Old Standard clippings

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Marshal, he came out of thesaloon and went down to thelower dance hall, and meetingWilkinson and Eskridge, askedthem about the jail breaking of Catron. Mr. Simms says theyasked him how he knew of theaffair, and if there was anyone upfrom below, and he told them hehad just seen Luke Hunter. Theyimmediately came out of thedance hall, and one of them, BurtWilkinson, was standing at thenorthwest corner when MarshalOgsbury, Sheriff Hunter andCharles Hodges came along. TheMarshal saw Wilkinson, and lay-ing his hands on his shouldersaid to him, “I want you.” At thisinstant he was shot.

The parties who were presentare confident it was BurtWilkinson who did the shoot-ing. He was the man on whomthe Marshal had laid his hand.The other parties began shoot-ing and from a dozen to twentyshots were fired, one of whichwent through the logs of thebuilding and took effect in theleft side of Charles Edwards,who was sitting in a chairbehind a gambling table. Thehouse was full at the time, andmost of those present got downthe floor to escape the ballswhich were flying thick and fastthrough the room. The bar-keeper had his clothing cut intwo places by the flying bullets.

The fatal bullet which tookeffect upon the Marshal struckhim on the left side near theheart, and passed entirelythrough his body. His death wasinstantaneous. It is positivelyasserted that Eskridge,Wilkinson, and Black Kid were

all shooting.Wilkinson and Eskridge made

their escape. Their horses were ina pasture and they did not getthem. Their rifles were left at theSilverton stable. It is supposedthat they stole animals, if theyare not now in the vicinity of thecity.

The coroner summoned a juryand it is understood their verdictplaces the death of D.C. Ogsburyupon Burt Wilkinson. The Black

Kid returned to the upper part of the town, and a half an hourafter the occurrence made hisappearance at the Grand Centralhotel where he tried to gainadmittance. His revolver wastaken from him and he wasplaced in jail.

THE BLACKK

ID LYNCHED.On the night following the

murder of Ogsbury, the Black Kidwas taken from the jail by thepeople and hung in a wood-house adjoining it.

There is great indignation on

the part of the people in conse-quence of this most foul andcold-blooded murder, and there isa determination on the part of the citizens that these outlawsshall be brought to justice. Areward of $1500 will be given bythe county, and $1000 by thetown. Governor Pitkin offers areward of $1000; 1000 citizens$2000, making a total of $5,500.

Description: Dyson Eskridge isabout 21 or 22 years of age; aboutfive feet, ten inches high, lightcomplexion, and weighs about155 pounds. Burt Wilkinson isabout 22 years of age; five feet

eleven inches high, weighs about100 pounds, light complexion,light eye brows, freckled face,rough skin on hands with ratherbony appearance; wore suit of light clothes.

From the July 15, 1882 editionof the La Plata Miner:

W

H

Y WECELEBR

ATE!The railroad has arrived in

Silverton, and though all thework is not yet completed, theiron has crossed the boundaryline of the town and it may besaid that the final terminus of theSan Juan extension has beenreached.

It is about ten years almostto the day since the area nowembraced in the county lineswas first explored for lode min-eral, and its inhabitabilityknown, though the abandon-ment by the Indians and per-manent settlement occurredseveral years later. The historyof the country, based uponauthentic data, will some day be

written — possibly it alreadyhas been — let it suffice for thisthat the salient points in itsepoch are legion.

From the February 21, 1885edition of the La Plata Miner:

CHINA

MENCOR

R

A

LLED.Ra

idin

g of the Mong

oli

an

s Wh

oD

o a G

ene

rous Me

r

ch

andiseBu

sine

ss Wit

hout the Nec

e

s

s

a

r

y Lic

ens

e.The sensation of yesterday

afternoon was the arrival of anumber of almond-eyed residentsof Silverton on warrants, sworn

by Robt. Boyle, justice of thepeace, charging them with sellingmerchandise without a license. Ithas been known for some monthpast that the Mongolians weredriving quite a trade in fine silkhandkerchiefs, teas, spices, medi-cines, dried fish and numerousother articles of value …

The goods were sold at ridicu-lously low prices, leading to theinference that they must havebeen smuggled into the countryand that the duty on them hadnever been paid …

Yesterday warrants were issuedfor the arrests of Quong Wah,Sam Lee, Jim Sing, Sam Wah,Quong Kong, and Sam Lee No. 2.

The first named was thewholesale dealer. … His place of business is rather unostentatiousin appearance, and the alluringsign over the door simply reads“Laundry.” It is on Twelfth Streetbetween Greene and Reese. Onthe arrival of Thos. P. Higgins,one of the town constables, witha warrant for his arrest, Quongbecame very indignant and want-ed to fight the “dlam Melicanman.”

