Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1877-08-11
TWO WASTED LIVES.

Perhaps many of those who crossed
the Gulf of Mexico in 1865 and 1861
will remember the Hotel Confederate, ,
in the city of Cordova. 1t was managed
by IA shrewd little fellow from north
western Texas, and this rare specimen
operated the caravansary in a way that
puzzled natives and sojourners.
Some time in the spring Of 1866 John
Mckay, an engineer from the Cumbres
was carried up the steps and into the
office of the landlord. Mckay was an
invalid. He had exposed himself while
in the employ of the Imperial railway
company and was rapidly passing into a
hopeless decline. He had been notably
reckless and disposed to live fast. Of all
the staff of English and American
engineers he was the most expert and the
ablest.
Vast sums of money were squandered
in connection with this railway enter
prize. The employers flung away all
their earnings at play. They would toll
all day in the gorges and on the hillside,
and then devote the night to monte and
faro. Mckay was desperate player,
and at times he would drink with the
recklessness of the most abandoned
drunkard.
Seemingly he took no account of time
nr of health. His plans, his past history,
and his grief were communicated to no
one. He had no confident in the land OF
the cactus and brigand. Among the
army of rrilroad men at that time en-
gagged at the Maltra.a centre his face
was the saddest of all. Many time h,
would saddle his mustang and gallop
toward the snow-covered Orizaba peak.
People who saw him while on these rides
say that his face was gloomy and that he
rode recklessly. Once he was seen walk
ing away from his cabin towards the
hills; and then for hours he faced the
plateau with the sleet and rain beating
upon his head. He quarrelled with no
one; but while at play in a cafe he was
insulted, when a pistol encounter fol-
lowed, ending in the wounding of Mckay
and the death of his assailant. The same
evening poor woman approached him,
asking for charity, when he emptied his
pockets into her hand. Mckay was at this
time drifting rapidly into the widest |
dissipation. He courted monte and
drank the fiery rum of the country, be-
sides frequently facing the poisonous
night winds, until fearful cough began
to rack him. When the French troops
abandoned the distant metropolis, and
prepared to march towards the gulf,
panic seized the projectors of the road,
and the numerous bands of men on the
Cumbres and along the line of the rail-
way scattered hither and thither.
Mckay, too, worn out and sick, babe
adieu to the hills and cliffs forever, and
drifted down to the lowlands. He was
sick and without money. Bitterly did
be repent of his folly.
Without some means of subsistence
stranger must fall by the way, for with
Ill the tropical fullness and wonderful
powers of production of the soil, to one
without money the land seems a vast
lesert. A Mexican can look upon
tarving man without one jot of sympa-
by. He never dreams of charity.
No wonder the young engineer of the ,
Jumbers looked gloomy as he made a
urvey of the future. 1 saw him as he
at on the balcony of the hotel the day of {
lis arrival.
Indeed, he was then compelled to &C. c
ept help from his old comrades who c
7ere passing cut of the empire. And
IcKay was changed man. F-om this Q
ime on he touched no liquor, and when c