The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, November 1, 1928, Page 14

. ’ Spe vRNA TTR ATTN TTT gy = Hl “ene ap 4 cere PTT HIUOAUUUOHEQAE LACUNA Pw Everyone Calis Hi ie ; In- Spite of the Fact That He's j : ‘ Vn 4 ae AF irst Citizen of the Sagebrush Hi Se | 1 y ite gee st a ‘i » State. With a Colorful Career: se _& a his many wang“ tic And the Distinction of Being One of the Few P rospectors cee acid Who Did Not Move ts California ‘isnt undies After He Strack [1 Rich ROM penniless adventurer to president of numerous That Wingfield is a man of iron banks and chief owner of a string of hotels, ranches witnied eielelicinaiadiere: sie, Nevada's Wingfield at 35... . Handed a senatorial toga, he flatly declined the honor of being the most youthful solon in the upper house. Wingfield, knowing death was threatened for any pur- chaser of the News . . . ignored the muttering mob, handed the shivering newsboy a coin. T this time Wingfield was but 29 years old and though possessed with but a limited knowledge of either mining or finance, he and his partner, George S. Nixon, owned min- ing stocks valued at over $30,000,000. i , . ‘ ‘When Wingfield“ was 35 years old, Senator Nixon was of the News. An intense feeling prevailed all over the flourish: called by death and Tasker L. Oddie, then governor of Nevada, ing_mining community. how a United States senator, appointed Wingfield to complete the unexpired term. He declined the honor which at that time would have made him the youngest member of the Senate. He has never sought political office, although he takes an interest .in_ politics for some. years has served.as national committeeman of the Republican party. Three years ago he the regents of the Uni- Shortly after the “boycott” mandate, as the time approached for the paper to appear on the streets, Wingfield nonchalantly strolled across the street to a point where it was his usual custom to buy a copy from a newsboy. The newsboy was there with a bundle of boycotted sheets under his arm. * ’ Heedless of the crowd of hard-visaged men that filled the — was prevailed upon to become one of : , versity of Nevada, a position which carries no salary. . For two years in the au op id was half owner of the famous Tonopah Club, still a flourishing and Lpaoanesoes gambling resort; but-not to the: extent-it was under ingheld’s regime, and when every’ known gambling game, poker, faro, roulette, keno, blackjack, was allowable under the law. It_was during Wingfield’s rule. that the.Tonopah. Club. __. a sro ol : ath until 4 rea Me time ecipet in , : the New York Sun, “‘a palatial: home, jirrored until it was ‘ingheld, who makes his home —_ the Hayes-Monette lease had made a dazzling, lighted its brilliancy hurt the eyes, equi in Reno, Nevada, and who is admittedly the outstanding figure record’ of producing $6,000,000 in 4 . 2 eee thee pt i Case] among the Sagebrush State's some 100,000 inhabitants. gold in 150 woiking days and it was ee a . which half a dozen bartenders changed shifts thrice daily, ‘What is the biggest thing about Wingheld? estimated that the miners working in : a , = poured and mixed drinks at mining camp prices twice around Ask almost any Nevadan this question and ten to one the these. leases had “thigh graded” at the clock, for there was no more night in Tonopah than was answer will be: ‘George made his money in Nevada and did _least_a million more. in Creede which Cy Warman has extolled in verse.” not emigrate to California . . . he stayed’with the:state that "The core was so rich that a miner During Wingfield’s management of the Tonopah Club, “ac- bars A mah bigeest Teg in ae ade i “coming ‘off abit Ha Pep ayen.cy in | . ; - 4 cording to report, he and his partner each acquired around jevada n cal a state of transients, and there. is = stowing away or worth of © Fg 3 * 00,000. Win, in the parlance of the more or less truth in the statement. Men may live there all ~ it in the pockets of his overalls. Miners ] € ‘ “i 5 gheld, rie their lives, but always they are saying to themselves, “Next year T'll make a strike and sell my mine, then I'll move to California.” ‘And that is exactly what 95 per cent of them do when Dame Fortune does smile upon them. Not so with George—most Nevadans eal him George, even to his face. Géorge has demonstrated that he likes Nevada; a will and iron nerve has been proven ‘and mines... Also a string of. race homes bred and.. ..many.