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


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   May 11   1937     Part Seven

   Hudson was passed out and bleeding. Will was barely conscious. They had taken bullets and from what little I could see the camp had been riddled with bullets as well. We were in a war and losing. I tried my best to dress Hudson's wounds with cloth I ripped from his shirt. I did the same for Will. I told them I’d stay with them and fight like hell to protect my partners.

   Up on the ridge all I heard was endless gunfire. The BAR and the Thompson and all kinds of rifle fire. Then I saw someone crawling in towards camp. I grabbed a flashlight and it was one of the hooligans. It looked like he had been shot. I figured this was the guy Sarge had hit before he went up on the mountain to fight. He was in bad shape and bleeding badly. He asked me for help. I took his gun and told him that if he wanted to live he needed to talk or I would shoot him. I asked him who they were and why they were shooting at us. He told me they were from Nevada and had heard about our operation and had been watching us. They had seen us digging up a box and figured it was gold. I asked him how many there were. He told me ten heavily armed men. He begged me to help him and said he didn’t want to die. I told him to keep talking and tell me about these men. He said they were a bad bunch of murderers and robbers. I’d heard enough. I tied his hands behind his back and dragged him out of camp and left him to die. 

   I returned to help protect the camp and my partners as best I could. I looked at my pocket watch. It was just after 5:00 AM and light would be coming soon. We just needed to hold on until daylight. 

   Eventually the gunfire slowed and I heard men coming towards camp. They hollered out. It was Ben, Sarge, and John. John was wounded in the leg and limped into camp and collapsed. Sarge and Ben looked to be ok but exhausted.

   Ben was fired up. He said he had shot a few of them. How bad he couldn’t tell. Sarge said he killed one for sure and thought he hit several others. I told them about the guy just outside of camp and what I had learned. Ben asked me where he was and I pointed in the direction of where I had left him. Ben crawled over to that area and I heard the burst from his Thompson. Then he came back. I didn’t say anything to him or ask him any questions. We were still not out of this mess.

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

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There's a time to fight and a time to die. There's some of both going on here tonight.

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May 11   1937     Part Eight

 

   We took cover in camp. Sarge and Ben got down to his truck which was parked in a little ravine to the south. The hooligans hadn’t found it. He opened up his gun safe that was built into the bed. He grabbed two machine guns and ammo. One was a light duty and the other a medium duty. They set them up at camp and showed us how to use them. It was getting towards dawn and there was a little bit of daylight just starting to break. Sarge said he and Ben were going to check out the ridge and told John to stay and protect camp. John wanted to go with him and so did I. John agreed to stay. I told Sarge I could keep up ok and my leg had stopped bleeding. So the three of us headed up on the mountain. There were spent casings everywhere. We walked north along the trail and soon came across the dead body of one of the outlaws. He was riddled with Sarge’s rounds. It wasn’t too far until we came across another. He was still alive but barely. We questioned him and told him we’d help him if he told us where the outlaw camp was. Sarge stuck the barrel of the BAR in his face and said to start talking and he did. They were camped just a little north of here. The location sounded like the old camp the hooligans were in last year. Ben said to go on ahead and he’d catch up. As we got down the trail we heard the Thompson firing. I reckon Ben finished the outlaw off. Ben caught up to us and we headed for their camp. I promised myself I would kill all of them or die trying.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..................

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   May 12   1937

 

   The three of us had a quick talk and came up with a plan. Daylight was nearing quickly. When we found the camp it was as expected, the old camp from last year that we had destroyed. We snuck in from the south and spotted a sentry. It looked like the rest of the gang was tending to wounded and eating. Some were reloading guns. I stayed in a position at the south and kept an eye on the sentry. Sarge headed left to the west of the camp while Ben took the east side. They would also position themselves to see anyone who tried to escape out the back or north. Sarge told me that if the sentry became aware of our presence I was to drop him. He said to sit tight until I heard the BAR open up and then take out the sentry and don’t miss. Then move up quickly towards the camp from the south. He would move in from the west and Ben was positioned to shoot anyone that moved east or north. We would leave no survivors. About three minutes passed and I heard the low rumble of the BAR. Then the Thompson. I had dead aim on the sentry and squeezed off a shot. I saw him drop to the ground and he didn’t move. I charged in from the south.

   TO BE CONTINUED ............

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   I will get back to the journal tomorrow. Been a busy weekend. Bought a 36 ft Forest River 5th wheel RV and have been out playing with it LOL. If only the old timers had places like that to sleep. 

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55 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

   I will get back to the journal tomorrow. Been a busy weekend. Bought a 36 ft Forest River 5th wheel RV and have been out playing with it LOL. If only the old timers had places like that to sleep. 

Of course it would probably be all shot up by bullets if the mining crew had it.

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   May 13   1937

 

   It is well past dawn and our battle has ended. We took out half the gang of thugs. Where the other half went is unknown at this time. We took stock of our situation. Hudson and Will have wounds but we don’t think they are life threatening. John is ok as are Ben and Sarge. I had a bullet pass through the calf of my leg. John has headed into town with Sarge’s truck to get medical supplies for the wounded. No one wants to go to a doctor and be questioned by the law. We will deal with this situation on our own unless someone is severely wounded. We are all exhausted.

   Eventually John got back to camp with supplies and we dressed our wounds the best we could. Hudson and Will are in no shape to work or even move around camp and we have decided to fortify our cover and post Ben and Sarge at strategic locations where they could open fire on any attackers. There is a medium duty machine gun set up under cover at John’s post. I am tending to Hudson and Will and we are planning to sit tight at camp for the entire day. If what’s left of the gang returns we are ready for them. I am hopeful that they have had enough of us.

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

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 May 14   1937

 

   We had no further problems with the gang yesterday but had a very strange visitor to our camp. He had come up the creek alone towards dusk and was very lucky he wasn’t shot. None of us were in any mood for visitors or strangers near our mine. I had just cracked open a bottle of whiskey and was trying to calm what was left of my nerves. He was a Mountain Maidu shaman and looked to be as old as time itself. He told the crew he knew of us from the stories being told in town and also out in the mountains. He said we were big medicine but wanted to warn us of something. I told him to have a seat in camp.

   He looked around and said we had been in a fight and had killed some bad men. He knew this from a vision he had seen last night. He told us we were brave men and had become a powerful force in the spirit's eyes. But the reason he came to talk to us was what he had been told by the spirits. They had shown him much blood and death around us both in the past and yet to come. We were now as a lightning strike in a storm. But our time would come to die. The spirits would call us back soon. He said there was the smell of death all around us and we were doomed men. There was not much anyone could do to change this according to this Indian. 

   We sat and listened to what he said. I didn’t know what to say except to tell him that we will take care of each other. As he got up to leave he turned to me and smiled. He said we were a band of brave warriors ready for eternity. Then he walked off into the night. We all had a drink of whisky from my bottle and I stoked the night fire.

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

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