The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1871-12-01
TRIED AND TRUE. :
An O'er True story of california Lii

E6LLLEluCuAb
co, California, two brothers named
Thompson, who, having come thith-
er from an Eastern State at the be-
ginning of the 'gOld excitement"
three years before, and labcred con-
Jointly for the more generous fayors
of fortune without commensurate re-
suit, decided at last to separate for a
a time the one TO go to the mines
and work for the fraternal partn er-
ship there, while the other remained
in the city and improved such chan
ces as ordinary business should offer.
By su jh an arrangement two prom
ising fields would be worked at once,
and its wisdom was equally obvious
to both young mon; but when it
came to the question of which of
them should assume the hardships
and peTils of miners life, neither
exhibited an slacrity to name HIM
self for the adventure.
To decide this delicate point they
drew lots, by which formula of fate
the elder Thompson was doomed to
become the miner, and accordingly
procured an outfit, and prepared to
leave the city. Before taking the
latter step, however, the miner elect
chose to bring q little romance of his
California life to a climax by we'd
ding young Eastern woman, who,
like himself, had left hCme to WOO
fortune on the Pacific coast; and al
though he could not take her with
him into the wild, cOmfOrtless life of
the mines, the satisfaction OF feeling
that he had at least secured her for
himself, and had a beloved brother
in whose care to leave her, gave him
more courage and inspiration for his
departure than might have been pos
sibie to him as & bachelor. Welded
he was, then, and after q HONEYMOON
of heroic breVity he consigned his
bride to the protection of his brother,
and bravely marched away with
pick and shovel to the gold fields of
the north. Eager as he naturally
was to dig his prize from the earth
and hasten back to the greater prize
left behind, he was yet firmly resolv-
ed to deny himself wife, brother and
home, until he indeed be the bearer
Ofsome share of wealth. So when
his first essay in the mines did not
prove wholly satisfactory, he went
sturdily onward into the Indian
country, and, am ongst the red men,
adding hunting and trapping to his
mining pursuits. Thence still NOV
ing further noTthward, he reached
Fraser River when the excitement
about the auriferous yield of that To-
caIity was in its height, and there sue
ceeded in digging no less than 200
ounces of the precious dust, which
he at once sent by express to his wife
and brother in San Francisco.
From them he had thus far heard
nothing on his travels, for it had
been agreed that they should not
write until he should be in some
place reached by regular mails; but
now be was impatient TO know how
they regarded his present, and felt
sure that they would devise some
means of forwarding their written
congratulatiOn. The feeling was
vain, however; no letter came; and,
after months of waiting, the finally
indignant Thompson wrote to a
friend in San Francisco with enqui-
ries respecting the silent ones. The
answer came that they had recently
disappeared from the city, together,
having apparently, in their possess
sion a considerable sum of money,
obtained no one knew exactly how.
The miner, of course, knew whence
the money came; but such intelli-
gence of its seeming effect upon
those he held dearest in the world ap-
pealed to his apprehension in a most
sinister sense. He believed that he
was doubly betrayed; that his wife
and his brother had basely and heart
lessly practiced the blackest treach-
cry against him, finally to use the
gold he had sent to help beyond lis
reach. Heart broken and desper-
ate the fhe poor fellow thought no
more of any goodly fortune for him
self, but cared only for such wander
ing, wild adventure and savagery, as
should divert him from all RETROSPECT
tive and tender thoughts.
He Joined an expedition to the
Great Salt Lake, as it is called, and
remained in the wilderness beyond
reach of mail or messenger for sew
eral years. Returning finally to
Victoria, or Fraser River, he went
with another expedition to Idaho,
and there, and in Montana ne was
lost till as late as 1866. From the
latter year until 1868 he was q resi-
dent of Salt Lake City, going from
thence to the once famous White
Pine mines, of Nevada, about eigh-
teen months ago. Fortune smiled
not upon his generally listless efforts !;
he had life of comfortless VagabOn-
dage and the twenty years Of his ab-
sence from San Francisco wrought
such lines in his face and whiteness
in his hair as forty happier ones
could not have produced.
Some two weeks ago the broken,
hopeless, and embittered man, visi-
! ted mining camp not far from the
! town Of EurekS, Nevada, for the pur-
pose of joining a company fitting
out for a trip to ArazOnia, and there
says the Eureka Sentinel, telling his
story, be was fated to be delivered
at last from the delusiOn of twenty
miserable years. In the expedition
preparing for Arazonia, was another
man named Thompson, who, though
4 neither recognized nor recognizing
at first, proved to De no other than
our poor miners recreant brother.
1 When the poor vagabond wander
! er discovered this, despite his wrongs
he fell upon his brothers neck and
cried like a child and not only did
that brother receive and return The
caress without shame, but he took
the earliest opportunity to Teprovt
the other for leaving his wife anC
brother to suppose, for nearly g
( score of years, that he was dead.
The gold had been received, bu
without address, or a line to tel
whitherit came as q living man
gift, or 3 dead mans legacy. NJ
hletter from the miner had ever beer
: received by wife or brother, although
3 they had sent many a one to him
= The wife had at last felt obliged t
, conclude that her husband was dead
/ Tho eyOII sent had beau his Qyin,