Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1884-02-23
SUDDEN WEALTH.
Some Interesting Recollections of the
Flush Times in Colorado
How New.Made MilliOnaires Ceie-
brated Their Good Fortune.
Anecdotes OF the Kings
for q Day.
T"Veran in Kansas City Tines

IL
of $40, 900 or go, 900, their greatest trouble
was to know what to buy first. The luxury
of purchasing intoxicated them, and no won
der they bought diamonds before dinners.
There Is an old story-and it is likely true
cne-tha one clustering winter night
miner who had just made a big
haul was standing on q street corner
In Leadville, when a hollow-eyed woman,
clutching a ragged shawl about her shivering
shoulders, drifted up and stopped irreso-
lutely. There was famine in her eye and
desperation in her rags The miner was I'M
used to ladies' society and felt embarrassed,
but he felt also that she was in distress, and
in the flush of his prosperity and bigness of
his heart he wanted to do something for her.
Finally he said:
"Wait here a minute, missus; I'll be right
back"
In short time he returned, and pressing
bundle into her hands, hurried away before
she could stammer out her fearful thanks.
The outcast opened the package eagerly. 1t
contained pair Of silk stockings.
Among the people knew around the camp
was man named Ed Braden, who divided
his time between reporting on a newspaper
and prospecting, and who loved to tell what
good and noble and sensible things he would
do should he happen to strike it, When for
tune did smile on him one day, he launched
Immediately upon several enterprises not con-
templated in the original prospectus Among
other vagaries he became enamored OF
vivacious little soubrette who was playing at
the opera house, and arranged unique and
remarkable testimonial to her beauty and
talents. At great expense he procured from
Denver some twenty or thirty hot-house
bouquets. The holders of these he had
weighted with :. leaden spike-point down.
ward, so when 1t was thrown upon the stage
1t would stick in the boards and stand erect.
His idea was to precipitate the whole number
at once when the soubrette made her appear
ance, and, to use his own language, trans
form the stage into a bower Of roses" To
this end be had number Of friends stationed
at different points In the audience, each bear
ing deadly bouquet.
The curtain rose, the actress tripped on,
when bangi bangl bangI the fiower-decked
missiles hurtled through the air. The poor
girl, who had read something Of wild west
ern ways, thought 1t was plot to kill, her,
and fed to the cellar, from which she had to
be subsequently dragged by main force, utter
ing piercing shrieks. The Braden party
were all somewhat inebriated and the more
enthusiastic fired their bouquets with such
reckless aim that one of them hit the header
Of the orchestra on the bald head, and he
had to be held by two men while the gore
was being mopped Off and explanations
made. AL went great ways toward
marring what might have otherwise been a
pleasant occasion. This is fair specimen of
the pursuits in which Braden spent very
decent fortune and succeeded In three brief
months in getting back into scrub journalism
and prospecting again.
A contemporaneous gentleman of fortune
was Capt. Connors well known to all resi-
dents Of the camp. He has often told me the
story of his first ''stake." He received $40,-
900 for his interest in some mineral property,
and 1t was paid to him at the bank in four
rectangular packages of bills Of $4,000 each
The captain had kept his good fortune a So
cret from h.. wife and he hurried home to
tell her. She was sitting down after hard
days work, and without word he dropped
the armful of greenbacks in her lap. It was
Q loyal and touching thing to do. For a mo
ment she sat paralyzed with establishment,
and then, hugging the mass up to her, she
sobbed out:
''Oh, Tom, how dirty they arei Let me
put them In . tub and wash them.n
"Do 1t II you want to, dear" he replied,
with tenderness that it would be well for
other rich men Of Colorado to emulate, "but
you win never wash anything else again."
One Of these kings for a day, can't recall
his name, but q subsequent trial in the GRIM
inal court Of Leadville in 1881, created quite
q sensation, made lucky strike that netted
him eS0, 900 In cash. He at once wrote to his
wife Of his good fortune, and intended to
leave for his home the following day. That
evening he was taken in tow by couple Of
these couriers Of crime, and in less than two
hours was gambled out Of every dollar. He
made complaint to the police, and the
larger portion Of the money was recovered,
but too late, for, hopeless and distracted, he
had locked himself In his room and committed
suicide.
It was by no means the rough and illiterate
who mcceeded In making the most glaring
idiots Of themselves under the stimulus OF
sudden fortune, but degree Of prior culture
seemed to ha 70 the effect Of adding a sort of
weird and sccentric variety to their freaks.
A miner nazned Luke Fuller, graduate Of
Bowdoin and man Of really brilliant mind
and wide information, one afternoon, en-
tirely unanticipated by himself, contaminated
. sale that placed In his hands over $4,000.
II was to be supposed that three or four years
Of grinding poverty had given him an appre
citation Of the value of money, and he had
never been known to drink or ,disipate In
any form. To the surprise Of everybody he
went on monumental spree which he wound
up by taking four or Ave boon companions
on sort Of triumphal tour into the east
The party stranded in Chicago and the next
time saw Fuller he was In Eaul's saloon de-.
stroying free lunch and furtively watching
the bartender.
Another man of his stamp, known by a
good many in this city, too. awoke one day
TO find himself tolerably affluent, and In the
midst Of an unusually fantastic celebration.
. ride around was suggested. The host in
sisted that for the purpose Of observation
the glan ddes Of hearse were peculiarly
adapted and two were hired. In these the re-
velerS esconced themselves and played poker
ON tho bottom while the paralysed populace
looked aghask
The lucky ones formed q sort OF aristoc
racy, and l do not recall anything more az.
traordinary on the burlesque stage than the
soirees they ussd to give Big, hulkinR fei-
lows who didn't know . quadrille from q
quadroon, would amble around the hall in
dreo costa made in Denver, and their fingers,
unused to gloves. sticking out, separate from
each other, like radiating rays from central
sun Of white Kid. Many Of them were, in.
deed, whited sepulchers, and would not stand
too clos analysis, even into their raiment
On one occasion, while in the midst Of q set
Of the prairie Queen" gentleman ,came
enraged at his opposite" and intentionally
peeled OF bis swallow-tail to mop the wsxed