The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1883-07-19

The bottle held my entire stock in trade.
| | sold whiskey at seventy-fve cents a
drink. | have known men to travel a
quarter of a mile after being struck with
tn t whiskey before they fell. Those
were great times. AS things prospered
with me | bought more hogsheads and
rented them out at one hundred dollars
per week. California is great State for
bringing out mans fun strength and
character should never have been half
the man | am but for my California eX-
perience. 1t was my good fortune to
have had some share in building up that
great and glorious State. am proud of
| it."
Col. DIS story: son the first night of
my arrival | put up at the Occidental
Hotel, then kept by Lewis and Jerome
Leland. slept Oh the top floor. During
the night | heard scratching, paving
and smiling at the door. Thinking it to
be the cat | opened it to drive the animal
away. 1t was not the eat. An enormous
grizzly stood before NE. The door open
ed, and with a single bound he over
threw me and was in the ROOM With
one stroke Of his paw he demolished my
spectacles, tore out my set of false teeth
and upset my cologne bottle. | had
three revolvers and four bowie knives in
/ my valise, but, alas. had neglected to
take any of them out before retiring.
The monster seemed to divine the con
| tents of my portmanteau, for he grabbed
| it with one Of his human-like claws and
| threw it out of the window Shall tell
| you how | fought him and saved my
life? Will you believe it ? fought him
with my bottle of smelling salts. Every
| time he made for NE | gave him sniff
of it. He would roar terribly and tenn
porarily back down. Then he would rush
| for me again. The fight was kept up
for the remainder of the night until nv
supply Of smelling salts was exhausted
called out to Lewis Leland to send me
up some more. He replied that there
was but single pound in the entire city,
| said, BUY It at any price He sent out
| a waiter, who returned with the reply
that it would cost 81 900. | (here the
speakers words will be drowned by the
band at the close of which there will be
heard a slight murmur Of proud record
my part-buildng up the glorious
State-nia.)'
Gen. Els story: ~ landed on the shores
of the Golden State in IS. Although my
stay was but 10 minutes, | assisted as a
spectator in hanging two men without
Judge or jury. There was no delay in
justice in those days. | believe that one
OF these men was atterward found limo
cent. But he was an awful example to
the guilty party, whoever he was, and
who was never-no, never discovered
Our vessel sailed then Immediately to
China. Although | have never seen the
shores Of the State | assisted to find and
make history for, still the humble part in
which it was my glorious privilege to
take in elevating her to her present pro
portions is one of the proudest, etc"
Maj. F's story :During the spring Of
40 the Wallop-o Wogga tribe Of Indians
used often to attack our camp at Dirty
Blanket bar. We expected attacks from
them nightly and We're in the habit of
sleeping on our arms, | had no arms
then but pocket pistol had brought
out from the States. used to sleep on
that. So did my brother. These pocket
pistols were fully charged every night
They were generally empty in the morn
Ing III consequence of the repeated and
furious attacks from these Indians nd
snakes 1t kept one man busy getting
them charged next day - at the nearest
grocery. They were loaded from a bar
rel. Those were wild old times can tell
you. One day two wild Indians chased
my brother three miles We saw him
being pursued 10y them. That is, we saw
him, but never saw the Indians. Il Was
the same with the snakes. Numbers of
our party were pursued by snakes, but it
is singular fact that no enc ever saw
the snakes save the parties pursued
People at the East can never realize the
hardships and perils endured by us brave,
daring California miners. 1t was a very
dangerous country where We mined
Nearly all our party eventually met their
death at the hands of these Indians and
snakes Whisky then was $50 per gal
Ion. 1t cost us nearly all our earnings
for ammunition. But, gentlemen, am
proud that |, too, had hand in making
California the great State she is"