From the March 7, 1885 edi-tion of the La Plata Miner:

TESTI

MON

YH

AS DEFEN

DA

NTTHI

NK

I

NGH

E M

AY BEIN

NOCEN

TAF

TER ALL

. J.W. Cory and Peter McNulty

had a quarrel in the Metropolitanbilliard hall last Saturday night.Words finally led to blows andthe two men had a very desperatebattle that lasted for some time,both inside the building and out

on the pavement. Both of themwere arrested and were triedbefore Police Judge George U.Ingersoll on Monday. Five dollarsand trimmings, which means$13.80 in additional or a total of $18.30, was the amount of satis-faction they got from the Justice.An amusing incident was devel-oped at the trial, and one that isdoubtless without precedent inpolice justice’s courts. It seemsthat Cory pleaded guilty to the

charge of having violated one of the town ordinances, but request-ed that he be allowed to intro-duce testimony in extenuation of the offense. The request was com-plied with, and the introductionof the testimony allowed. Eachone of the four witnesses gaveCory such a splendid reputationfor a peace loving and law abid-ing citizen, and made him out asthe possessor of such an angelicdisposition, that he took the floorand requested the justice to per-mit him to withdraw his plea of “guilty” and substitute that of “not guilty,” and at the sametime moving that the case against

him be dismissed on the strengthof the introduced testimony. Thejustice declined.

From the April 12, 1890 edi-tion of the Silverton Standard:

W

E S

TATE NOOPINION ON NEW

CI

T

Y CLERK, BUT HE’SBELIEVED TO BE A

HORSE THI

EF.We have known the new city

clerk for some years, but neverknew any good of him. Anythingwe might say of him would be to

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The Silverton Standard of March 24, 1906 reports on the St. Patrick’s Day Slides that killed some 20 people in the mountains around Silverton.

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his detriment, and we refrainfrom expressing any opinionabout a man whom we believe tobe a horse thief, and know to bea prevaricator.


S

TA

NDARD ‘

ME

AN’?“The Standard said some verymean things last week aboutMayor Wingate. But then the edi-tor should not be blamed, he wasonly doing as he was ordered byhis owners.”

The above from last week’s Miner was doubtless intended tolet the people know that it wasno friendship for Mr. Wingatethat caused that paper to supporthim. And yet we always thoughtthat the Miner and Mr. Wingatewere like two Dromios. The Miner has been owned during differentelections by so many differentparties and factions that it con-

cludes that no paper should sup-port a ticket without first sellingitself.

From the June 7, 1890 editionof the Silverton Standard :

NE

W

SPAPER OW

NER FINED FOR FIGH

TING.On looking over the police

docket, we regret to see that ouresteemed contemporary, Alf. Iles(owner of the Weekly Miner ) wasfined ten dollars and costs lastMonday for fighting on thestreets. Is it possible he couldhave been one in the three cor-nered fight over the plow we

mentioned last week, and is itpossible that in mentioning theoccurance in his paper he namedthe other two parties and forgotfor the moment that he was oneof the crowd? But doubtless thisweek he will mention the factthat he was arrested and fined.

From the July 5, 1890 editionof the Silverton Standard:

THE KILLI

NGOF ISA

AC YOHO.On Friday about two o’clock as

Sol. Raymond of the Durango Herald was walking up Greenestreet from the ball ground a man

names Isaac Yoho stepped up tohim and asked if his name wasRaymond. He said “yes” and theman struck him. Raymond calledfor an officer and told Yoho hewas attacking him at his peril.Yoho made another strike at himand Raymond picked up a rockand throwing it struck Yoho onthe back of the head. Yoho wasmoved to a hotel but remainedunconscious and at 11:30 p.m. hedied. The coroner was summonedand a jury empaneled. The juryviewed the body and suggestedthat a post mortem examina-tion... (It) was held today and itwas found that his skull was frac-

tured. The inquest will be held inDick’s Hall this evening at 8 p.m.In the meantime Raymond is inthe custody of the sheriff. Thecause of the trouble was an articlepublished in the Durango Heraldsome time since in regard toYoho refusing to loan his horseon the occasion of a fire thereand reflecting upon his conductat the time. The deceased hadlived here for some years. Heowned some gold claims in IceLake basin and a ranch in thelower country, where he hasmany friends.

From the March 14, 1891 edi-

tion of the Silverton Standard:

FRESH BEEFFI

NALLY ARRI

VES.The county contributed a little

money to assist in opening thewagon road to Red Mountain,and for three days had four teamsand a number of snowshovelersat work. In consequence we oncemore have fresh beef, the onlything the town ran short of dur-ing the blockade.

From the June 20, 1891 edi-

tion of the Silverton Standard: T

WO ESC

A

PE FROMTHE COU

N

T

Y JA

IL

.Two prisoners escaped from

the county jail on Tuesday. Theyhad assistance from the outside.They were in the cage, uponwhich there were two locks. Theybroke the locks and dug outthrough the stonework at thesame point where a prisonerescaped some few weeks since.Some people living near the jailheard them working and notifiedSheriff May but by the time hegot over there the birds hadflown. No blame can be attached

to the sheriff as he notified thecounty commissioners at theirlast meeting that it was simplyimpossible to keep a prisonerthere, unless he wished to stay,without fixing the jail or having aguard. The commissionersthought differently and did noth-ing in the matter, the conse-quence is that two more prisonersescaped. They were both in forpetty offences, one for stealing ahat and the other for stealing agun. They had only five moredays to serve.

