American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-02-06

| lnaI he exclaimed:
I" So l have melted the ice, have{9 ]
have made your heart beat at last?" ~
There was no answer nor movement
Something in that absolute stiffness
frightened him. He knelt down and
took her hand in hist was cold; he
raised her head; there was no breath on
the lips, no light in the eyes; she was
blind and deaf to his passion of despair
He had melted the ice and it had
slipped from his hold; he had made her
heart beat and broken it. She was dead
-Harper'S Monthly.
The First Gold Found in California.
A CORRESPONDENT of the San Francisco
Bulletin gives the following interesting
story of the first discovery of gold in Cal
| ifornia, as told him by Mrs. WINNER,
| who has in her possession the identical
piece which caused such revolution in
| the history of the Pacific coast:
ave arrived here in November, 1896"
said Mrs. WINNER, with a party of
fourteen families, across the plains from
Missouri. On arriving at Suffers Fort,
Sacramento, we found Fremont in need
of more men. My husband enlisted be-
fore we had got the oxen unyoked, and
left me and our seven children at the
fort, in the care of Commissary Curtin.
We drew our rations like common sol
diers for four months. Capt. Suffer ar
ranged a room for us in the fort. AS
soon as Mr.. WINNER returned from
Santa Clara, where he had been stationed
during the winter, he joined three others
and went over the mountains to what is
now called Bonner Lake, to fetch over
the effects of the Bonner family, after
that terrible winter of suffering that you
have heard about.
"In June, 1S47, they loaded all our
household plumber for Battle Creek, up
ON the Sacramento, to put up a saw mill,
but they changed their plans and went
to Coloma. Capt. Suffer and j. W. Mar
shall we're equal partners and were the
head of the expedition. After seven
days of travel, blazing trees, we arrived
at shutdown a mile above the town
Next morning Mr.. WINNER went out to
select site for the mill and l site for
the house. He was to oversee the In
dams, be a handy man about, and l was
to be cook We had from fifteen to
twenty men employed. We soon had a
log house-a good Lighthouse, and a log
heap to cook by.
"They had been working on the mill
race, dam and mill about six months,
when, one morning along the last days
of December or the first week of January,
1918, after an absence of several days
to the fort Chat was our Francisco in
them days., Mr.. Marshall took Mr.. VIM
mer and went down to see what had been
done while he was away. The water was
entirely shut off, and as they walked
along, talking and examining the work,
just ahead of them, on a little rough,
muddy rock, lay something looking
bright like gold. They both saw it, but
Mr.. Marshall was the first to stoop to
pick it up, and, as he looked at it,
doubted it's being gold.
"Our little son Martin was along with
them, and Mr. Marshall gave it to HIM to
bring up to me. He came in a hurry and
said: Here, mother, here's something
Mr.. Marshall and pa found, and they
want you to put it into saleratus water
to see if it will tarnish.' l said, This
is gold, and will throw it into my lye
kettle, which 1 fave just tried with a
fe ather. and it it is gold it will be bright
when it comes out l finished off my |
soap that day and set it off to cool, and |
it STAYED there until the next morning. At |
hands raised up his head from eating |
and said: l heard something about gold |
being discovered; what about it?' Mr.. |
Marshall told him to ask Jenny, and l
told him it was in my soap-kettle. MIR.
Marshall said it was there if it had not
gone back to California.
"a plank was brought for me to lay
my soap upon, and cut it in chunks At
the bottom of the pot was double
handful of potash, which lifted in my
two hands, and there was my gold as
bright as it could be. Mr.. Marshall still
it was not gold, but whether
he was afraid his men would leave
him or he really thought so l don't
know. Mr.. WINNER remarked that it
looked like gold, weighed heavy, and
would do to make money out of. The
men promised not to leave till the mill
was finished. Not being sure it was
gold, Mr.. WINNER urged MIR. Marshall to
go to the fort and have it tested. He
did SO, and George McKinstry, an assay
er, pronounced it gold. Capt. Suffer
came right up with Mr.. Marshall and
called all the Indians together, and
agreed with them as to certain boundaries
that they claimed, and on the right of
discovery demanded 30 per cent. of all
were to give the Indians certain num-
Der of handkerchiefs, pocket looking
glasses, shirts, beads and other trinkets.
&c Mrs. WINNER, viii you be kind
enough to tell me how you came in pos
session of this piece of gold?'"
&c Yes; it was just this way: One day
Mr. Marshall was packing up to go away.
He had gathered together good deal OF
lust on this 30 per cent. arrangement,
and had it buried under the floor. In
his traps he said to me in
he presence of Elisha Packwood:
Jenny, will give you this piece of gold.
always intended to have a ring made
rom it for my mother, but l give it to
you" l took it and l have had il in my
possession from that day to this
&c You have not the exact date of the
discovery of the gold.' asked.
GO No, but it was somewhere about the
holidays for | know that Capt Suffer
lad sent up to me dozen bottles of I
for the men and six for me.
At first could not find them at last we
ound them in barrel of dried peas. OF
course the men had big Christmas, and
lfter they had drank up their six bottles
hey wanted mine, and they got them
1.-THE piece of gold l must describe. Its
yalue is between four and five dollars
t looks like (pardon the comparisOn) II
'iece of spruce gum just out of the
mouth of a schoolgirl, except the color
t is rather flat, full of indentations, just
IS the teeth make in piece of nice gum.
There are one or two rough points on the
dye which, with a little stretch of the
give the appearance of a
mans head with a helmet on; then turn
t another way and, as Mr.. WINNER
aid, : 1t looks like some kind of a var
mint or other 1t can be easily identi-
led by anyone who has ever seen it be-
ore"
IN looking over an old book which :
ont aims much curiOuS information find ,