The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1877-07-06
BIG BEN Of CALIFORNIA.
Bending the -crowbar that was Made Eepsc.
iully to Defy His Strength.
New York Sun, June 2,

| 4NSW Ofh 6uI, JUNE
John W. Sutton, '49er, lectu1ed before
the Manhattan Liberal Club last evening
about California when in the delirium o.
the gold fever. Among the uncouth miners
about him, he said, We're Big Ben" and
"Little Dick" mates. "Big Ben " was
far above any an in the mining region in
stature, burly, aud of wonderful strength,
his favorite pastime being bending crow.
bars. Little Dick was curiosity for the
stalwart miners on account of his smallness
and meaner soul was never in a man Of
80 pounds. He was quarrelsome, but cow
ardly, and Big Ben had to. do the hitting
for him. So, although inofensive and
kind naturally, Big Ben got the reputation
of q desperate.
In the mining boulders too heavy to be
handled by a few men, were often encoun-
tered, and, when they were, the proprietors
of adjacent claims were invited to assist in
removing them. Big Ben was never for
gott en,and he did the work of half dozen
sturdy men. But after the boulder had
been removed nearly far enough, he COM
monty thrust the crowbar well under the
boulder, and, pressing his shoulder against
the crowbar bent it nearly double. Final
ly Jim Crook, the blacksmith, vowed that
he could weld crowbar that Big Ben
could not bend. He got up ponderous
bar ofcast steel from Frisco, and welded
it into crowbar that, sure enough, Big Ben
could not bend. The latter remembered
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 fond of Big
Ben, and he worshipped her. Though he
was panning or grading, with glimmer of
the yellow specks at the bottom brighten
ing his eyes. he would 60 when Birdie -
said, "Come, Ben, 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 aggresser,
and pistols and bowie-kniyes cleaned.
. Birdie 2 said, "Come, Ben, with me-,
and, catching her up in his arms, Big Bon
walked away.
The mining camp was by the side of the |
bed of dried-up stream. Across its high
banks single fallen tree extended, the |
only connection between the camp and the |
fiowery slope beyond the river. One after
noon, as suddenly streams in that region |
do return to their beds, mighty flood |
poured down the bed. The miners saw |
's Birdie" gathering flowers on the oppo- |
site slope. Big Ben, returning with Little
Dick, saw her peril. He shouted, "Dick,
go across and set the chile, and I'll hold the
bridge" He put his crowbar into crev-
ice beneath the tree, and braced his mas
sive shoulder against it. Little Dick dart
I'd across the tree, about which the waters
we're rising fast, snatched up Birdie,"
md ran; and as he -dagted ,ttf ffnrustrare:
'prapff tt,a,t,, anu Dig D n-L.A.ar,-
uTeu blood vessel. Brides" mother
wiped away the foam, and, looking up, Big
Zen whispered, I saved Birdie and bent
he bar" and died. He had bent the crow
,ar that Jim Crook had forged to overtax
lis strength. s.