Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1896 — CRIPPLE CREEK A CRIPPLER. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CRIPPLE CREEK A CRIPPLER.

Its Present Gold Mining Boom Said to Be a Bis Conspiracy. Cripple Creek, Col., has recently sprung into prominence as a great gold mining center. There arq probably 20(1 mines, very* few of which have produced orriin paying quantities. The great majority of the mines arje nothing more than green goods specula*ions with holes in .the ground, with nothing in the holes hut paid L for press clippings. Mines hitherto unheard of have been stocked and listed, and mines which have never justified any higher rating than thcy .havo had for years hare suddenly been boomed tp a degree that reflects on the. gullibility of the American public. The earnings of the mines which have been worlied'have not materially increased, and the promises of sudden large dividends are found ogjy; in, the process of organization for tnonths, and it has hot. been without its newspaper connections. One New York paper has boomed the erase'to the extent of predfeting the rise in values of this mining stock,’for the obvious purpose of inducing Eastern investments. The chance tfi Bwimlle the public in the naine of the Cripple Creek mining field w,as foreseen by those having the true interests iif -the region most at heart. In a brochure issued by reputable business men of Colorado. Springs as long ago as last April the following warning was given; “Incalculable injury is inflicted upon mining- regions of proven merit by the floating of wildcat companies, and advertising their lies on u magnificent scale. “Tlie greater the merit of a district th© more widely this sort of thing is successfully carried on. Generally it is wise to leave any joining schemes severely alone that is boomed iu the large metropolitan dailies and other newspapers. “Cripple Creek affords many favorable and attractive propositions for money making, but, up to date, not one ofjtliese is included among the number that have been given wilie notoriety beyond the boundaries of Colorado. .“There is a determination among our prominent mining men to have, as far as possible, only the facts as they exist in regard to the camp spread abroad, and to puncture all bogus or balloon projects sent kiting, in an alluring fashion, to victimize the credulous. “In a word, and in conclusion, do not purchase the shares ofany company without first investigating, for there is nothing so good that it will not keep long enough » for this to be done.” Many of the mines of the Cripple Creek country which are capitalized at from $">00,000 to $3,000,000 have never paid 10 cents'profit since the first spadeful of earth was turned up where they are located, and there is no reason to suppose they ever will. There is a saying in Colorado that “for every dollar in gold or silver taken out of the ground si..op or $2 is put into it. This does not mean,’ of

course, that there are no paying mines in that country- there are many of them—but it does mean that more money is spent annually in mining operations than is tnken out in ore throughout the State. Ninety-nine out of every hundred men in tlie.East who put mqney into Western gold or silver mining projects have simplypaid the expenses for developing pros-pect-holes. which ultimately proved valueless. These conditions arc unclnnigcil at this time, ekccptxthat the money of tint investors will not go to the development of a mine which may possibly turn ..out well, but will be diverted, instead, to tho pockets of unscrupulous stock manipulators. One of the best evidences that this Cripple Creek gold miuiug business is purely

speculation is the large number of “exchanged” in full blast in that region, wherein large dealings in stocks are daily made. Stocks are generally purchased by brokers for clients living at adistance and these clients for the most part are people who are so. anxious to get rich quick that they invest their little sayings an. these worthless stocks, upon simply newspaper sny. There is a conspiracy to defraud and there are behind this conspiracy some .of the shrewdest and. sharpest financial experts in tins eonntry, and it is on undoubted fact that already somo millions of dollars have been taken from the people by them.

"JIM” MARSHAĹ. [Cripil, Creek’s Police Chief.]