Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-08-07

found IL, had suffered IRON the evil
OF poverty and want, taken i'll, an,
finally, after they bad given him shell
ter out of sheer pity, had died on thei
hands. Nothing in the tale you see
But when it was toldlone of the fish
ermen went on to say that the younJ
man left absolutely nothing-not
ring, not even portrait such as wand
erers often cling to through vicissi
tudes Of all sorts that they may be 70
minded OF some loved one at home
There wasR'tnothin', said the man
except this here stone, and with tina
he handed me crystalline substance
which he took from the mantal. "a,
used 70 hold that In bis hand often,
he said, and smiled kinder sad lik,
and al we'dssen hin doin' o., It ",
| didn't like to throw the thing avay
| for 1t seemed sorter as If hed beer
kinder fond of it for some II ason.
well, | took the stone llstlessly
looked at it without much interest
and gave Il back. Then [ went away
The next day had some business
with these people and went back Ia
their house. The door was open and
| stepped 10, but the place was quite
empty.
AS | turned to 60 out popular
fash of light from the mantel at>
tracted my attention and / Stopped in
stinctively, looking at the same time,
to see whence it proceeded. 1t did
not require q second glance to show
that it came from the dead man s
crystal relic. On the instant | re-
membered what the fisherman had
said about the way he had been in the
habit Of looking at it, and it occurred
to me that it might possess real value.
j ust then one OF them came in, and
after transacting my business | ques-
toned him about the stone. He
secuted the idea that it had any value,
and when drew his attention to its
diamond-like CLEAN, said, That
there's nothin'. It's always
a dOin' that. This only aroused my
interest, and | questioned the mau as
to where the stranger had come from
had he never said? Oh, yes, / was
answered, he was always talkin' about
that, He came from a place called
Washington, on the upper Yukon
river. That convinced me. Some
diamonds had been found years before
on the upper Yukon, and there had
been for time some excitement about
it, but it had died out. asked the
young mans name and was told it was
Marland Strangeland.
made up my mind on the spot that
[ would 20 to Washington, aud the
next boat from Onnalashka took me
TO Granville. at the mouth Of the
Yukon, from whence | went to my
destination by train. By skillful 10,
quiry | found out that young Strange
land had, some time before going to
O0alashka, spent few months hunting
near the eastern boundary, and that
it had been observed by his friends
that he would never willingly
t9lk about his adventures. This was
not much to 20 on, but | was deter
mined to see the thing out, SO | took
an east bound train and went to the
station at Parsontown, just this side
of the boundary. l was determined,
if necessary, to walk back to Wash
ington By the river searching for the
diamond field | was certain existed.
As it was, found what l was search
ing for by accident. One day | left
the river to make q short cut to my
camp. After had walked for about
halt an hour | struck off to cross a
ridge. A few PAGES on, and | found
q rude pile of stones, perhaps two
feet high. Always on the look out
for signs | was sure Strangeland had
left; this interested me. | looked
about, and thought that | observed
certain design in the way some large
stones near by were placed. Going
from one to the other of these for per-
haps half mile l came to another
small stack Of stones. Convinced that
| had struck something, | vent on,
from pile 70 pile, always guided by
stones placed like those l have told
you about, and at length l was re-
warded."
by what2' asked the reporter.
by the diamonds, Of course. The
place is just full of them. 1t is YER
liable Golconda. There is a narrow,
cliff,inclosed depression, stony sur
face, and among the stones we're the
diamonds" ~
did you bring them away"
Them How few do you suppose
there are? Did l look like a freight
train, with a patent magnetic electro
locomotive in front? My friend, they
are just thick in that place
| brought these l have here away,
and now that | am sure, beyond the
chance Of a doubt, that they are what
| thought, | believe I'll buy that
place aud wall it In or fill it up"
But whyP'
"Mr. Reporter, do | look like fool?
Is there that in my face which leads
you to believe that ! haven't cut my
wisdom teeth} Do / strike you as a
child that amt been weaned4'
The reporter admitted that he
looked able to take care OF himself.
well then, / have in this bag what
is worth some $300,000,00O. Think
| want more? No, sir, l amt greedy.
That will do for me. But | don't
want any more men laundering on that
mine. If | can help it diamonds
shsn't 60 down yet awhile"
where is.tsic cssSe2" incautiously
Queried the reporter.
For answer Mr.. Robinson did a very
remarkable thing, or rather two very
remarkable things. First Of all he
pulled down the lover lid of one Of
his eyes, and earnestly besought the
reporter 10 examine the optic closely
and report the discovery Of anything
green; and then, without awaiting the