A WYOMING ROMANCE. Eight Prospectors Found Murdered.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 350, 13 March 1889, Page 6

A WYOMING ROMANCE. Eight Prospectors Found Murdered.

Cheyenne, February 9. — The discovery of the bodies of eight Mexican prospectors ab the mouth of the abandoned San Salvador mine, in the northern part of Wyoming, has brought to light a romantic story rivalling all the tales about seekers for Captain Kidds buried treasures. Miguel Martinez, at the head of a party of his countrymen, was here last fall for two days. He confided to a Mexican gambler here the statement that they were in search of an abandoned gold mine which they believed to be rich in rnebal and were going to develop. Martinez carried a chart traced on a ! parchment which they said was 200 years old and was made by an ancestor of his in the seventeenth centuvy. The chart had been lost for years, but had recently turned up, and at once a party was organised. The story that had run through the family for generations was that Martinez, the "elder, was at the head of a band of Spanish gold hunters who were working a rich mine in this part of the country. The miners quarrelled and finally fought, and their division resulted in the abandonment of the mine, though it was very rich. Martinez was wounded and died on the way home. With his blood he traced a chart which was to be a rich legacy to his children. A faithful friend delivered the document, which soon afterward was' lost and only recently turned up. The present Martinez was told of two mines in the north that mineralogists have declared were worked by Spaniards a hundred years ago. His party was not heard of again until to-day, when a hunter named Keller reported that his party had discovered their bodies. All the Mexicans had been shot, and were somewhat cut up by knives, showing that the struggle was a hand-to-hand one. There were evidences that the victorious party had lost three or four men, and that they had made a hasty departure, carrying their dead and wounded with them. What surprised the hunter most was to find that the" mine had recently been worked. It is nob known that . a pickaxe has touched a stone since two men starved to death there in 1877. There is reason to think that the San Salvador was not the mine described on their chart, and that the murderers have taken the map and 1 gone off to locate the ancient mine. The fact that the Mexicans' horses and tools were taken and that' their jewellery and some money were • not "removed from their bodies seems to prove this. " Keller says there was every indication jthat the San Salvador mine was payings and believes that the mine "sought; for fey Mexicans is not far from the oth errand' is known. to the party who were at -work*. No one here knows who,. the murderous^ prospectors were, and as the region ,in^ which (the .events c occurred is , almost)?^ inaccessible, it is not likely that" anypne will start to work the old' mine and b'jary-tKe Mexicans before spring. , /-,V f ' v -. ';

The waltz decided upon for the^coming season by the convention - of; I dancing masters will embrace several new« f , figures^ It wouldn't be much of a dance unless there was considerable embracing about it. "r- a *

in schools, as well as in respect to the disf ranchisement of the parents of offend" ing children ; but that juvenile offences now punishable under the Justices of the Peace Act and the Public Offences Act by fine and imprisonment, should be punishable as follows : — By whipping, by fining, the fines to be leviable on the parents ; by committal to reformatories, with a view to their being sent to a training 1 or seagoing ship, or prepared for other occupa tions, the parents to be liable for the expense at the discretion of the justices ; and bv fining the parents for neglect. It was fuither resolved, That the compul sory clauses of the Education Act be universally enforced; that adequate playgrounds should be provided for the public schools, and nielit schools of a technical character instituted. Messrs Northcroft, Tiznrd, and Dr Kilgour were appointed a committee to draw up a report and submit it to a meeting on the 23rd insfc. At St George's Chinch yesterday afternoon the stained glass window erected in memory of the late Captain Wildman, was travailed by Dr Payne, There was a very large congregation, including members of the Naval Artillery, while that Companys Brass Band played two select tions during the service, viz., " The Final Halt." and' « Vital Spnik." The Rev F. G. Evans officiated and delivered an appropriate addresp. It is proposed to amalgamate the three Licensing Committee's in the Borough, and form one Licensing district The matter will come before the Borough Council at its next meeting. During the past month the Bank of New Zealand has purchased 2372ozs IGdwts gold, made up as follows : Thames Borough, 15380zs 7d wts ', Thames County, 7480zs sd\vts ; and Ohinemuri County, 8l?ozs 4dwts. In a recent issue of the News it was mentioned that Mr J. F. Heighway had been appointed manager of the Australian Gold and Silver Extracting Company, recently formed to work a mining property at Waitekauri, In the course of a conversation with Mr Heighway, he informed me that a contract had been let for forming a track from the main Waitekauri road to the proposed battery site, and that the work is now in progress. It has been decided to erect a ten stamper battery as soon as the machinery can be conveyed to the ground, to crush the numerous boulders in what is known as the Scotia Creek, and which Mr Heighway thinks will prove payable. He also states that some of the boulders are of an argentiferous nature, and should they be found to contain silver in payable quantities, one of Lockwood's furnaces will also bo erected at Waitekauri. It is also possible that oneof these furnaces \\ ill be put up at the Thames, but it is unlikely that any thing definite will be decided until the arrival of Mr Chnppell from Sydney in the com ?e of the next two or three weeks. During the past month 450 tons of quartz were crushed at the New Moanatairi battery for 329nzs 2dwts gold. Included in this is 1630zs from 132 tons of quartz crushed by the company's tribnters. There is no chancre to repoit in the Saxon mine, except that the main reef at the low level should now be to hand ;my day. Crushing is shaping for a good return. The crushing: for the Wiiintahi Company promises a highly remunerative yield