The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1871-09-28
An EYentfnl Career.
THE ADVENTURES OF A FRUIT MET
CHANT IN SEARCH OF GOLD.

| Ine DeITOlG IOd Tells Jn1S singular
story:
Nearly thirty years ago (1S43) young
Englishman arrived in this country, and
after working as laborer in New York
for few weeks, opened small fruit
store near the Battery, and doing good
business, and being of an economical
turn OF mind, he had amassed a small
fortune ut the breaking out of the
California fever in 1S49 In the same
building and Immediately above his
salesroom was young Frenchman, who
sought to keep body and soul together
by transferring the countenances of
Gothamites to canvas, but at times his
best efforts gave promise of nothing but
failure. One morning the artist stopped
at the fruit stand and breakfasted upon
a few pennies worth of apples. This
was repeated every morning for two
weeks, and the fruit merchant became
satisfied from his sunken cheeks and
wildly brilliant eyes that this morning
meal was the only one of the day, and
that Monsieur was nearly fsmished. The
next day he profered assistance to the
painter, and it was accepted. An ac-
quaintance sprang up that soon became
friendship. The fruit dealer managed
to obtain work for his artist friend, but
there were times when some of the pro-
fits of the fruit stand were required to
provide food for the painter.
In 1S49 the merchant was induced by
the golden promises that exerted a
powerful influence throughout the coun-
try to sail for the land of gold.
His little wealth was nearly all invest
ed in real estate in New York, and
placing this in the hands of an agent
for management during his absence, he
transferred the lease of his fruit stand to
the artist, with the advice to throw his
easel out of the back window and give
his mind to business which, though
humble, had proved remunerative, and
sailed, with hundreds of other 49ers, in
a sailing vessel via Cape Horn for Cali
fornia.
The wealth that came to others in q
golden shower fitted from before his
grasp, fever laid him for weeks before
the very jaws of death, and when at last
he had recovered his health sufficiently
to work he was penniless. For two
years he wandered about the mining re-
gions, working as laborer until he had
earned a sufficient amount, when he
would start out prospecting for gold on
his own hook, invariably to be disap-
pointed. These trips through the noun
famous regions of the State had caused
him to believe that in the bed of the
rivers at the foot of the mountains was
untold wealth that had been accumula-
ting for ages. A few small creeks had
been turned from their channels and
their beds were found to be rich in the
precious dust. How much more valu-
able must be the accumulated dust in
the larger streams
Firm in the belief that great wealth
awaited the daring man who could COM
mand sufficient means to turn from its
channel a river, he labored in mine
until lie had earned sufficient for his
passage money to New York, when he
returned to that city, disposed OF his
property for a sum that to most men
would be wealth indeed, but to him was
but the key that was to open mine of
gold. Before sailing, however, he visited
the scene of his early struggles with
poverty, but block of stores covered
the site, and when at last he succeeded
in tracing his former friend, he found
him in miserable little room at the top
of business block, painting and starv-
ing as usual. The Californian at once
engaged room better suited to the re-
quirements of an artist, furnished it
neatly, and, paying q years rent in ad-
vance, departed with the oft-repeated
blessings CT Monsieur.
Every one knows how bitterly disap-
pointed were those who sought wealth
in California by turning large streams
from their beds, and the large companies,
representing capital stock OF hundreds
of thousands of dollars, who lost their
last dollar in such enterprises, and such
was the fate of the intrepid fruit mer-
chant. Stripped of his last dollar, he
became an adventurer. Every fresh dis
covery of gold would see him among the
thousands who had hocked thither At
last he joined party who had decided
| to return to the States by the then
perilous overland route. At last, when
they had almost reached the civilized
portions of Missouri, they were attacked
by powerful band of Indians, most of
them were killed, but few, including
himself, were taken prisoners.
Thirteen months among the Osages,
during which time he enjoyed himself
even less than in draining barren Cali
fornia streams, and he then managed to
escape, finding his way to New Orleans,
as he expresses it, without a cent of
money in my pockets, and not pocket
in my clothes that would hold money"
The first employment he obtained here
was as a laborer on the docks, but his
extensive acquaintance with the extreme
West soon gained him situation in a
firm engaged in the West and South
western supply trade. The store was
located in block offour-story buildings,
and one day he saw familiar figure
passing up the stairway leading to the
upper stories, and following after, dis
covered his old friend the painter located
in little sky-lighted room, where he
was earning as precarious an existence
as OF old, by coloring photographs. Their
friendship was renewed, but the break
ing out of tie rebellion offered field for
adventure, and the whilom fruit mer-
chant soon drifted into the ranks of a
Louisiana. regiment, and, until the end
of the war, he followed the fortunes of
the Confederate army, peace finding
him again without dollar. Since that
time he has again visited California with
his usual success, being one of the hund-
reds who joined the Magdalena Bay
colonization party, and nearly starved
among that in-starred band of victims
to few villainous spectators. A few
weeks ago he reached this city, and has
| returned to his early love, opening a