The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-07-14
Strong, Big Ben of California.

JOHN W. SUTTON, a 49er, lectured be-
fore the Manhattan Liberal Club, last
evening, about California when in the
delirium of the gold fever. Among the
uncouth miners about him, he said, were
Big Ben" and Little Dick" mates.
Big Ben" was far above any man
in the mining region in stature, burly,
and of wonderful strength, his favorite
pastime being bending crowbars. Lit
tie Dick" was curiosity for the stall
wart miners on account of his smallness;
and meaner soul was never in a man
weighing but eighty pounds. Little
Dick" was quarrelsome, but cowardly,
and Big Ben" had to do the hitting for
him. So, although inoffensive and kindly
naturally, Big Ben" got the reputation
of desperate.
In the mining powders too heavy to be
handled by few men were often en-
cOuntered, and when they were the pro-
prietors of adjacent claims were invited
to assist in removing them. Big Benz
was never forgotten, and he did the work
Of half dozen sturdy men. But after
the bOwlder had been moved nearly far
enough, he commonly thrust the crow
bar well under the bowlder, and press
ing his shoulder against the crowbar,
bent it nearly double. Finally, jim
Cook, the blacksmith, vowed that he
would weld crowbar that "Big Ben"
could not bend. He got up a pcnderous
bar of cast-steel from Frisco, and welded
it into crowbar that, sure enough, Big
Ben" could not bend. The latter remeni-
bered this, his first defeat, to his dying
moment.
There came from the States to recuper-
ate, the doctors wife and tiny daughter,
" Birdie" She became very found of
Big Ben" and he worshiped her.
Though he was panning or grading, with
a glimmer of the yellow specks at the
bottom frightening his eyes, he would
go when " Birdie" said: Come, Ben, l
want some flowers, or pretty stones"
For years afterward the miners used to
say, between the puffs of their evening
pipes, that Big Ben" never weakened"
but once. 1t was in front of a saloon.
Little Dick" was the aggressor, and
pistols and bowie-knives CLEANED.
Birdie" said: "Come, Ben, with me-"
and, catching her up in his arms, Big
Ben" walked away.
The mining camp was by the side of
the bed of dried-up stream. Across
its high banks a single fallen tree ex-
tended, the only connection between the
camp and the flowery slope beyond the
river. One afternoon, as suddenly
streams in that region do return to their
beds, mighty flood poured down the
bed The miners saw " Birdie" gather
ing flowers on the opposite slope. big
Ben" returning with Little Dick, ;" saw
her peril. He shouted: Dick, 90 across
and get the child, and I'll hold the
bridge" He put his crow bar into a
crevice beneath the tree, and braced his
massive shoulder against it. Little
Dick" darted across the tree, about which
the waters were rising fast, snatched up
" Birdie" and ran; and as he darted
across it and sprang to the shore the
tree whirled down the current, and big
Ben" fell PROSTATE. Bloody foam was
on his lips. He had ruptured blood
vessel. BRIDES" mother wiped away
the foami and, looking up, big Benz
whispered: " l saved Birdie, and bent
the bar" and died. He had bent the
crowbar that jim Cook had forged to
overtax his strength.-N Y. Sun.