The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1875-08-12
TIMID SIMS.

IlmlD SIMS.
"Timid SIMS" as he was called, was
held in very inferior repute among the
boys atTexas Bar, because he had backed
down before a six-shooter. A man on
Texas Bar might be lacking in many
qualities, but if he had "the sand" it
covered a multitude of sins. "Sand"
was the jocular translation for I" grit"
Sand, In a locality possessing but little
law and less order, was an absolute es-
sential to a good standing in Texas Bar.
Timid Sims was a pale, slender, in
offensive, dreamy character, whose gen
eral aspect and name CAV you the i'm
preston that he didn't know exactly
what he had come into the mines for
indeed, that he didn't exactly know
what he came into existence for. He
had a body to clothe, shelter and feed,
and it wss imperative that he should
work to shelter, clothe and feed it. He
was not strong enough to do an able
bodied mans work. No one would en-
ploy him, rel when hands were needed
in the river claims during the busiest
season /; a circumstance which seemed to
puzzle Sims exceedingly, until at last
he was plainly told by one of the rougher
and more outspoken miners that he
couldn't keep his lick with other men
anyway, and the best thing he could do
was to go into a grocery store, tend bar,
or keep school"
Sims, however, would mine. He Dor
rowed a rocker, procured a very limited
supply of flour, pork and potatoes on
credit at the store, took possession of a
deserted log cabin at the further end of
the Bar, patched up the roof with old
boards which anne floating down the
river, and tried at night to sleep COM
fortably on the floor in his scanty
blankets. He worked here and there
along the bank, sometimes washing over
"old tailings, sometimes working some
bit of a bar or rifle exposed during q
low stage of the river, which since
"'49" had been dug wei a score of
times. He made six bits" sometimes
a dollar and a half q day, often nothing.
His were reckoned "Chinaman's wages"
Taken altogether, poor Sims hardly
passed for a whole man. 1t was not so
much that he was feele in body either,
for there were others resident neal him,
able to lift no more pounds OF swing a
pick hour after hour with no more vigor
than he /; but there was about Sims an
atmosphere of weakness and self-depre-
citation. He was always shrinking into
holes and corners. He had no "bluff,"
no self-assertion. If he went into a
room full of strangers, he seemed fright
ened at an imaginary something. With
a few he became intimate, and they
called him a "~clever little fellow" To
these he chung, and desired no more &C
quaintances. Every stranger he seemed
to regard as an enemy. He was fond OF
solitude, and, during the summer, would
neglect work altogether, wandering about
the surrounding mountains.
Sims had n merit. He was an indie
fatigable p~rospector, and at last struck
gravel diggings on Bixel's Flat. Had he
been "smart" he might have monopo
lied the entire lead. He contented him
self with amodest slice at one end. The1
down came the able-bodied cutting anG
shooting men of Texas Bar. Jim Free
mantle had worked a bank claim facing
. the fiat two years previously, withou,
suspecting the diggings which existed al
eighth of a mile back. No matter. On
the plea of possessing a prior claim OF
Bixel's, he and his compeers argued tina
they had the right of drumming the frs
boundary lines" Sims had already ru1
his own, which included, SO far as b,
could judge by external indications,
fair slice of the lead supposed to exis
underneath. This Freemantle & Co
coveted. So they ran their lines, which
clashed with those of Sims. Sims fount
Eraannonflotc n1EIoao o4c1oI =. IL H.
of his claim. He expostulated will
him. Herenewed his W notices whicl
had been torn down. These were agai1
snatched off, and his boundary stake
kicked over. This was accompanied b,
a threat from the proprietors of th,
Conquer we Must" claim, that can,
more of that sort of thing would lead t
bullets. So Sims "took water" and wa
obliged to take up with a fragment of tn
ground he had discovered.
Wang Chu kept a "China store"
little above Bixel's Flat. Wang CHI
dealt principally in gin, salt fish, tea
and opium. In his leisure hours he ha,
constructed a boat for transporting PAL
ties of his countrymen, who, from tim
to time in their migrations about til
country in search of diggings, might de
sire to cross the river. 1t was built afte
the Chinese style of marine architecture
1t was cumbrous, heavy, lop-sided, an,
unmanageable in the most quiet waters
One aim in its construction had been t
use as much old lumber as possible
When Wang Chu had finished 9Th
Ark" as the miners termed it, he paintei
two great eyes in the bows. Thereof
he deemed he had made it a rational
living, seeing creature. When it we
first set afloat there was a dedicator
burning of crackers, joss-sticks, othe
pow-wowing, and an increased consumr
ton by Wang Gnu and his contempori
ries of gin and opium. After this tn
illstarred and ~ungainly craft fioated i
its crippled and lop-sided fashion in
little blight of the river. Its passag
over the Stanislaus at the lowest stag
of water was accomplished with a va
amount of outcries and gabbling on tn
part of Wang Chu and his crew, VIII
mingled their frantic padding, when i
the heaviest current mid-stream, with a
incessant vociferation of contradiction
orders to each other. The result We