the cruelty in your strength. It Is something away back in you lustful and ferocious and wild and crouching." He smiled wryly. "It Is my local color maybe, absorbed from this country. I'll try to change, though, if you want me to. I'll let them rope and throw and brand me. 111 take on the graces of civilization and put away revenge and ambition and all the rest of It If It will make you like me any better. Why, I'll even promise not to violate the person of

our claim jumper If I catch him, and heaven knows that means that Samson has parted with his locks." "I think I could like you ,If you did," she said, "but you can't do it. Y'ou ar a savage." There are no clubs nor marts where men foregather for business in the north nothing but the saloon, and this Is all and more than a club, nere men

congregate to drink, to gamble and to traffic. It was late in the evening when Glenister entered the Northern and passed idly down the row of games, pausing at the crap table, where he rolled the dice when his turn came. Moving to the roulette wheel, he lost a stack of whites, but at the faro "layout" his luck was better, and he won a gold coin on the high card, whereupon he promptly ordered a round of drinks for the men grouped about him, a formality always precedent to overtures of general friendship. As he paused, glass In hand, his eyes were drawn to a man who stood close by, talking earnestly. The aspect of the stranger challenged notice, for he stood high above his companions, with a peculiar grace of attitude in place of the awkwardness common in men of great stature. Among those who were listening intently to the man's carefully modulated tones Glenister recognized Mexico Mullins, the ex-gambler who had given Dextry the warning at Unalaska. As he further studied the listening group a drunken man stag gered uncertainly through the wide doors of the saloon and, gaining sight of the tall stranger, blinked, then approached him, speaking with a loud voice: "Well, if 'tain't ole Alec McNamara! How do, ye ole pirate?" McNamara nodded and turned his back coolly upon the newcomer. "Don't turn your dorsal fin to me. I wan' to talk to ye." McNamara continued his calm discourse till he received a vicious whack on the shoulder. Then he turned for a moment to interrupt his assailant's garrulous profanity: "Don't bother me. I am engaged." "Ye won talk to me, eh? Well, I'm goin' to talk to you, see. I guess you'd listen if I told these people all I know about you. Turn around here." His voice was menacing and attracted general notice. Observing this, McNamara addressed him, his words dropping clear, concise and cold: "Don't talk to me. You are a drunken nuisance. Go away before something happens to you." Again he turned away, but the drunken man seized and whirled him about, repeating his abuse, encouraged by this apparent patience. "Your pardon for an instant, gentlemen." McNamara laid a large white and manicured hand upon the flannel sleeve of the miner and gently escorted him through the entrance to the sidewalk, while the crowd smiled. As they cleared the threshold, however, he clinched his fist without a word and, raising it, struck the sot fully and cruelly upon the jaw. -His victim fell silently, the back of his head striking the boards with a hollow thump; then, without even observing how he lay, McNamara re-entered the saloon and took up his conversation where he had been interrupted. His voice was as evenly regulated as his movements, betraying not a sign of anger, excitement or bravado. He lit a cigarette, extracted a notebook and Jotted down certain memoranda supplied him by Mexico Mullins. All this time the body lay across the threshold without a sign of life. The buzz of the roulette wheel was resumed, and the crap dealer began his monotonous routine. Every eye was fixed on the nonchalant man at the bar, but the unconscious creature outside the threshold lay unheeded, for in these men's code it behooves the most humane to practice a certain aloofness in the matter of private brawls. Having completed his notes, McNamara shook hands gravely with his companions and strode out through the door, past the bulk that sprawled across "his path and without pause or glance disappeared. A dozen willing, though unsympathetic, hands laid the drunkard on the roulette table, where the bartender poured pitcher upon pitcher of water over him. "He ain't hurt none to speak of," eaid a bystander; then added, with enthusiasm: "Bat, say, there's a man in this tere campr CHAPTER VI. w nO'S your new shift boss' Glenister inquired of his partner a few days later, indicating a man in the cut below, sluices busied in setting a l:ne of "That's old Slapjack Simms, friend of mine from up Dawson way." Glenister laughed immoderately, foi the object was unusually tall and loose jointed and wore a soiled suit of yellow ruackinaw. He had laid oil his coat, and now the baggy, bilious trousers hung precariously from his angular shoulders by suspenders of alarming frailty. His legs were lost In gum boots, alo loose and cavernous, and his entire costume looked relaxed and flapping, so that he gave the impression of being able to shake himself out of his raiment and to rise like a burlesque Aphrodite. His face was over grown with a grizzled tangle that looked as though it had been trimmed with buttonhole scissors, while above the brush, heap grandly soured a shiny, domelike head. "Has he always been bald?" "Naw! He ain't bald at all. He shaves his nob. In the eariv days he wore a long flowlu ruaue which was inhabited by crickets, tree toads and such fauna. It got to be a hobby with him finally, so that he srowed saperiti-