T

EN

T FOR SA

LE:

SUI

TA

BLE FOR USEAS A COU

N

T

Y JAI

L.We have a 12x8 tent we

should like to sell to the countycommissioners for a jail. It wouldcost but little to repair it aftereach prisoner escaped.

From the November 4, 1893edition of the Silverton Standard:

WINGATE BEHINDSECR

ET TA

X ONSPORT

I

NG WOM

EN.Two years ago John Wingate

was mayor of Silverton. Duringhis term of office he was instru-mental in compelling the sport-

ing women of the town to pay acertain portion of the proceeds of their nefereous occupation intothe town treasury. It was not inthe nature of a license becausethe law strictly prohibits the exis-tence of houses of this character.One who was present at themeeting of the town board at thetime says that Wingate directedthat the resolution must not berecorded as it was illegal. Nowwhat was the object of theenforced contribution referred to?It would appear that it was inci-dentally to establish a high moralreputation for some one, anddirectly to decrease somebody’staxes at the expense of the unfor-tunate fallen woman, in a man-ner repugnant to the feelings of any right minded person, and indirect violation of the law. Wewould ask the voters of thiscounty, how many of you desireto have your taxes paid with suchillgotten gains, and thus by youraction in accepting the proceedsof a criminal act, place yourselvesin a position to deserve the con-tempt of even the prostitute.


GL

ADSTONE T

RACKSLAID I

N 34 DAYS.The last rail of the Silverton,

Gladstone & Northerly Ry. will bespiked down at the Gold Kingmill this afternoon. The road isnine miles long and the timeoccupied in its construction hasbeen thirty-four days. In manyplaces, the S.G.&N. Ry. has yet tobe ballasted. Grading for thefoundation of the extension of the Gold King mill for the recep-tion of ten more stamps wasbegun this morning.

From the Feb. 2, 1901 editionof the Silverton Standard:

‘

M

ADGE’ PASSESFROM A LIFE ‘BL

ACK TO THE BLI

ND.’At 3 o'clock Wednesday morn-

ing the 30th, from a life that wereblack to the blind, “Madge," oneof the girls employed at Lake'sdance hall, crossed the channelof death into the vale of mystery.The disease was pneumonia andthe burial occurred from Prosser'sundertaking establishment at 3o'clock Thursday afternoon.

From the September 21, 1901

edition of the Silverton Standard:

DUR

ANGO TO BE ASILVERTON SUBUR

B.This city needs a new city hall;

this county a court house. Thedays of mossbacking are past. Geta move on and keep up with theprocession. Silverton is destinedto become a city with Durango asa suburb.

From the May 17, 1902 edi-tion of the Silverton Standard:

M

UR

DEROU

S AT

TACK U

PON T

HE CHI

NESEELEMEN

T I

N TOW

N.You may have heard of the

violence, of the terror that reignedsupreme and of the defying moband law breakers that indulged inthe murderous attack upon theChinese element in Silverton lastMonday night, to which pleasedo not consider as a criterion thatSilverton’s people are not as lawabiding and peaceful as can befound in any town in the state,and that the hand full of miscre-ants who indulged in this voca-tion may be found in every town

and city in the Union.While the Standard is in direct

sympathy with any peaceablemovement to discourageChinamen in their endeavor tooccupy the positions and tradesof Merican citizens, we believethere is a greater duty to performin ousting of such an elementthat resorts to such means as wasemployed at midnight hours. Themal-treatment of a dog in such amanner as was meted to the twoChinamen would naturally elicitcommendation from any humanbeing and the natural laws of humanity would render someassistance to life even if there

were no statutory law. The dogwould at least receive protectionfrom the humane society.

From the June 14, 1902 edi-tion of the Silverton Standard:

CEMEN

T CR

EEK NOTSO CLE

AR AN

Y MOR

E.One of the heretofore pleasant

sights of Silverton — the ditchesrunning full of clear water — hasbeome a thing of the past. Of lateyears the water from Cementcreek has been muddy and farfrom attractive, owing to milltailings, and now ditches arebeing filled up and all traces of

them removed.


2 FINED FOR SINGI

NGWI

T

HOU

T A PERMI

T.In the Police court, Thursday,

Fred Howett and NormanCameron plead guilty to chargeof singing without a permit, andwere promptly rebuked by his

Honor in the sum of $5 and costseach.


ASSAU

LT M

ADEU

PON SILV

ERTONS

TA

NDAR

D.At 8 o’clock, or shortly there-

after, last Tuesday morning, A.A.Brown, general manager of theStony Pass Mining Co., enteredthe Standard office and afterexhibiting an item appearing inStandard columns, issue of May 7last, which he considered detri-mental to his mining enterprises,

proceeded to deliver a quantity of Billingsgate and threatening lan-guage to the editor as is seldomheard.

As the harrangue proceeded,Mr. Brown lost complete controlof himself and whipped out afierce looking six-shooter whichhe doubtless intended using, andin no uncertain terms shouted tothe office force “Get your guns if you want to, I can lick a thou-sand of you,” and taking him athis word, the senior Klinger, whowas seated near the manager’sdesk, was soon equally armedand held the weapon in readinessfor action. As the office gun was

presented, the visitor was com-manded to put up his revolver,which he did, and as he was inthe act, O.W. Klinger, to whomthe tirade of abuse had beendirected, made a hasty exit to thesidewalk in search of an officerfor the purpose of placing Brownunder arrest.

