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** Lost Gold At The Dead Man's Mine ** A Miners Journal **


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Slim is refused a drink in the pub because of the trouble he caused the night before; "What do you mean, I've never been in this pub before" Slim protested, "Well you must have a double then" the bartender said, "Good, make it a double whiskey" Slim replied  😜

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11 hours ago, geof_junk said:

Slim is refused a drink in the pub because of the trouble he caused the night before; "What do you mean, I've never been in this pub before" Slim protested, "Well you must have a double then" the bartender said, "Good, make it a double whiskey" Slim replied  😜

Nobody refuses Slim of anything unless they are tired of living.

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   April 23   1937


 

   I wasn’t up very long and was making a good breakfast when a deputy came trudging into camp. What now I thought? He was investigating the incident with Slim and the shooting demonstration from last night. I played dumb and told him I had no idea what he was talking about. He asked the crew and they all said the same. Slim was not in his tent. He must have seen the deputy coming.

   The law dog told us that Slim was bad news and that if we were hiding him it would not go well for us. I told him we didn’t know any “Slim” and had seen many drifters come and go on or near our claims. The deputy said he had a warrant for his arrest for reckless use of a firearm as well as strong armed robbery. I just told him that if we see any strangers we will let him know. With that the deputy walked out of camp.

   I continued with my breakfast and about fifteen minutes later Slim walked back into camp. He had been hiding at the edge of the woods and heard everything the deputy had told me. I asked Slim what the facts were. Slim said it was all a bunch of bull and he never robbed anyone. He said that one night he had scared the hell out of a guy and the man gave him some money just to avoid a well deserved beating. Slim said the guy had made some remarks he didn’t like and he was about to kick the shit out of him. As for the shooting display with Dutch, he said it was all in good fun. I let it slide but told Slim he might want to avoid going into town for a spell. Slim just looked at me with a grin and said there would need to be way more deputies in that town to take him back to jail. I just shrugged and said it’s his decision and we all went to work for a change. 

   We busted our tails and tried to make a good day of it in the pit but only got one ounce. I think we have another week or so of gravels to finish up and then it will be time to move our operation. I will be glad to get out of there as every time I turn my head I think I see my dead brother. It’s giving me the creeps.

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

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   April 24   1937   Part One

 

   Last night after supper I had thought we’d all turn in early and get a good night’s sleep but Slim had other ideas. He said he was restlas. Everyone had finally gone to bed but I stayed up with him for a while. He started drinking and talking about how the deputy had a lot of nerve coming into our camp and threatening to arrest him. He said he wanted to go into town and talk with the law and straighten them out. He said he was going with or without me and would hitch a ride. I told him to hold on and went over to Sarge and told him we were taking my truck into town. I said I was just dropping Slim off and would be back soon.

   We drove onto Main Street and I dropped Slim off in front of the Sheriff's station. He was his own man and on his own now. I was going to drive off but decided to wait and watch from about half a block down the street. I parked the truck and turned off the lights.

   I heard Slim hollering outside the building. He was hollering for the deputies to come out and face him man to man. I felt sick inside and figured this was not going to end well. I smelled death in the air.

   TO BE CONTINUED  .................

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   April 24   1937   Part Two

 

   Slim had a bottle of whiskey in his left hand and his right hand was near his holster. I didn’t see any cars at the Sheriff's office and it appeared that there was no one there. He was calling the law all kinds of names but there was nobody to hear it. He finally realized this and began to walk off down the street towards the middle of town. I could hear him saying he would shoot anyone that got in his way as he walked into town. I figured it was just a matter of time before something happened and I was right.

   I saw several men with rifles approach him from the side of a dark building. There were shots fired. I saw muzzle flashes from Slim and also the men with rifles. Then it was quiet. I heard some hollering and more men with guns arrived. They were deputies and some armed citizens. Slim was laying in the street. The armed men were standing over him. I headed back to camp.

 

   TO BE CONTINUED ...................

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   April 25   1937

 

   Last night when I got back to camp the crew was sleeping and I didn’t wake them. I told Sarge and Ben what had happened and they said it was probably for the best. 

   In the morning I told the crew what had happened. They were shocked and surprised. I asked Will to go into town after the pumps were running and see what he could find out about the shooting. When we broke work for lunch Will got back from town and told me what he had found out. He went to the general store for a few supplies and there was a group of men playing pool in the back room talking about the previous night. Slim had been gunned down in a hail of gunfire. He never saw it coming. He had gotten off a few shots as he went down and wounded one man. That was about all there was to it. We all decided we were far better off without him but I hated to see the killing and violence that seemed to dominate this area. Our cleanup and weigh got us only one ounce. Things need to get better fast or I may not have a crew much longer. No one has any answers and I will give the south pit one or two more days and if we can’t find more gold we will move to the eastern drift mine.

   TO BE CONTINUED ....................

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  • 2 weeks later...


   April 26   1937

 

   Last night was cold and I kept waking up thinking I heard voices but it must have been something else I was hearing. Anyway, the crew had a good breakfast and went to work at the south pit. The pumps were sending a good water supply up there for John and I and we made hay. We moved a large amount of gravel into the hopper of the tom and worked straight through lunch and stopped around 5:00 PM. We cleaned up the heavies and got done just before dark but only had one ounce again. We were all discouraged when we ate supper by the fire. 

   The weather matched our moods. It was cold and a light rain was coming down. We fixed a tarp over our sitting area after we got done eating and the crew broke out Lucky’s to drink. I brought out a bottle of Jed’s favorite Irish whisky and we proceeded to get drunk as skunks. The only sober people were Sarge and Ben. Around midnight we were on a second bottle of whiskey and forgot about the cold and the rain as well as the lack of gold. I passed out sometime after that.

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

 

   


 

  

 

   

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   April 27   1937

 

   I got up late and had a bad hangover. Some of the crew was already up and ready to work except for John who eventually staggered out of his tent. I had some coffee spiced with whiskey and John did the same. We went up the mountain and started our day two hours later than normal. Nobody was saying a word and the mood was grimm. 

   We worked right through lunch time and finished the weigh before dark. There was almost no gold. John was cursing up a storm and we decided to have a meeting at supper. I broke out a fresh bottle of whiskey and we talked about the lack of gold in the south pit. Even though we were all sick and started late we had worked hard and moved a lot of gravel into the tom. The crew was ready to revolt. They wanted to move the operation. I told them I couldn’t make a good argument to stay in that hell hole any longer and starting tomorrow we would begin to change our location up to the eastern drift mine that Whiskey Jack had recommended. That seemed to make everyone happy and we ate beans and bacon and drank some beer and whiskey. I told the crew that the season was still early. We had a little gold in our pokes and hopefully the good gold was waiting out there for us this Summer. We all turned in early as we had a big day tomorrow. There was a lot of work to do.

 

    TO BE CONTINUED ........................

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