Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 May 1859 — Latest from Pike’s Peak—The Humbug Exploded. [ARTICLE]

Latest from Pike’s Peak—The Humbug Exploded.

The St. Louis <Republican> publishes a letter from Atchison, stating that the Salt Lake mail had just arrived, and brings doleful and most disheartening accounts of the Pike’s Peak emigration. The accents state that “large numbers of disappointed gold hunters were already wending their way back to the pale of civilization But this is not the worst feature of the business. They come back as many of them went, without any means of living on the way. Destitute of provisions or means of conveyance, disappointed and disheartened, with broken hopes and blasted fortunes, toil-worn, foot-worn, and heart-weary, these wretched adventurers come straggling across the plains, in squads of dozens or scores, begging at the stations for food to eat and a temporary shelter from in the driving storms. The well known generosity of the contractors on this line, will doubtless save many a poor fellow from famishing by famine, but what can they do to supply the wants of a starving multitude? Although these men have acted with great indiscretion and improvidence, in their premature and ill-starred journey to the land of golden promise, yet they are fellow-citizens, and the hand of a just and generous government should be stretched out to give them aid in their extremity. As yet no acts of violence have ben [sic] committed, so far as I can learn, but as the numbers of this crowd of starving wanderers increase, what assurance will there be against scenes of rapine and plunder amongst the trains and stations along the route to Pike’s Peak !” ---<>---