In the meantime, Brown hadflown from the scene of the dis-turbance to his office where theofficer found him shortly after-words. He had no gun on his per-son at this time and made claimsin Judge Watson’s presence thathe had not had one. Klingermade his statement to the judge

who made out the complaint,and thinking it contained chargesagainst Brown for carrying con-cealed weapons and threateninghis life, signed the documentwithout reading it, and the casewas set for hearing at 2 o’clockMonday afternoon at the requestof the defendant.

A bond of $100 for appearancewas furnished but Mr. Brownchose later to declare his guiltand pay $5 and costs for his supe-rior and somewhat exceptionalprivileges of the morning. Thecomplaint was afterwords foundto be simply a disturbance of thepeace.


JOUR

NA

LIS

TIC HIDESNOT WORTH M

UCH.A.A. Brown, the Silverton min-

ing promoter who made the gunplay at Editor Klinger of theStandard the other day, was fined$5. If he had shot the newspaper-man, he would have probablybeen assessed as much as $10

Journalistic hides are not worthmuch now, anyway. — Telluide

Examiner

The Silverton Standard office in 1899 at the corner of `12th and Reese, where the Post Office now stands.Pictured arethe Klinger brothers, who operated the paper from 1897 to 1906.

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From the September 17, 1904edition of the Silverton Standard:

INSTA

NTDEATH.

Came to Pete

r Da

l

l

ai

n a Te

rri

f

ic E

x

plosion

.

Residents of this city and par-ticularly those residing on EastThirteenth near Blair and Mineralstreets were awakened at 3:30Thursday morning by a terrificexplosion, and as they hastilyarose from their couches, gravefears were entertained of somedreadful disaster.

In a very few moments thestreets were thoroughly crowdedwith anxious persons seeking thescene of wreckage and possiblybloodshed. All were headed for apoint between Blair and Mineraland here found the little framecottage occupied by Peter Dallawith the north side almost blownout, the interior furnishings badlywrecked and the lifeless body of Dalla deposited in the oppositeside of the room from that wherethe explosion occurred.

A thorough examination of the premises revealed the factthat several sticks of giant powderhad been suspended on the outerwall of the building and near thehead of Dalla’s bed. All being sat-isfactorily placed and the intend-ed victim fast asleep, the com-bustibles were ignited in someunknown manner with the resultabove given. So great was theforce of the explosion that thebuilding adjoining that occupiedby Dalla was also badly wrecked

— doors blown off, frame worksplintered, windows shatteredand furnishings demolished.Fortunately no one was in thecottage at the time or other vic-tims would have been registered.

There is no absolute clue tothe murderer of Mr. Dalla, sinceno one but the perpetrator of thisdastardly deed seems to havebeen witness to the explosion,and yet there is little doubt in theminds of officers and friends of the victim who recall the detailsof an attempt on Dalla’s life at 11o’clock on Saturday night May 14last by Barney Fori, and this sameman, it is reported, has made

numerous threats since.Standard readers will doubtless

remember the assault upon Dallaby Fori in the former’s saloon onBlair street. Fori entered the placethrough a rear door and, with aColts revolver pointed at personspresent, commanded all hands togo up. Two shots were fired atDalla, one taking effect in his leftleg just above the knee. Thewound was of a very seriousnature but the victim was eventu-ally restored to former health andstrength and has been attendinghis business duties for severalweeks.

The ill will existing betweenDalla and Fori is said to have aris-en from the infatuation of eachfor the same girl. Dalla was suc-cessful in his suit for the hand of this fair young maiden and twicehas a date been set for the cere-mony uniting their lives, but asmany times has their purposebeen thwarted. This time theaffair is forever cancelled bydeath of the successful suitor.

Officers of both city and coun-ty were at the scene of the explo-sion shortly after its occurrenceand, with no clue excepting theformer attempt of Fori uponDalla’s life and a knowledge of the bad blood existing betweenthe two, went out upon the trail

of the suspect. Walter Campbellwas detailed to go to a miningcamp at Animas Forks where Forihas been at work, while otherswent out in designated direc-tions. Officer Campbellapproached a cabin at the miningcamp and gaining entrancefound Fori in bed partly dressed.He was at once placed underarrest and is now behind bars inthe county jail.

The body of Dalla with scarce-ly a single scratch or sign of vio-lence exempting a fracture of theskull, was taken to the undertak-ing room of H.G. Prosser, onlower Greene street, where at

1:30 in the afternoon of Thursdayan inquest was begun under thedirection of District AttorneyPullman.

Eight witnesses were presentto testify, one of the most impor-tant being Florence Baker, anemploye of one of the Blair streetdance halls, who had seen twomen in the alley near Dalla’sroom between the hours of oneand three o’clock Thursdaymorning. She was taken to thecounty jail but could not identifyFori as being one of the partiesseen in the alley. The shift boss atthe mine where Fori works couldnot be had at this hearing but itis thought he will prove a valu-

able witness.

