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Show A~~ULl J\ II\Jj, Clipping Sen-ice (80 I) 328-8678 EUREKA REPORTER Page Two - The Eureka Reporter - June 12, 1998 ~pna Marks story told DON'T FENCE ME IN The Story of Anna Marks A Eureka Utah Shop Keeper At age thirty-five Anna decided she was tired of being poor. She was able to finally scrape enough money together to move to London, England. In 1882 she met Wolf Marks a German shopkeeper who she married two years later in 1884. She almost immediately took charge of their lives . She informed him that they would seek their fortunes in America. When they arrived in New York they heard about the wealth of the Tintic d :strict. Anna decided that Eureka, Utah was where she would become rich, running a general store. Anna and Wolf spent the next year buying goods to take to Utah. They bought enough freight to fill two large wagons. In the spring they started out on their long journey to the Tintic District. Wolf suggested they ing a fence on the other side of her land. He was digging postholes and Anna was following closely behind filling them in. Dan would go back and re-dig them again. When Anna finally realized that she wasn't getting anywhere with him, she jumped into one of the postholes. Dan promptly began to bury her. She screamed at him with hate. She See Ann Marks page 5 By Wayne S. Christiansen The building of Eureka and the Tintic area in general. took a large diversity of peoples in all walks of life . Prospectors, to mine developers, to miners, to day-to-day shopkeepers , all played an important role. One of those shopkeepers to play a key role in Eureka's development , was also one of her strangest characters. The cantankerous Anna Marks . Anna came to Utah by way of Russia where whe was born in 1847. Anna's father passed on when Anna was still quite young . Anna's mother took over the duties of providing food and shelter for her children. She was able to procure all the things her family needed by shear stubbornness a trait that seems to have been passed down to her load the freight onto the Utah daughter. bound train but the ever-frugal Anna said no, it would be cheaper to do it themselves . After a long and arduous journey to the Tintic district the enterprising couple reached the last leg of their trip . They were about to enter the very steep road that would deposit them in Eureka five miles ahead , The road was privately owned and a toll was charged for its usage. Anna was riding in the lead wagon when thcy pulled up to the tollgate. She rcachcd for her purse to pay the toll whcn shc remarked to the driver about how many timcs over the next few years she would have to use this road. She reached under her seat and ~ulled o~t a rifle, pointIng II al lite gULC,\.:.;:pcr shr S?yi , "I cannot see why people have to pay for use of a public road?" After a heated shouting match Anna ordered the driver to unhitch the team, hook them to This picture, identified only as Anna M, is believed by the the gate and pull it down, which he did . Anna did the whole authorto be Anna Marx. He community a service that day welcomes any input from readbecause from then on the toll ers. road became a public use road . Anna had made her entrance into Eureka's history . Anna never learned to read or write but that never stopped her from getting her own way. She rented a building for her store from a well-to-do Chinese These pictures were used in evidence in The State Vs Anna Marx Shooting Affray merchant, Charlie Maw. After a few months. she couldn't see renting any more so she approached Charlie about buying the building. Charlie was not interested in selling, so she had him arrested on assault charges. Being Chinese, Charlie didn't - - - - - - - - - -...- - - - - - - - -__JJ have many rights in a western mining town, so as soon as he could get out of jail he highrailroad thought arrangements tailed it out of town, leaving had been made for the right of everything he owned behind way across Anna's land . Apparhim . Anna immediately took his I Continued from page 2 ently they were not to her liking . holdings over. She met the construction crew Patrick Shea was her neighI swore she would sue him. They on her property line with a bor. One day he was building a went to court. Dan got his loaded rifle. She held them off fence between their properties, at gunpoint until the main office fence. \ when shots were fired, just One would thing that Anna agreed to pay her price. missing his head. That was I haven't mentioned much would learn but she must not Anna's way of informing him have . In yet another fencing about Anna 's husband Wolf. that he was too far over on to incidentwith neighbor Harvey Anna was so hard to get along her property line . Patrick took Thomkins she gO! the worst of with that Wolf lived in a sepaher to court and won the right to it. Harvey was building a fence rate house from the one she put up his fence. on their property line when he lived in. Even though he was A short time later, town was sho!. A plug of tobacco in pan owner in the businesses and Marshall Dan Cronin was buildhis shirt pocket saved his life. land holdings, he really had no I Anna shot again just grazing his say in how they were run . Anna was cantankerous her young daughter. Harvey was infuriated. He stormed over to whole life. In 1910, two years Anna, took her gun away, and before her death, at age 65, she slapped her silly. He warned her was the only dissenting vote of not to cross paths with him an otherwise unanimous decision again . She steered a wide berth to put sidewalks on main street. around him and never shot at him or his again. Many years later. Anna single handedly held up construction of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad into town. The L Ann Marks |