-times, -but _ perhape the. best trained at the Wingfield stables in Nevada, among ‘~démonstration was: during the Gold- which’ are numbered international winners, notably the field boom. The excitement was at famous Voltear of today and scores of turf favorites.of recent its height. The famous leases on the years. ~-*Goldfield “Consolidated fiad” expired ‘This, summed up in_a few brief words, -is a biographical midnight, December 31 1306; sketch of the career of George Wi square shooter, not only with his partner with whom the win- sings were divided each day, but with the patrons of the club, or poor. ; ‘ANY stories have been written of Wingfield’s dexterity with a six-gun, numerous gun-plays in -which he has 4 = = = = = = working for wages of $5 a day were spending many times that every night over the bars and gambling tables of which Goldfield in those hectic days ~ had plenty. Wingfheld, vice president of the aside from a trip to San Francisco or New York with long intervals between, he seldom leaves the state. id’s career has truly been a: colorful one from the; day he left the town of Winnemucca, Nevada, with $50 in his pocket and landed in Tonopah with less than five dollars— a poker game at Mina en route had taken most of the $50—but with plenty of pluck and, as will be shown, no end of luck to help him on to success. . Finding a dice game in progress in one of the many’ tent resorts, young Wingfield began rolling the little ivory cubes. He won steadily until the “bank” was broke. He then bought a half interest in the place with his winnings. : INCE. that early date many changes have been brought about in “gay white way” of Nevada's night life. Old-timers have found it hard to adjust themselves to the. mandates of prohibition. Not but what they can still get their hard liquor; but the old home isn’t what it used to be in the days when most of the ning deals, some involving many thousands of dollars, i and practical rn Goldfield Consolidated and in direct charge of mining, operations, deci it:was time to put-a stop to this steal- g’of the rich ore. His plan was to establish change rooms where the men would ‘be required to exchange’ their “digging” clothes for their street ap- parel under the watchful eyes of a trusted inspector. This would give the men no op- portunity to steal five or ten-pound chunks of the ore, worth all the way from,$10 to $20 a pound, Mine Owner Wingfeld (left) .. ... is George to th desert vals,” pool be lea if they called ms ae street, and as.though unconscious of their tense murmurs, Wingfield in his usual deliberate manner reached in his pocket and handed the shivering lad a two-bit piece in exchange for a cdpy of the Goldfield News, - The news- boy was not slow in making his getaway. His part in the drama was play “T was never ¢0 skeered in my life... . every one cof them fellers was packin’ a big gat," he was later ~~ ‘taken part, dance hall patrons he has made to dance while he showered bullets around their feet—all creations. of the vivid imagination of some space writer whose regard for the facts was overbalanced by his desire.to produce a good story. ‘Although the mildest. mannered of men, he has often been pictured as going around in the old days with two strapped to his sides, two slung under his arm pits ey ff shot gun over his shoulder. One story has it that thus equi fe mapaaih i pening ser min: the sta of Id. is was never a true picture o} i that he often went rth, but not in that Pt fit Wingfield still enjoys a good stiff game of poker but his leis and varied financial and business interests allow him but little time for anything else. He does find time, however, to interest himself in the affairs of the community in which he lives. He recently made a do- nation in the amount of $7000 to the Boy Scout organization of Nevada, which was used for the constructio$ of a summer camp at Lake Tahoe. — When the Truckee’ river buret its year and ran riot thi Wingfield park, which he viously fee to the city, ing the beautiful imported plants in its mad rush, Wingfield standers, “Don't worry about it. I'll One of Wingfield’s pet “hobbies” is hi few miles out of Reno. The Wingfiel of the present Wipteld Pergpecagr a to be Voltear. he likewise ‘ cnemien, a condition that is faced by every man ey as tl weet his oye Se ta feted i acquiring tore wealth than’ is possessed by the average men, Wingfield, leisureh -leaning against the doot of a Teves seule cael Ak oe ; ae rteurat opened te ofeing pope and Bee a s88 oneal hat e's dns mans te Big Sef Flicking the ashes from his . he'tumed the pages j cbas a large personal following, that he is a- power as deliberately hig sitting ob yin he oo sa i the stat, pe me i no one le it iti ; of the ight poses: he folded the paper’ and stuflcd it in be", Pubtct; cam For the first time, he apparently noticed the crowd but it would fa. . Nae deed be hard to r t Like the snap of a pete! came the command. With dark ingheld ‘ { leoks the crowd fell back while Wi an automatic revolver Nevada has ever tightly in each hand, made ‘way without abused this: ¢ human-bordered ‘alleyway. ahah i one Was 8 Power on his , - ok one knew. The was cowed. A few. days later way to prom- 4 a le (Copyright, 1928, NBA Magasine) v Reno's “Gamblers’ Row,” sometimes “Commercial Row" . . . twinkled and buzzed and flourished to the tune of miners’ gold on 80 many viel ago. een IE, men resented this order most bitterly; they protested that to the bank employe of his Ti os ei “ithe rights of labor were being encroached upon. A strike laying. 1 know how; you don't,” is” led invol 1 : Iso bier And wien the eine tha: Geldield News, weekly, sewrwpape ae ee ier glontly told: "Pobsr ot cause of the mine owners. Theré were threats of dynamite, ae : -Déath was promised for any one publicly i p ~ ANNA : is Perri Mn