By Dick Thomas

       It was a clear, and cold day in March of 1921. There was very little snow on the ground at this time of the winter. It was a normal work day for the miners and employees of the East Tintic Standard Mine. It was the end of the work week and payday was tomorrow. The people in the little community of “Dividend” had no reason to suspect that tomorrow would end up being a tragic day for some members of the town. John Manson was the keeper of the Tintic Standard store. L.P. Peterson was the proprietor of the adjoining pool hall.

       The day was turning out to be a normal day in the life of a company town and mine. It was almost 11 PM, closing time for the store and pool hall. Five of the pool hall’s regular customers were finishing their last glass of beer and a pool game. John Manson was moving about getting things ready to close up for the day.

       Four masked men burst into the pool hall with pistols drawn. Everyone was told to get their hands up and stand up against the far wall. Since tomorrow was payday at the mine, the robbers figured that the company store would have enough cash on hand to be able to cash the miners script (paychecks) the next day. One of the Mexican robbers forced John Manson into the small room where the store’s safe was kept and ordered him to open the safe.

       About this time, John Westerdahl, the mine superintendent, came into the pool hall to purchase a cigar. Mr. Westerdahl was also ordered to raise his hands and line up with the other customers.

       Everyone heard loud Spanish cuss words coming from the safe room. As the robber came back into the pool hall room he began shooting. John Westerdahl was the first to be hit. He was shot square through the head, dying instantly. L.P. Petersen was shot through the stomach, and in the ensuing excitement he crawled from the pool hall. He was later found dead on the sidewalk near his home, about a block away. Another pool hall customer and John Manson were both wounded, but survived. The rest of the customers either ran, jumped or crawled into the darkness outside and were not injured.

       The four robbers fled the pool hall and store, with nothing for their troubles. Yes, the money was still in the safe. John Manson swore to the robber that he did not know the combination to the safe. Of course, this was not true, but it was what caused the robbers to shoot.

       In the morning, posses from both Utah and Juab county were formed. A thorough search was made, but no trace of the murderous robbers were ever found. My grandfather, Lazarus Thomas, was on his way up the canyon to Eureka with a load of hay and grain in his wagon. He had to make an early morning delivery to one of the Eureka mines. He said that four mounted men, riding hard, passed him in the darkness. But he was unable to identify the riders.

       When I was a youth, some of the old timers from Goshen and Eureka had some pretty strong convictions about who the robbers were and where they went. But no one was ever charged or convicted for the crime. The great loss was John Westerdahl. It was John that solved the Dividend mine’s early mining problems. But he never lived to see the rewards for his work and the great dividends that the “Dividend” mine produced.