Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-04-21


amount of their accumulation.
with what they had already depos.
ited, they each had over twenty
thousand dollars.
Iney were fearful of being rob-
PED: They had dug up their cached
goid 10 daylight, whereas they had
buried il in the darkness of night.
Ihey did not know but some per
son had seen them taking it out.
ana would follow them when they
LETT camp. The guns and pistols
We're carefully examined and relO-
ded. James and William remained
at the cabin while Samuel went to
hunt the mule. They hid the gold
bags in the cabin as well as they
could, then waited for develope-
ments.
The mule was found easier and
sooner than they expected the two
heard the noise of Samuel's return
and prepared for defending the
cabin, but soon he and the mule APP
peared. They were now afraid to
leave in daylight so waited until
midnight then packed the mule
with gold dust and miners traps
and cautiously left camp for Grass
Valley, where their other gold dust
was on deposit. They arrived at
Beatty's Hotel just at daylight; and
having deposited their gold dust
went to bed and slept nearly all
day.
They got ready and hired a stage
to leave with them at midnight,
into, which all their gold dust was
stored away; two of them rode in
side, and one outside. with the dri-
yer, all were well-armed. On their
reaching Sacramento, each one de-
posted his own gold dust in his re-
spective name.
"There boys" said William, now
let US get drink" They all went
to the bar; James did not drink.
; William, was very much astonfsh-
ed, said he, "James, WON'T you
drink after our doing without it SO
long ?"
mo, / thank you, William, do
not drink liquor at any time"
Night came on. James went to
bed and slepted soundly, while
Samuel and William took a thOus-
and dollars each and went to faro
bank, after taking several drinks.
Next morning they had hardly en-
ough money out of the banks to
pay for bed and meals. James re-
monstrated with them about their
course, and they promised to do
better. Whether they did or not
we have nothing more to do with
their future.
1t was now summer time. PeO-
pie had in measure forgotten about
the food. James spent $4,000 in
city lots, and in less than a month
doubled his money; he also made
other successful speculations.
In October he purchased a draft
on New Orleans for so, 900, and had
enough left to pay all. expenses.
The banker sent the gold dust on
the steamer that carried James out
from San Francisco, on which he
made handsome sum, and had
the gold dust in time to meet the
draft. The house on which the
draft was drawn had been advised
before it was presented, so he got
a check on bank for the full sum.
When the check was presented the
cashier said:
gold, silver, e. paper ?'
"If you please, I will take GER
tificate of deposit for $4,000, four
thousand in paper, and one thous-
and in gold"
The whole transaction was the
work of less than five minutes.
That night he went to the theatre,
and next morning started on a
steamer up the Mississippi and Ar
kansas river to Little Rock. He
arrived at the town just in the dusk
of the evening. At supper he met
a neighbOr, a man who lived near
by his father, who was very glad to
see James and gave him all the |
news about the family.
James, said he, have you heard |
anything from home since you left |
last year ?"
"No; you know how hard it is to
get letters In California"
al see-but you have got home |
in bad time; the farm is advertis-
ed for sale under that mortgage of |
%, 500. l don't believe the place |
will bring it just now, and they |
have no way TO raise it."
IA I
you release the mortgage ?"
Yes, of course l can, and ] think |
the man will take less than its
face"
"Well, he don't know that / am /
here. l will give you the money in
the morning, if you will be kind
to settle it for me-"
The next morning James gave
this neighbOr the money. He soon
found the man with the mortgage,
and bought it of him for its face
and interest, exclusive of cost, then
took it to the recorders office and
had 1t Cancelled on the books. This
matter being settled, James hired a
man to take him home in a buggy.
They were all glad to see him
but after the rejoicing was over the
old man said: "Well, James, | am
sorry you got home just in time to
see us ruined. The farm is to be
sold in a few days under that old
mortgage, and l can not help N.Y.
SELF"
Pulling out a paper from his side
coat pocket, James handed it to
him saying: "Father, there is The
have paid it and the
place is still yours"
Turning to his vile the old man
said: Mother, we did not know
why we were raising James, he has
paid the mortgage and saved our
family from ruin"
The whole family shed tears OF
10y, and nearly smothered James
with kisses, while the old father
said "Let us all kneel down and
give thanks to God for this unexpec-
ed relief, and safe return of this our
lear son and brother"
John Gibson threw back his
white hair, and his voice shook
with emotion as he said: flames,
low sit down and tell us of what
1Ou have been doing it must be an
interesting story"
Father, let us wait till tO-mOr-
.ow and we shall all be in better ;
to listen. Ii is most re-
narkable and perfectly natural
tory which l shall take great
pleasure in relating when you have
III got over the surprise"
The Christmas holidays were
half gone, and the family were ma
King preparations for New Years
lay. Each was doing his or her
,est to make James happy man.
sitting at dinner one day, Mrs. Glib
on fixed her eyes upon James, say
ng: