Show THE independence Ct STEAL everyone who has kept reasonably well posted with developments in the sale of W S Strat tons famous gold group of mines known as the independence having the welfare of utah mining 7 interests at heart will sincerely wish that a repetition of the alleged 11 sale will not be perpetrated here prom from such information as is Atai obtainable at the present writing it would certainly appear as if mr stratton willingly associated himself with several culpable spirits the chief promoters being the venture company of london by its manager F W baker T A rickard state geologist 7 of colorado who employs many letters after his name to give weight and prestige to his personality and verner Z reed of colorado springs As the matter proceeds though as yet no leg legal al action has actually been instituted against any of the individuals named it reveals a systematically arranged and splendidly conceived scheme to obtain great sums of money through n false representation the review believes that stratton deserves all the blame and censure which is being heaped upon him just now no matter how actively identified baker and rickard may have been in prompting and ultimately closing the gigantic deal stratton owned the 0 great reat mine and it rested with him solely as to what the compensation should be and how it should be paid he is criminally liable in having fostered and encouraged a deal that was calculated to deceive and ultimately rob everyone who purchased the companas comp anys shares at the inflated values they assumed shortly after the manipulations of stratton and his accomplices As much as has been made public shows conclusively that baker ricard reed and stratton arranged to float the sale of independence shares in london through t the agency 6 of the venture company a corporation claiming to have purchased all of Strat tons interest in the mine the truth being that stratton had not sold at all other than he was paid shares of the the independence stock at ya 1 per share out of the capitalization of shares shortly after the incorporation and transfer of stock to stratton followed the statement based on what the eminent mr ricard characterizes in his own language as follows A very careful and painstaking examination by T A ricard A R S al state geologist which occupied five weeks the various lodes as they appeared in the levels cross cuts and raises were sampled at regular intervals of ten feet the ore bein being broken across the full width the samples taken numbered 1008 in all and averaged thirty pounds in weight 1 11 1 the stock quickly moved up on the london market from ll 11 1 to over 15 and the 4 common herd so to speak were let in As is the case always some one or a great many is holding the bag cr but in truth the greatest of all industries indus tries mining will w ill suffer er through this nefarious and brazen holdup these big r thieves should some way or another bo be made to pay the penalty that aou would id be inflicted on the average petit larceny felon but the mining review reluctantly admits that they are more likely to be lionized than disgraced |