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tiou3 about goin' uncurried and would back into u corner with both guns drawed if a barbev came near him. Bat once Hank that's his real nameundertook to fry some slapjacks and in givin' the skillet a heave, the dough lit among his forest primeva!. jest back of his ears, soft side down. Hank polluted the gitch with langwidge which no man had ought to keep la himself without it was fumigated. Disreppita bleness oozed out through him like swet through an ice pitcher, an since then he's been known as Slapjack Simms an has kept his head shingled smooth as a gun bar'l. He's a good miner, though. Ain't none better an' square a3 a die." Sluicing had begun on tha Midas. Long sinuous lengths of canvas hose wound down the creek bottora from the dam, like gigantic serpents, while the roll of gravel through the flumes mingled musically with the rush of waters, the tinkle of tools and the song of steel on rock. There were four "strings" of boxes abreast, and the heaving line of shovelers ate ranidlv Into the creek bed, while teams with scrapers splashed through the tail races' ii an atmosphere of softened profanity. In the big white tents which sat back from the bluffs, fifty men of the night shift were asleep, for there is no respite here no night, no Sunday, no halt, during the hundred days in which the northland lends herself to pillage. The mine lay cradled between won derful, mossy, willow mottled mountains, while above and below the gulch was dotted with tent3 and huts, and everywhere, from basin to hill crest, men dug and blasted, punily. patiently, while their tracks grew daily plalnei over the face of this inscrutable wilderness. A great contentment filled the two partners as they looked on this scene. To wrest from reluctant earth hei richest treasures, to add to the wealth of the world, to create here was satisfaction. "We ain't robbin' no wldders an' orphans doin' it, neither," Dextry suddenly remarked, expressing his partner's feelings closely. They looked at each other and smiled with that rare understanding that exceeds words. Descending into the cut, the old man filled a gold pan with dirt taken from under the feet of the workers and washed It In a puddle, while the other watched his dexterous whirling motions. When he had finished they poked the stream of yellow grains Into a pile; then, with heads together, guessed Its weight, laughing again delightedly, In perfect harmony and contentment "I've leen waitin' a turrible time fer this day," said the elder. "I've sufwaitin' a turrible time fer this day." fered the plagues of prospectin' from the Mexlcos to the Circle, an yet 1 don't begretch it none now that I've struck pay." While they spoke two miners struggled with a bowlder they had unearthed and, having scraped and washed it carefully, staggered back to place it on the cleaned bedrock behind. One of them slipped, and it crashed against a brace which held the sluices in place. These boxes stand more than a man's height above the bedrock, resting on supporting posts and running full of water. Should a sluice fall the rushing stream carries out the gold which has lodged in the riffles and floods the bedrock, raising havoc. Too late the partners saw the string of boxes sway ana bend at the joint; then, before they could reach the threatened spot to support it, Slapjack Simms, with a shriek, plunged flapping down into the cut and seized the flume. His great height stood him in good stead now, for where the joint had opened water poured forth in a cataract. lie dived under the breach unhesitatingly and, stooping, lifted the line as near to its former level as possible, holding the entire burden upon his naked pate. He gesticulated wildly for help, while over him poured the deluge of icy, muddy water. It entered his gaping waistband, bulging out his yellow trousers till they were fat and full and the seams were bursting, while his yawning boot tops became as boiling springs. Meanwhile he chattered forth profanity in such volume that the ear ached under it as must have ached the heroic Slapjack, under the chill of the melting snow. He was relieved quickly, however, and emerged triumphant, though blue and puckered, his wilderness of whiskers streaming like limber stalactites, his boots loosely 'squishing," while oaths still poured from him in such profusion that Dextry whispered: "Ain't he a ring tailed wonder? It's plumb solemn an reverent the way he rnakes them untamed cuss words sit up an beg. It's a privilege to be present. That's a gift, that is." "You'd better get some dry clothes," they suggested, and Slapjack proceeded a few paces toward the tents, hobbling as though treading on pounded glass.

