This week in 1923, Mines alumnus Fleet Parsons had a tense moment when he was mistaken for a Denver Mint bandit in Nebraska. Parsons looked highly suspicious, as he had been in a car “hurtling from Lincoln to Omaha, carrying $1,902,000 negotiable bonds” reported the Omaha World-Herald. A business dispute had escalated, and the bonds needed to be in Omaha immediately. However, Parsons and his companions had quite the shock when they found themselves surrounded by men armed with sawed-off shotguns. Ultimately, it turned out that the armed men were Omaha police officers and that the entire thing was a misunderstanding. Parsons continued on to Omaha with no further issue.
The Colorado School of Mines basketball team was defeated in its first conference game this week in 1923. The Miners played University of Denver and lost 28 to 22. “The Colorado Transcript” described the game as “somewhat ragged throughout, as both teams seemed to have an off night.” The CSM squad had little time to dwell on their defeat, as they were to play University of Wyoming and University of Colorado almost immediately. Also in Mines sports news, half back Ced McWhorter was named captain for the 1923 CSM football team. He “was unanimously elected to succeed the great McGlone, the vote being taken at a meeting of the football lettermen last week.” McWhorter was an excellent player, junior class president, and member of two fraternities.
In news reminiscent of modern Mines doings, Jarvis Huang and Y.Q. Young left CSM for Arizona, where they had acquired mining jobs. Apparently, the 1913 Career Day was successful without actually even existing.
Two Denver men were fined $25 and costs in what “The Colorado Transcript” described as “a mix-up at a Morrison dance.” Sheriff Kerr was attempting to search for (then illegal) alcohol and one of the men punched Kerr in the jaw before being knocked out by Deputy Sheriff Clyde Hocking.