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Show Down Memory Lane BY JOHN J. CREEDON LAW IN EARLY BINGHAM at the boarding house that night. About 10 o'clock the next day, Cleveland went to town and soon learned that a trade was on for the mine in the office of the Justice of the Peace. He arrived there when the buyer was reading one of the papers that had been drawn up. Listening carefully, he learned that he was no party in the transaction. Excitedly, he told the purchaser he was a third owner in the mine and that no deal would be made unless his interest was recognized. Many stories of the lawlessness in the early days, before there was any recognized authority to enforce the existing laws, have been published pub-lished and talked about over the years. I have always thought these stories stor-ies were somewhat exaggerated and in the telling and retelling of them, the seriousness of the crimes were elaborated upon and highly colored. 1 asked some of the early resident resi-dent of Bingham Canyon about these events and while none of them witnessed these murders and killings, kill-ings, they agreed that there were many cases of violence in the early days and the stories and legends were carried down through the years. While looking through the limited limit-ed file of the Press-Bulletin of 1918, 1 found an account ac-count of one of these. flare-ups given by an eye Kislingburywhose account was carried car-ried in the San Francisco Mining and Scientific Press: "In the year 1871 I was em- instantly one of the partners denied the ownership and invited Cleveland outside to settle the matter. Passing out of the door in advance of Cleveland, Cleve-land, he grabbed a stone and raised himself to throw it at Cleveland, who shot him, and he fell over the steps of the office. Cleveland then entered and shot the second partner part-ner as he stood by the side of the Justice of the Peace and the purchaser. pur-chaser. He drew a second revolver from his boot leg, and with one in each hand, he walked a hundred feet up the gulch and enterend a tunnel ' driven into the side of the mountain. moun-tain. By this time a crowd began to accumulate and many were shouting, shout-ing, "Hang Him", "Shoot him I" Among the number rushing up was Jackson, who was surprised to know the man wanted was his nephew. "If you want the man" Jackson said, "I will bring him to you but no shooting or hanging will be done until after he has had a fair trial. Now, if ten men will promise me they will escort him to the Justice's office and allow him to have a fair trial, 1 will go into the tunnel and bring him out." This was agreed upon, and a few minutes later Cleveland and Jackson Jack-son came out, both heavily armed and escorted between the ten men who promised to protect him. They went to the Justice's office. A trial was held, and Cleveland was set free. About two weeks after the above account was published, Fred Bemis verified the story to the Press-Bulletin Press-Bulletin editor. Mr. Bemis said Cleveland was a dead shot, and told the two prospectors pros-pectors who were trying to beat him out of his part of the claim, that he would shoot one of them in the eye and the other in the heart. And he did just that. The tunnel where Cleveland took refuge was on the Utah Copper hill and was called the Murphy tunnel. He said the shooting took place in a building near where the Bingham State Bank is now located (1918), just above where the Big Four now stands. (1962). Mr. Creedon ployed as a contractor con-tractor at the Winnemuck Mine. Al Bemis was the manager of the mine and smelter, smel-ter, about half a mile below town. The principal hotel was named Clark Hotel. Below it, and on the west side of the gulch, was a large rooming house owned by Richard Predeux, George Jackson, one of the first miners to. reach Central City, Colorado, during the Pike's Peak excitement, was placer mining just above the Clark Hotel and close to the junction of the two gulches. Warren Hickman, son of Bill Hickman, Hick-man, a notorious Mormon character, charac-ter, was Postmaster. A short distance above the junction, junc-tion, in the left hand gulch, the post office, main store and Justice of the Peace were located. Some tunnels had been driven into the mountain, but abandoned at this time. Sol Cleveland, a nephew of Jackson, was owner and manager of a boarding house in Galena Gulch. During a suspension of work in one of the mines, several miners continued con-tinued to board with Cleveland. Cleveland entered into a verbal with two, who wanted to try prospecting. pros-pecting. He was to furnish tools, powder and board; they were to find a property and do the work. About three months after the contract was made, a miner, returning re-turning from town told Cleveland , that his partners were about to sell a mine. The parties did not arrive |