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The two men, traveling in a light
buckboard, reached Old Woman
Springs in the heat of day. It was
mid-summer, so they remained there
to water their animals and rest in
the shade until shadows began to
lengthen.
At 3:00 P.M. they started out again
and traveled slowly for nearly three
hours. At that time Lee called a halt
and said they'd stop for the night.
While his companion was occupied
with setting up camp, Lee disappeared.
At 9:00 P.M. he returned with a
bag of ore samples. These he refused
to display, however. Stewart might
trust his friend, but Lee didn't!
On another trip into this region
Lee again disappeared — for good.
Lee had lived with a man named
Brown on the banks of the Mohave
River. One morning, pack on back,
Lee announced that he was going to
make a trip to his mine. Brown
watched him depart and then returned
to his work. These trips were
legion. Brown knew Lee'd return
when he was ready.
On this trip, Lee reached Old Woman
Springs and found a man awaiting
him. The man was no stranger,
cil Lead Mine.
Hoffman, supplied with a plentiful
quantity of whiskey, proceeded to
offer Lee a drink. And then another.
As they polished off the bottle, Hoff-
Lee recognized him as an old desert
rat named Hans Hoffman who was
reputed to be a henchman of Waterman's.
Lee immediately became suspicious.
It occured to him that
Waterman and his partner, Bodie,
had conspired to have Hoffman tail
him to the location of his new discovery
so they could take it over during
his absence, as they had his Pen-
Lava beds north-east of Old Woman Springs carry signs of prehistoric Indian
visits, but few of mining activity.
20 / Desert Mcraazine / Tanuarv. 1PRS
man queried Lee about his silver deposit.
Lee was loxy and, remaining
sober enough to retain his caution,
refused to divulge the location of his
mine.
At this, Hoffman grew abusive. In
a frenzy he struck Lee over the head
with a heavy rock, killing him instantly.
Frightened by what he'd
done, Hoffman sobered enough to dig
a shallow grave for Lee's body. He
then built a fire over the spot to
erase signs of fresh digging.
While Hoffman was so engaged,
two men approached on horseback.
Hoffman appeared so nervous and
evasive that the men became suspicious
and demanded to know what
he was hiding. Alter contributing a
fresh supply of whiskey to the cause,
they wormed the murder secret from
him—along with an explosive fact.
They learned that Hoffman had been
given $500 to either uncover Lee's
secret mine or kill him trying. And
they learned from Hoffman's boasting
that the donor of the bribe was
no other than Robert Waterman!
After Hoffman showed the men
where he'd buried the body, he staggered
to his blanket and fell asleep.
The men, meanwhile, leaped to their
horses and raced to San Bernardino
to report the murder to Sheriff John
Buckhart. They also told others, for
the news traveled to Barstow from
whence Waterman sent forth a group
of gunmen to Old Woman Springs,
hoping to intercept the posse from
San Bernardino in time to effect Hoffman's
escape. The Sheriff got there
first, however, and Hoffman was
arrested and taken to the San Bernardino
jail.
Waterman's stake in the trial was
great. He hired the best lawyer available
to represent Hoffman and thus
began one of the toughest and longest
court battles on record in San Bernardino
County. It lasted from 1880