Uncle Sam Pays Old Debt

1909

SHERIDAN, Wyo., Oct. 6. — Uncle Sam has finally settled the forty-four-year-old claim of $4.26 of James Baker. The money was owed to Baker for service in the Sixteenth Iowa Infantry during the Civil War, and his claim had to await its turn in Washington for adjustment.

Baker says he will not cash the check from Uncle Sam, but will have it framed as a relic of his soldier days.

Man Profits by Limp Wrist, Claiming Injuries

1915

Hand Would Fall Limp After Fall in Rail Car, Insurance Claim Following

Minneapolis. — How an obedient wrist bone served as a means of livelihood was told in court by Lester Edward Mills, who confessed that it had netted him $2,000 in the last year. It finally caused his downfall, however, and he will serve an indeterminate sentence in the Stillwater penitentiary as the result of sentence by Judge W. C. Leary, before whom he pleaded "guilty" to a charge of attempted grand larceny on complaint of Ralph Wellington, claim agent of the Duluth Street Railway company.

All that Mills has done to separate $2,000 from railroads, street railway companies and merchants within the last year has been to fall prostrate over a suitcase in the aisle or any obstacle on the sidewalk, gasp for breath and allow his left hand to hang limp from the wrist. Six rides has he taken in ambulances, six fair nurses have smiled at him as the color slowly returned to his face. Five claim agents have drawn checks against their companies and as many times has Mills pocketed the same.

Among the recent settlements made with Mills, according to his story in court, are:

Kennedy Brothers, $400; Northern Pacific, $1,200; Great Northern, $125; Great Northern, $250; St. Paul Street Railway company, $250.

"I have been in just one wreck," Mills told Judge Leary. "That was March 13, 1905, at Fond du Lac, Wis. I was brakeman on the old Wisconsin Central. My left wrist was broken. About a year ago I thought I could use that injury to collect damages from others. At Duluth I got a fellow with a suitcase to get on the street car, and when the car was rounding a curve I fell over the suitcase. I complained that my wrist was hurt. They took me to a hospital. Later I came to Minneapolis and met the claim agent at the West hotel. It was only a few days afterward that I was arrested."

"This may be your first arrest," said Judge Leary, "but it is not to your credit, for all these other claims have been faked the same way, have they not?"

The prisoner glanced to the back of the courtroom, where was seated his young wife. When he raised his eyes to the judge he admitted that he had done nothing but work up fake claims for the last year or more.

Although Mills was arrested at No. 1604 Stevens avenue, his wife gave her address as No. 86 Thirteenth street South. She said she had no idea that her husband had been collecting money in the way he admitted. She thought he was working for a railroad company, she said.

Under the sentence Mills may be confined to state prison not to exceed two and one-half years.

Marvelous Find of Gold

1906

Rock So Rich in Ore That It is Guarded Day and Night by Sentries

Manhattan, Nev. — Gold bearing rock, so rich that it is guarded day and night by two sentries and is mined under the watchful eye of the owners, has been opened up at the 86-foot level in the main working shaft of the Jumping Jack claim.

Six inches of this marvelous find is so rich that no assay has been made, as it is more than half gold. From eight o'clock at night, when a row of shots revealed the richest of the many sensational discoveries of the new camp, until ten o'clock the next morning $10,000 worth of ore was sacked.

When the miners below hoisted samples of a six inch vein which was uncovered as it dipped into the shaft, the superintendent immediately ordered the men to the surface and suspended operations until the superintendent of the Jumping Jack could be notified. Upon his arrival two trusted men were put to work stoping out the ore and two others guarding the entrance to the workings.

The news fairly electrified the camp, despite the fact that sensational finds are becoming everyday occurrences. Several samples were exhibited by officers of the company, who were besieged by a crowd which gathered soon after the news of the strike became public property.

These samples for size and richness surpass anything that the ground at Manhattan has yielded up to date, and will rank among the largest specimens of gold ever mined in this country. One specimen weighing 23 ounces, six inches long, representing the width of the vein, is almost solid gold. The many seasoned miners and mining experts who examined this specimen today unite in saying that it is the handsomest and consequently the richest deposit from the mother lode they have ever seen. It is streaked with a fine grained marble-like quartz, which hugs close to the crevices of its irregular outlines. The entire specimen is a bright yellow mass, except where it is relieved by the impregnated quartz. One side is worn smooth, as if by the force of a slide in the contact, and the other side is molded just in the shape it was deposited by the molten mass.

Riches From The Skies — Giant Mass, Precious Metals Fell From Sky

1877

Riches From The Skies

THE GIGANTIC MASS THAT FELL IN DIAMOND VALLEY, NEV. — A QUEER STORY

[Eureka, (Nev.) Sentinel.]

About four o'clock on the morning of the 7th of January, an immense body, glowing with intense brilliancy, came rushing across the face of heaven illuminating the earth with the light of day. It traveled in an oblique direction, from the southwest to the northwest, and instantaneously a shock was felt that almost threw the few spectators at that early hour from their feet.

About ten days ago Mr. Wheeler, who cultivates a ranch in Diamond Valley, and who is also in the stock business, came into town and left a most remarkable substance with an assayer. Mr. Wheeler had a smattering of metallurgical knowledge and, it seems, had tested the compound with a blow-pipe and other means within his reach, and detected the presence of the precious metals, but was unable to determine the value.

The piece submitted to the assayer was about as large as a hen's egg, and immediately attracted his attention by its unusual weight and peculiar color, it being of a purplish-black shade, and where it had been broken off the main body presenting a luminated stratification that he failed to recognize. Mr. Wacke expended the whole night in a series of experiments, applying every known test to the article, and detecting the presence of iron, nickel, cadmium, lead, silver, gold, zinc, cobalt, silica and phosphorus. There was also a residuum to each assay, of which Prof. Wacke was unable to determine the properties, but he hopes by the use of the spectroscope to classify it.

A surprising feature of the ore is excessive malleability aud ductility, a small portion of it being reduced by hammering to a fllm not exceeding one-hundredth of an inch in thickness. He has sent a portion of it to the San Francisco Academy of Science, and also to Prof. Silliman of New Haven, and in the meantime is prosecuting his researches. Prof. Wacke has found that the substance will reach $887 in silver and $42 in sold per ton.

The strangest part of the story remains to be told; and, now that Mr. Wheeler has duly recorded his claim and perfected the title, we feel at liberty to disclose the facts. On the morning of the 7th of January, Mr. Wheeler was almost thrown from his bed by a violent shock. Getting up and looking out of the window, he observed at the foot of the mountain an immense mass glowing at a white heat and of intense brightness. Hastily dressing he approached as near as possible, and found that the object lay just at the foot of the Diamond mountain range, but the heat was so great that he could not go within 1,000 yards of the spot.

He kept his own council, and made repeated attempts to reach it, but did not succeed until the 14th instant, when it had cooled sufficiently to allow him to break off the portion brought to town. The main body will measure about sixty feet in height, eighty-seven feet in width, and is 313 feet in length. These are the proportions of the body visible, and it is probable that as much more is imbedded in the earth. Mr. Wheeler calculates that there are at least 2,000,000 tons in sight, and if it will work anywhere near the assay he will extract an immense sum from the mass.