Page 20 done and 259,935 McIntyre shares. The company then had to honour the Bickell deal. T o mee t its debts, the company in - creased its capitalization to $3 million with 600,000 shares issued at $5 each but there were few buyers. By Oct. 1, 191 1, the company had raised only $308,472 from the sale of its stock but had spent $273,194 so only had $35,278 in the bank. A chronic shortage of cash during its early years kept the compan y in hot water fnancially . Both Freeman and Bickell, as the lar gest shareholders, were frequently called upon for personal loans to keep the company afoat. On May 12, 1912 the compa ny pro - duced its frst fve gold bars, worth $12,927.90, all of which went to Y oung, Richardson and Bagshaw to pay of f part of the company’ s debt to the trio. R.J. (Dick) Ennis became mine man - ager in 1913. He later told stories about hiding under ground when irate creditors came to the mine demanding payment. In January 1912, Freeman was in - dicted in the United States on federal char ges of using the mails to defraud investors. He and three others faced trial and were convicted. Freeman was sentence to fve years and three days in a federal prison. Freeman refused to resign as presi - dent and appea led his convict ion. The conviction was handed down March 13, 1913 and Freeman held on to of - fce by postponing several times the company’ s annual meeting. Finally on June 5, 1913 the meeting was held and Freeman resigned as president and director . Bickell replaced Freeman on the board but the remainder of the direc - tors were friends of Freeman. While Freeman was out on bail, they re- appointed him president on April 6, 1914. During this period, the company was paying its creditors either with cash loans from the directors or in McIn - tyre stock. Bickell was determined to rid the com - pany of Freeman whose reputation n had been ruined by his conviction in the U.S and therefore his presence on the board harmed the company . Bickell had arranged a $100,000 bank loan that was to be paid of f through a $250,000 bond issue. The trouble was that McIntyre’ s reputation was so poor only $18,000 worth of bonds were sold. He got Freeman to resign again on May 5, 1915 and at the same time to nominate three men of good reputation as directors. They were, of course, all friends or associates of Bickell. One of them, Col. Alexander Hay , who had been Bicke ll’ s partner in a Cobalt venture, became president. Hay died in 1917 and Bickell became president, a post he held until his death in 1951. Bickell and Ennis, who also died in 1951, became a strong partnership that steered the company out of fnan - cial diffculties The mine offcially went into produc - tion in June 1912 and closed in 1988 after producing 10.7 million ounce of gold. McIntyr e survived board r oom battles to get into pr oduction Cont’d from pg. 16 “The Porcupine Camp” 100 Y ears of Mining Page 18