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"Ow-w!" he yelled. "These blasted boots is full of gravel." He seated himself and tugged at his foot till the boot came away with a sucking sound; then, Instead of emptying the accumulation at random, he poured the contents into Dextry's empty gold pan, rinsing it out carefully. The other boot he emptied likewise. They held a surprising amount of sediment, because the stream that had emerged from the crack in the sluices had carried with it pebbles, sand and all the concentration of the riSes at this point. Standing directly beneath the cataract, most of it had dived fairly into his inviting waistband, following down the lines of least resistance into his boot legs and boiling out at the knees. "Wash that," he said. "You're apt to get a prospect." With artful passes Dextry settled it in the pan bottom and washed away

the gravel, leaving a yellow glittering pile which raised a yell from the men, who had lingered curiously. "He pans $40 to the boot leg," one shouted. "How much do you run to the foot. Slapjack?" "He's a reg'lar free milling ledge." "No, he ain't; he's too thin. He's nothing but a stringer, but he'll pay to work." The old miner grinned toothlessly. "Gentlemen, there ain't no better way to save fine gold than with undercurrents an' blanket riffles. I'll have to wash these garments of mine an' clean up the soapsuds 'cause there's a hundred dollars in gold dust clingin' to my person this minute." He went dripping up the bank, while the men returned to their work singing. After lunch Dextry saddled his broncho. "I'm goin' to town for a pair of gold scales, but I'll be back by supper; then we'll clean up between shifts. She'd ought to give ns a thousand ounces the way that ground prospects." He loped down the gulch, while his partner returned to the pit, the flashing shovel blades and the rumbling undertone of the big workings that so fascinated him. It was perhaps 4 o'clock when he was aroused from his labors by a shout from the bunk tent, where a group of horsemen had clustered. As Glenister drew near he saw among them Wilton Struve, the lawyer, and the big, well dressed tenderfoot of the Northern, McNamara, the man of the heavy hand. Struve straightway engaged him. t "Say, Glenister, we've come out to see about the title to this claim." "What about it?' "Well, it was relocated about a month ago." He paused. "Yes. What of that?" "Galloway has commenced suit." "The ground belongs to Dextry and me. We discovered it we opened it up, we've complied with the law, and we're going to hold it." Glenister spoke with such conviction and heat as to nonplus Struve, but McNamara, who had sat his horse silently until now, answered: "Certainly, sir; if your title is good you will be protected, but the law has arrived in Alaska and we've got to let It take its course. There's no need of violence none whatever but, briefly, the situation is this: Mr. Galloway has commenced action against you, the court has enjoined you from working and has appointed me as receiver to operate the mine until the suit i3 settled. It's an extraordinary procedure, of course, but the conditions are extraordinary in this country. The season is so short that it would be unjust to the rightful owner if the claim lay Idle all summer, so to avoid that I've been put in charge, with instructions to operate it and preserve the proceeds subject to the court's order. Mr. Voorhees here is the United States marshal. He will serve the papers." Glenister threw up his hand in a gesture of restraint. "Hold on! Do you mean to tell me that any court would recognize such a claim as Galloway's?" "The law recognizes everything. If his grounds are no good, so much the better for you." "Y'ou can't put in a receiver without notice to us. Why, good Lord, we never heard of a suit being commenced. We've never even been served with a summons, and we haven t had a chance to argue in our own defense. "I have just said that this Is a re markable state of affairs and unusual action had to be taken," McXamara replied, but the young miner grew ex cited. "Look here, this gold won't get away! It's safe in the ground. 'We'll knock oh" work and let the claim He idle till the thing is settled. You can't really expect us to surrender posses sion of our mine on the mere allegation of some unknown man. That's ridiculous. We won't do it. Why, vou II have to let us argue our case at least before you try to put us off." Voorhees shook his head. "We'll have to follow instructions. The thin for you to do is to app-ear before the court tomorrow and have the receiver dismissed. If your title is as good as you say it is, you won't have any trou ble." "You're not the only ones to suffer,' added McNamara. "We've taken pos session of all the mines below here." He nodded down the gulch. "I'm an officer of the court and under bond" "How much?" "Five thousand dollars for each claim." "What? Why, heavens, man, the poorest of these mines is producing that much every day!" While he spoke Glenister was rapidly debating what course to follow. (To be continued.) Tour TIMES "want ad" vrtll be placed la the bands of fifty thousand people daily.

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