From the April 1, 1905 editionof the Silverton Standard:

DUEL TOTHE DEAT

H. M

ar

shal M

acKen

z

ie Sh

ot an

dKille

d in Eu

r

eka S

al

o

on.Last Saturday afternoon in

Joe Landry’s saloon, at Eureka,occurred a shooting affray, inwhich Marshal MacKenziereceived his death wound froma pistol shot fired by ArthurRice.

It seems that for some time

the men had not been on goodterms, owing to a falling outover some mining matters, andit is alleged that both men hadbeen packing around guns foreach other in anticipation of apersonal collision, which finallycame, as it always does to thosewho go about looking for trou-ble.

A little before 3 o’clockSaturday afternoon, the menmet in the saloon and renewedtheir quarrel. In the midst of the argument, MacKenzie, whohad been drinking heavily, sud-denly whipped out his gun andemptied its five chambers point

blank at Rice, who miraculouslyescaped with nothing more seri-ous than a powder burnt face.Rice hastily drew his ownweapon and with marksmanlikeprecision fired a single shot athis adversary, sending a bulletthrough his victim’s left breastwithin an inch of his heart.MacKenzie fell to the floor inan unconscious condition, andthe duel was over.

News of the tragedy was atonce telephoned to Silverton,and Sheriff Palmquist and Dr.

J.S. Fox drove quickly to thescene of the shooting, whereRice was arrested and medical

attention given MacKenzie.Both men were placed aboardthe evening train for this city,but MacKenzie succumbed tohis wound and died on the waydown, the body being at oncetaken to Prosser’s undertakingestablishment upon the train’sarrival. Rice was given quartersat the county jail.

Sunday at 1 o’clock CoronerProsser impaneled the followingjury to hold an inquest: P.J.Clifford, H.L. Damschroder,R.H. Cooper, Geo. Hemphill,Frank Schmelzer and CharlesLeonard. After hearing evidencein the case, a verdict was ren-

dered to the effect that MarshalMacKenzie came to his deathfrom a pistol shot fired byArthur Rice. The verdict con-tained no expression one wayor the other regarding the justi-fication of the shooting uponthe grounds of self-defense.District Attorney Pulliam waspresent at the inquest, and afterthe coroner’s jury had renderedthe verdict, Mr. Pulliam at oncefiled a charge of murder in thefirst degree against Rice, in

Justice Watson’s court. The pris-oner on Monday waived a pre-liminary hearing, and wasbound over to the district court

under bonds of $7,500. Suretieson the bond were obtained inthe persons of W.Z. Kinney, J.H.Slattery, Gus Berquist and R.W.Hollis, and Rice was set at liber-ty to appear for trial at the Mayterm of the district court.

For a long time both theprincipals in this deplorableaffair have been well known inSan Juan, and both had awide00 circle of friends andacquaintances. They had fromtime to time been jointly inter-ested in mining, and up to ashort time back had beenbosom friends.

From the January 27, 1906edition of the Silverton Standard:

FIVE DIE INSNOWSLIDE.Last Monday morning, while

a number of workmen at theTerry tunnel of the Sunnysidemine were out on the dump, aterrible slide suddenly camedown the mountain, over-whelming five of them.

The men were carried only afew feet from where they werestanding, but when rescuersreached them all were dead.

All were Italians and mem-bers of the union. Their names

were Anton Zel, aged 46, mar-ried; Dominick Paveglio, 39,married; Jonbatisto Pasinatina,married, 39; Thomas Saila, sin-gle, 28; Dominick Borla, single,34.

There were two or three nar-row escapes, but no severeinjuries were sustained.

There was much sorrow atthe sudden taking of the men.They were the best types of sunny Italy, and as popular withtheir American associates asamong their fellow country-men.

The bodies were brought totown Wednesday and the funer-

al on Thursday was one of themost impressive ever witnessedin the mountains. With thechurch bells tolling a requiemand with the Eagles band inton-ing the funeral march, the deadmen were borne to their lasthome at Hillside. The five cas-kets were each escorted by sixpallbearers, and each body fur-nished separate conveyance,which were sleds. The Minersunion turned out en masse.

MINOR SLIDE

S.The boarding house, office

and compressor room at theproperty of the Natalie andOccidental Mining company

were crushed and damaged tothe extent of about $5,000.Fortunately no lives were lost.

SUPPLY CONDI

T

IONS.As soon as it became certain

that the blockade would last fortwo weeks or more, some alarmwas expressed as to the adequa-cy of the food, coal and othersupplies. In order to ascertainthe exact condition of such sup-plies, the Standard representa-tive visited the leading mer-chants of the town. Every onemost emphatically declared thatthere was sufficient food supplyto meet all demands for

The Silverton Standard office was located in what is now the lobby of the Grand Imperial Hotel in this 1902 photo. Above, the Standard sign can beseen on the 12th Street side of the hotel. This is where the Standard ’s historical marker will be placed following the dedication on Saturday, May 5, 2012at the San Juan County Historical Society Museum.


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months, and that the citizens of Silverton need feel no alarm.


