Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1870-12-03
EVENING STAR.
CONFEDERATION BILL.
IFron Arrlei,n,, yerrnaI. !


mood a. to allow him to have one, Ehach is
matter tos dOubt-we never knew. 10 IS doubt
fll n be knew himself. IL was all he had 70
show for his labor IN some mining camp when
he left IT, and as the camp ieself is probably
long since numbered with the things which were,
bat are NOT, what matters II where IL was To-
Gated, or Who labOred in II? In any event, 10
Esurped the place of the name given him in
baptism, and, Ike most California nieknames,
vas appropriate.
10 whom he had detailed bis misfortunes and
vaDderiDgs for an hour.
.'Out Of luck, Well, wish Ia Heaven was;
ysu may gamble on hGt; but amt. Why God
bless YOU, stranger, Pm Just in a streak OF uck
from morning TO night, and from one years eni
70 another, and the e4Ssedest luck! Why, I
have just sd more luck than would sink ship.
and have got il YETI And, to do him justice,
he had
HE crossed the plains in 20. He had 'ro,d
eutht supplied him by his neighbOrs in Illinois,
Who htted him out, ION shares" as specula-
ton They are still waiting in expectation OF
dividends on those shares-that rs what are left
Of them above ground. His best horse was
stolen from him near " ST joe" and he traded
the other and the double harness of for a pair
Of oxen, with a COW thrown in. One OF his oxen
was gObbled BY the Indians on the Platte, and
Ne sold, gave away, or threw away, hall his load
sfprOvisions, yOked the COW up with the
manning OK, and started on again. The COW
died on the head-waters of the Humboldt, and
he rode the down 70 the Sink" where il
gave out as well; and he made the remainder of
abe journey alone, footing IL by day, and camp
ing with any family who would give him a sup
per and the use OF q spare blanket at night
He reached Placerville at last, and got job,
waiting on the table at an hotel, at good wages.
AT the end of the second month he tried his
hand at a game Of faro, and won eleven hun
dred and eighty dollars There was gushing
young lady, who tended bar in dsnce-hOlse,
who knew him before he made this -'ten-strike."
She suddenly discovered that he was q very
good fellow, and not bad-looklng. She sug-
gested 70 him that IL would be a good thing for
them.tO go into partnership, matrimonial and
financial, and start an hotel at Coon Holler, a
new and promising camp not far from Placer
Vile, or, as IL was then familisrly known
"bangt0vn." The financial partnership was
20 be immediate and absolute, and the matri-
EoRial one prospective and contingent. The
arrangement suited him; they rented the hotel,
and she started down to Sacramento to buy
some necessary articles for the bar before going
90 keep a tavern" She took his money with
her, and-dId not come back. he borrowed
any dollars from an acquaintance, followed her
has gone 10 the Bay" in company with a
Big fellow known As Sandy Bob, who came out
with her from New York, and who, if he was
let her husband, ought TO have been. No use
geing any farther after her.
Afser his borrowed hfty dollars were all ex-
pended, he got q situation as assistant bull
vhacker" on an ex-tratn, and made his way up
- flddletovn, where he came across q friend,
who took him into partnership in a placer gold
claim, then supposed 20 be worthless They
"suuck IL rich" In two weeks, sold out for q
big stake" and started for San Francisco.
On The way down the Sacramento river on a
steamer, Confederation, Bill took Ihand in a
game Of drav-poker, Just 20 pass away the time,
and, not only lost every cent Of his own money,
eus al his partners share as well. In San
employment IN a dozen different Kinds OF
business, only 70 be thrown out OF Ii by some un-
ssrtunste occurrence, and ind himself .dead
and came back broke; then 70 washoe, and
came back broke again. Then he made his way
southUGd, hshed for sharks, and gathered
aeatones al San Pedro, and, after a time, made
himself generally useless upon a stock-rancho
The Arizona gold excitement Of 1852 90 took
Near la Paz, he found a small vein orr deposit
sf"silver copper glance" ere, which he "lo-
Gated" and sold 70 a San Francisco expert for
three hundred dollars; and, with the money
thus obtained, he started small 'dead-fsIl,"
proposing 10 supply the honest miners with
bquor and CARD st a handsome advance on
original cost. The first days business was a
success, and he entertained high hopes OF a
change OF fortune for the better. Vain hope,
On the second day man came into his shanty
for drink, and feu down dead from heart-dis-
ease before reaching the counter. The rumor
went abroad suddenly that the respected aud
lamented deeeased-who had immigrated from
Northern California or Southern Oregon on ac-
count Of a prospective lawsuit involving the
little TO a horse-had died just after, instead of
% xssEev sa wa 81 ssfSeI
The gold and copper seekers of that district were
AZ that time an excitable set, with LIE whole
some restraint on their conduct in the shape of
courts and legal enactments. In an hour fifty
men were examining his stock, and testing it a.
committee OF the whole, by way of deciding
kul those who drank IL then and there without
paying for it, but IL led 10 a fight, in which two
honest miners were "laid out" with bullet
holes through them; and the indignant citizens
with the crude ideas of justice then prevailing,
held Bill responsible for the result, and, when
the row was over, organized vigilance COM
mIttee with the determination Of "going for
him" as soon as daylight came, to enable them
20 beat up his hiding place in the eh1ppdrdI.
Luckily for him, he learned oftheir amisble in
tsntions in season, and, before morning broke
ever the Weaver Mountains, he broke In that
airestlon himself. They heard from him next
BY Mexican, who met him at Granite Wash,
forty miles eastward Of the river, and, having
plrsue him.
Hassiyampi. Wickenburg was lively place at
that time. Jack Smelling was a capital fellow,
bat inclined 10 be too playful at times, and in
bulge IN little practical Jokes, which usually re-
suited in somebody being sent out Of town per
torsted Ike cOlsnder. Jack was festiyely in
shned ON the day on which our friend arrived,
and had been around town and compelled all the
traders 90 close their shops and 20 home on
pain Of instant death. As Confederation Bill
rode down the single long street which formed
the city, Jack sighted him, and, mistaking him
for man who had once insulted him by refus-
ing 20 drink with him went for him" the mo-
nent he dismounted, and thIashed him within
an inch OF his life before he discovered his mis-
take. Confederation Bill accented Jacks
apology and drink, but thought business too
nSsS % b. oe e, permanent 9l In Wiekenburs,
piece OF raw beet upon one Of his eyes and
started on next morning before sunrise.
In the course Of his travels he was sean at
Hooper & Co.'S store, on the ella, and for some
time he was at home at Tucson.
Two or three years after the adventure at La
Paz, Consideration Bill came down Bill Will
Hams Fork from Dale Creek and Prescott and
Tor some weeks was one OF the fixtures OF the
copper-mining camp at the Great Central and
Planet mines, twelve miles above the mouth of
the Fork, near Aubrey city. Nobody asked
him 70 stop, and nobody seemed to care TO ask
him 70 leave; so he partoOk of the Inequalities
OF the camp, never missing meal, nor paying
cent, day after day and night after MINT
untn II was whispered around among the
miners that he was heavy stakeholder In the
company, and that Il would be well to keep on
the good side OF him.
twas In midsummer, and the heat was terri
bic. AL day long the naked red mountains alb
soroec the nerce heat OF the burning sun, and
AL night they gave 10 on, az the bricks Of the
baker's-oven give back TO the atmosphere
within u the heat received from the blazing
wood-nre Just raked out. Sleep, until far into
TIE morning hours, was An imposSbtlity in
doors or out, and the miners were wont to stretch
themselves on their blankets beneath the ions
verands al the hacienda and while avsv the