Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1870-02-04
SELlaECT!EED STORY.
HOW | GOT RICH AGAINST MY
WILL.
BY MAC ARONE.

oI Va n AhOENI'
After battling for many years with mis-
fortune, misery reverscs and ~disappoint'
ments, I have squatted inst. Louis.
[ am now a rich mana nabob. The
Assessor has assessed me at 1915, 900. ]
have sMac Arone Castle" nearly completed
and a crowd of upholsterers and supply mer-
chants solicit my patronage. Piles of sweet
scented notes daily beg the favor Of my So
ciety to dinners, suppers and evening par
ties.
And yet 1T uas not oAooys so. l can re-
collect when I was as poor as poverty-when
I vainly solicited employment whereby |
might live honestly and decently. Nobody
would listen to me ; nobody cared for me-
Bankers looked suspiciously at my appear
ance. Clergymen gave me a mess Of ''cold
shoulder They could make nothing out
Of me. Grocers and saloon keepers eyed
me with mistrust when I asked them for
five or ten cents worth Of their wares. Ny
tailor would have the m~oneysin advance for
a suit of clothes I badly needed.
Unable to do anything in St. Louis, I,
with two neutrality-suspicious. in misery
resolved that we would try our luck in Kan
sas City. Their names were John Smith, a
vender of patent rights, compiler of directo-
ries and protector Of advertising lodges, and
Albert Robinson, a Bohemian, who was for
some time local reporter on one Of the St.
Louis d%ailies, but at the time I speak Of,
out Of situation, money, friends and hopes.
Robinson had a manuscript of five hundred
and forty pages of foolscap, entitled miller
ism Exposed, or the perpetuity of the earth"
It was a we'll written, logical treatise, and
would have made a reputation to be proud
of; but no publisher would undertake to
print it for the poor fellow.
We three packed up our little valises and
took a cheap passage on one:of the boats for
Kansas City. There we were more fortu-
nate..a Smith obtained a clerkship in a dry
goods house, Robinson secured a position in
one Of the morning papers, I became sales
man and b%ook-keeper in a grocery house,
We had about seventy-fve dollars a month.
It was not much, but it enabled us to have
a little reunion once in a while, talk Of the
past and devise projects for the future over
a quiet glass of beer in a retired room just
off from Main street.
After a long chat one evening, on our
hopes and fears, Smith said :sAll nonsense,
my dear fellows! We have neither of us the
means of making d fortune, but an idea
strikes mc-could we not get the credit Of
being rich I?
"And to what purpose z" l suggested.
cit gives one a position in the world. A
large inheritance augments the consideration
in which we are held. Then everything be-
comes easy"
II recollect." said I, ''of an uncle OF
mine who vent to California at the time Of
the gold fever, and he has never returned
nor been heard from since"
s.That's just it. Well bring your uncle
to life-or rather, we'll kill him, Ingots,
gold dust, shares in mines and crushing
mills, shares in Railroads, banks and gov
eminent securities will have a grand effect.
No doubt there are many returned gold
seekers Of that time, fortunate and other
wise, from St. Louis to St. Joseph, along
the river towns, that remember your uncle
or have met him in the gold fields"
"Lct US kill him." continued the two
scamps, land leave the bulk Of his fortune
three millions and a half of dollars-to
Mac Arone."
We laughed heartily at the joke, and had
another round of beer. l thought no more
of the circumstance, and you may guess my
establishment when I took up the paper OF
which Robinson was '%'Iocal," and reao
among the city items:
"a Luchy FeHow.-We learned yester'
day, from a party Of gentlemen just return.
ed from Montana, Of the death of Mac Arone
ST., one of the most fortunate miners, who
was attracted to the gold regions severa
years ago. He was mortally wounded by
party Of Indians, and, after being carried tt
Helena, had just time to make his will an(
leave the bulk ofhis s~avings-some $4,000,
O00-to his nephew. Mac Arone, who nov
occupies the humble position of book-keepe
at Brown q Co.'S, grocery. house, on NAH
streetaa.We wish Mac Arone, Jr., Joy Q
, his good fortune, and, as he Wassalways
hearty, jovial kind of a fellow, he has nov
: three and a half millions additional claim
on our regard"
The eveninga1Rpers and the other morn
ing papers re-hashed the item and the tw
fellows retailed the story with all the seri
BUSINESS imaginable.
The next day people came in groups t
compliment me. My employers wanted m
to 20 in partnership with them and exten
the busidess. I disavowed the report, as
matter of course. but nobody wonld bcliey
me. Many in Kansas City knew my unc]
wcll-they had met him in different mimi
districts Of Montana and California. Som
had been fellow travellers Of his from on
place to another. all put him down as
lucky, shrewd, intelligent miner.
Among the number of these visitors Wa
one not the most agreeable. With the win,
of a young man, / had some time prevlousl
ordered a fashionable suit of clothes to G
out in. It was nearly worn out, and ! WI
d yet owing about half the price OF it.. Ihe'
II had been for some time past a cooiness g
tween the tailor and myself: Ills lmport'
mites I wished to avoid. The m OF III
legacy made him hasten to ind me-; quo
was the penalty / paid for the foolish plea
antry of my friends.
t. "Good day, Mr.. Snip" said l. with son
embarrassment. Il suppose you nave con