The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1877-08-04
TWO WASTED LIVES.

Perhaps many of those who crossed
the Gulf of Mexico in 1865 and 1866
will remember the Hotel Confederate,
in the city of Cordova. It was managed
by Ia shrewd little fellew from north
western Texas, and this rare specimen
operated the c~aravansary 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 a desperate player,
and at times he would drink with the
fecklessness of the most abandoned
drunkard.
Seemingly he took no account of time
or of health. His plans, his past history,
and his grief were communicated to 10
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 Maltrata centre his face
was the saddest of all. Many a time he
av~~ald- saddle his mustang and gallop
towaruc~MAYU,; ererHsrared Orizaba peak.
People who saw him while on these rideE
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 w%ounding of Mckay
and the death of his assailant. The same
evening a poor woman approached him,
asking fR 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 a fearful cough began
to rack him. When the French troops
abandoned the distan6 metropolis, and
prepared to march towards the gull, a
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
down to the lowlands. He was
sick and without money. Bitterly did
he repent of his folly.
Without some means of subsistence a
must fall by the way, for with
all the tropical fullness and wonderful
of production of the soil, to one
without money the land seems a vast !
desert. A Mexican can look upon a
man without one jot of sympa-
He ney dreams of charity.
No wonder the young engineer of the
Cumbers looked gloomy as he made a
survey Of the future. I saw him as he
rat on the balcony Of the hotel the day of
arrival.
Indeed, he was then compelled to &C.
cept help from his old comrades who
were passing cut of the empire. And
Mckay was a changed man. F-om this
time on ne touched no liquor, and when
once solicited to play, refused. But he
would sit for hours together on a bal
cony, his face turned eastward, with a
look of 0
Hell listened to the doctors plan of
him to the coast, and believed
life might be prolonged in the warm air
If the lowlands. But the lower country
was awarming with guerrillas SO time
wore on, Mckay remaining in the Span
sh- Mexican city of Cordova, surely and
drifting toward dissolution.
And when spring rains had ceased in
he valley, and cofee-trees had grown
ed with ripening fruit, the host grew
lneasy about his rich guests poverty
md probable disease. Mckay would &C
ept charity from no inc He was proud
Is a large landed baron. He owed no
Evenslosses at faro were liqnidated
o q last farthing. He looked upon the
dvances of his friends as 50 many loans,
be cancelled upon an arrival of a re-
nittance from Boston. He was grew
10 restless about the delay. Each
lail was . fresh hope, and at the same