SI

LV

ER L

A

KE MILLDES

TROYED I

N FIRE.The Silver Lake mill, owned

by the Guggenheims, wasburned to the ground earlyFriday morning, causing a lossof about $250,000 fully coveredby insurance.

It was evidently incendiary,although no known reason forsuch action can be given.

Orville Bardfield, nightwatchman, made the rounds at3 a.m. and found everything allright. At 4 o’clock he discovereda fire blazing on the vannerfloor. ... Several men wereengaged about the mill at thetime and when the watchmangave the alarm they respondedat once. When they got out thehose, however, they were dis-covered to be minus the noz-zles, which had been removedand carried away. Later theywere found near the river,where they had been cast away.But for this the blaze couldhave been subdued and the

immense loss averted.Bradford is positive that the

floors and walls had been saturat-ed with oil ...


SI

X K

ILLEDA

S FU

MESOVERCOME

RESCUER

S.Friday night, June 5th, the badnews was telephoned to townshortly after 8 o’clock fromGladstone that the buildings atthe Gold King mine werethought to be on fire as a verylarge conflagration was noticed inthat vicinity. … Every building atthe mouth of the tunnel wasdoomed to destruction. A specialtrain in charge of W.Z. Kinneywas started from town shortlyafter nine o’clock and rushed tothe scene of disaster as soon aspossible but it was found thatthere was no way of checking theravages of the all consuming fire.

Every building in its path wasdestroyed. …After the fire was over, it was

thought that all the men wereout of the mine and that noone was injured but a mannamed Fritzes who jumpedfrom a window of the boardinghouse and hurt his back badly.On Saturday, however, therumor became persistent thatthree miners who were in themine at the time of the fire,were still unaccounted for.Upon investigation this wasfound to be true. VictorErickson, John Fenstom, andOtto Johnson were entombed in

the mine. That afternoon a res-cue party was organized. Thirtyor forty men were in this partyheaded by C.A. Waters, secre-tary of the Miners’ Union andW.Z. Kinney, general managerof the Gold King and at 2:30they went up on a special train.As soon as possible they wentdown into the mine. Theyfound the missing men in thefour hundred level and all of them were alive at the time butby this time they found thatthey had more of a task on theirhands than that of getting threemen to the surface. The poison-ous gases left by the fire of the

night before and fumes accu-mulated … began to tell on thecondition of the brave rescuers,and one by one they began tobe overcome and sink intounconsciousness. … When thedead were numbered it wasfound that Peter McEnany andRoy Coburn, shift bosses, Alex

Johnson, Gus Olsen, A.W. Burnsand Victor Erickson had suc-cumbed to the effects of thenoxious gases. The first five hadgiven their lives in attempt torescue their imprisoned broth-ers. ...

From the April 11, 1908 edi-

tion of the Silverton Standard: DETAILS I

N THESHOOTI

NG DE

ATHOF JA

MES MURPHY.At the inquest held Saturday

over the body of James Murphy,who was shot and killed byOscar Nelson at Howardsvilleon Friday, April 3rd ... evidencetaken before the jury was to theeffect that on the day of theshooting, Nelson had playedseveral games of “sluff” fordrinks at the saloon of MartinSneller and had settled withMurphy, the bartender, for butone of these games. After a

slight dispute over this, Nelsonwalked out of the house, com-ing back after a short time andproposing a game of poker. Inthe progress of the gameMurphy made a bet which wascalled by Nelson. Murphyshowed his hand and Nelsonstarted to take out his chips.Murphy objected to this andNelson, arising, said, “I’ll giveyou what I owe you.”Whereupon he pulled a revolverand shot Murphy through thetemple, killing him instantly.

From the January 7, 1910 edi-tion of the Silverton Standard:

GRE

AT STORMPROVES FATA

L TOARTH

UR R

ICE AN

DCARL BRU

NN —BLOCKS R

AILROADTR

AFFIC.The storm of the past week

was the severest of the seasonand at times threatened to be arecord breaker. It startedThursday evening with a heavyfall of very wet snow which last-ed all day Friday. Saturday itbegan to grow colder with highwinds and soon developed in ahowling blizzard which contin-ued with very little abatementuntil early Wednesday morningwhen it cleared off with a heavyfrost which prevailed throughoutthe day, Wednesday night regis-tering 34 degrees below zero, thecoldest of the winter so far. ...

DEAT

H OF ARTHUR RICE.Late Friday afternoon news

reached the city from AnimasForks that Arthur Rice, one of themost highly respected and bestknown mining men and expertsof the district, had been caughtin a huge snowslide on the sideof Houghton mountain near theColumbus mine where he wasemployed, and swept to death inthe gulch below, and that hispartner, Edward Anderson, whowas with him at the time, wasalso caught, but managed toescape with a few bruises andslight injuries ...

CARL BRUNN KIL

LED.About 3 o’clock Sunday morn-

ing a huge slide which sweptdown the mountain side intoArastra gulch, tearing away theheating part of the sliming plant,at the Town mill caught CarlBrunn, an employe of the mill,who had just gone off shift, in hiscabin, in the act of starting a fireand crushed him to death. ...

FAL

SE RUMOR

S.

The above deaths were theonly fatalities caused bysnowslides in the county,notwithstanding that while thestorm was in progress reportswere flying around thick and fastof men being slaughtered onevery side by the ravages of thewhite terror. Reports of twenty-two deaths in all reached theStandard office up to and includ-ing Tuesday afternoon, the resultof many too imaginative mindsall of which fortunately provedfalse, excepting the deaths of Mr.Rice and Mr. Brunn. ...

THE BLOCK

ADEOF THE CANON.All the railroads were soon out

of commission.The wet snow of Friday fol-

lowed by many slides in theAnimas canon caused a completeblockade between Durango andSilverton, the outgoing trainFriday morning being the lasttrain through the canon sincethat time. A heavy freight trainwith ten carloads of coal forSilverton succeeded in getting up

Silve




The Silverton Standard office in 1934.


See STORIES, Page 6

A GRIM TASK The Dec. 14, 1918 edition of the Silverton Standard was about as grim as itcould possibly get. The paper listed 146 persons who had died in Silverton

in the Spanish Flu Pandemic which had started just two months earlier.The toll would eventually reach at least 161.


6/9

as far as the King mine, two milesbelow the city, where it becamesnow bound, it is said, by theheavy fall of wet snow and afterseveral ineffectual attempts tobuck its way through ran the carsback as far as Elk Park, six milesbelow town, where they were sidetracked. ... Thursday afternoon

Local Agent Crum received ordersfrom Denver to hire all availablemen at $2.50 per day and to rushthe work so the blockade couldbe lifted with all possible speed.

Thursday afternoon CountyCommissioner Louis Wyman andProf. Baker, principal of the highschool, walked in from Elk Park.They reported conditions werenot nearly as bad as were general-ly supposed. Mr. Wyman statedthat the road had been clearedmany times in less than a week,when in a much worse condtion,and could be opened very quicklyif men could be secured to shovelsnow. But right there is the diffi-

culty as men at work for $3.00per day could not be induced toshovel snow for $2.50 per day.

... Only fourteen men reportedfor work Friday morning. Mr.Crum estimates that it will taketwo weeks to reach the shed withsuch a small force.

With the theatening aspect of the weather yesterday, the situa-tion was everything but rosy. Infact, unless some vigorous stepswere at once taken to relieve it,we would be speedily brought tothe cold realization that we wereface to face with a coal famine soserious that it called for attentionand quick action on the part of

our public officials — monetarycontributions and volunteerworkers.

With this condition staring usin the face, Mayor Allen andsome of the business men begana movement yesterday afternoonto raise sufficient funds by volun-tary contributions to pay themen who were willing to shovelsnow on this side of the blockade50 cents per day in addition tothe $2.50 offered by the railroad,so as to make their wages threedollars per day.

From the Aug. 27, 1910 edi-tion of the Silverton Standard:

AU

TOMOBILE ROLLSIN

TO SILVERTON.Today the first automobile

ever seen in Silverton will enterthe city from the east. It will bebrought in via Stony Pass by for-mer old time resident Dr. D.L.Mechlin and J.A. McGuire, editorand publisher of “Outdoor Life”and County Commissioner LouisWyman. … This will be a red let-ter day for Silverton’s history andwill be one of its greatest advertis-ing cards. Mayor B.B. Allen andthe Commercial Club havearranged an informal reception tobe held this afternoon at the newcity hall at 2 o’clock in honor of

our first automobile tourists,open to all and everybody isinvited to be there.

From the December 31, 1921edition of the Silverton Standard:

ENGI

NES PLU

NGEI

N

TO AN

I

M

AS RI

V

ER,FIREM

A

N K

ILLED.Train No. 461, a mixed freight

and passenger bound fromSilverton to Durango, waswrecked Tuesday afternoon atabout 4:30, three-fourths of amile below Tacoma when theengines were thrown from thetrack by a rock and mud slide

into the river fifty feet below,killing John Connor, fireman of the pilot engine instantly andseriously injuring his brother,

James Connor, the engineer. Thecrew of the second engine werethrown with their engine intothe river, but escaped withpainful cuts and bruises. Theother train men and passengersescaped with a severe shaking upand frights.

The ill fated train was incharge of Conductor JamesPheney, and had left Silvertonearlier in the afternoon. Afterpassing Tacoma and when goingat a fair rate of speed the rockand mud slide was encountered,a slippery track caused by steadyrain preventing emergency meas-ures.

Several Silverton people were

on the train, who aside from asevere shaking up and scare, weredelivered into Durango at teno’clock that night.

The wreck was probably theworst in the history of theSilverton branch, and was madefar less in the loss of life andproperty by breaking of the cou-plings between the engines andtrain proper. ... Had the entiretrain gone into the river, the lossof life would have been appalling.

From the May 13, 1938 edi-tion of the Silverton Standard & the

Miner:

FIR

E DESTROYSUPPER PART OFAVON HOTEL.The upper story and roof of

the Avon Hotel, Empire and 10thSts., owned and operated by RosaSteward, were almost completelydestroyed by fire, originating in athird-floor apartment, about 10o’clock Sunday morning.

The building, a brick andstone structure, was constructedby the late F.O. Sherwood for amercantile establishment withthe second story as living quar-ters and a rooming house. AfterMiss Steward acquired the build-ing a few years ago, ceilings of the original building weredropped and a third floor added.

Furnished as apartments, theentire third floor was in use andseveral occupants were forced toleave by windows as the blaze cutoff any access to the stairways. Adog in one of the apartments

died of suffocation. Furniture and

personal effects on the secondand third floor were damaged bywater.

Insurance on the building andcontents, said to approximate$2500, is entirely inadequate, asthe loss will easily reach $6000.Miss Steward will not makeknown her plans for restorationof the building until an adjust-ment of loss is made ...

Silverton has experienced larg-er fires in past history, but proba-bly never a more stubborn blaze,rendered almost inaccessible tofire fighters by the constructionof the building and the amount

of lumber in the roof and sup-porting structure. Four streams of water were used more than twohours by volunteer firemenbefore the fire was out.

Neighbors discovered the fireand warned occupants of thebuilding. Response to the alarmwas immediate and volunteerfiremen were assisted by many of the largest crowd of Silvertonpeople to assemble in many days.Church and Sunday School serv-ices were discontinued and allother activities in the townceased until the blaze was extin-guished.

Occupants of the several apart-

ments found places to stay inother parts of town. Miss Stewardwill continue to occupy the lowerfloor of the hotel until repairsand restoration is accomplished.

From the Marcy 8, 1963 edi-tion of the Silverton Standard & the Miner:

R

EV. M

A

RVI

NH

U

DSON, T

WODAUGH

TERS LOS

TI

N AVAL

ANCHE.Workmen this morning tack-

led the enormous heap of snow

ABOV

E: The Silverton Standard reports on the 1942 Pride of the West mine fire.B

ELOW: Schoolchildren tour the Silverton Standard office in 1962.

Silve





See STORIES, Page 7


7/9

Silve




at the base of East Riverside slideon the Million Dollar Highwayfor the sixth day in search of some signs of three members of the Marvin Hudson family, miss-ing since Sunday morning whena slide ran and engulfed them

and their car.The Rev. Marvin Hudson, 44,

and two of his daughters, Amelia,17, and Pauline, 11, were on theirway from their family ranchbetween Ouray and Ridgway toSilverton when they encountereddifficulty on the highway underthe East Riverside slide.

While Rev. Hudson was put-ting chains on the car, the slideran with a force that “didn’t com-pare with other slides” in thewords of a highway maintenanceman who witnessed the tragedy.

When the mist had cleared,there was no sign of the car or itsthree occupants, and nothing has

been seen of them since. …Rev. Hudson was on his way

to conduct services at theCongregational church here atthe time of the accident.

In addition to serving as min-ister here, he taught the sixthgrade in Silverton’s grade school.

From the August 28, 1970 edi-tion of the Silverton Standard & the

Miner:

‘RIOT-T

YPESI

T

UATION’REPORTED AT BAR.A hearing has been scheduled

for September 9 at 8 p.m. by the

Silverton Town Board on theoperation of The Place, orCordo’s, Silverton’s only 3.2 bar.

The hearing was scheduled ...following the lodging of formal

complaints against the establish-ment ... by Wiley Carmack andpolice chief Roy Lancaster.

The charges stemmed from anincident last Saturday eveningwhich Lancaster described to theboard as “a riot-type situation” inwhich crowds estimated all the

way from 25 to 150 engaged in amoving altercation coveringmore than a block of street andsidewalk outside the establish-ment and lasting over an hour.Several individuals were treatedfor injuries as a result of the inci-dent, including one lad who washanged up by a flying tricycle.

From the September 11, 1970edition of the Silverton Standard & the Miner:

FLOOD ST

UNSSILVERTON.Two days of virtually continu-

ous rain created flood conditions

in the Animas River drainage onSaturday night and Sunday(September 5 and 6) whichstunned Silverton and thecanyon and valley of the Animasbelow Baker’s Park.

The flooding of Mineral Creekjust before it joins the Animaswas a key ingredient in the catas-trophe, which struck after darkSaturday and by noon Sundayhad:

— Closed the Denver & RioGrande Western’s narrow gaugetrain with a series of severewashouts.

— Virtually demolished Silver-ton’s new sewage treatment

plant.— Cut off Silverton’s major

water supply from Bear Creek,leaving the town with no waterSaturday night ...


In this 1975 photo, Larry Duthie, Standard editor, with former editorAllen Nossaman working at the old Miehle press.

“Deat

h not

ices for de

linque

nts

ubsc

r

ibe

r

s w

ill not be inse

rt

ed.”— an extract from the Gla

d

ston

e Ki

b

osh, January 5, 19

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Clip and f

ill out this form, enclose a checkand mail to:Silve

r

ton St

and

ard & the Miner P.O. Box 8Silv

e

rton, CO 81433Or c

all us w

ith c

redit card info: (970) 387-5477

Rates: $24 a year for Silverton residents;$48 per year for all other deliveries in theUnited States. E-mail subscription, $26 ayear. Donations to the Silverton Standard arenow tax deductible! Help this historic news-paper survive!

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