The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-05-25
BAD LUCK:
OR,
It Never Rains but It Pours.

around in the recesses Of my fading
memory that the above expression
is not strictly original; must have
heard or seen II before, but that
doesn't alter the fact that 1t is as
true as though were the author
OF it.
I once knew a man who was
neither lucky nor rich; and, as if
fate had lot OF ssseSsable stock on
hand and had unlOaded it all in one
place, he was not handsome and
his education had been neglected.
His name was Spriggins. He man.
aged to get along some way, but en-
cOuntered obstacles every hour
in the day such as would
have made the best Christian
in the country brow up the sponge
and depart for the beautiful beyond.
Such an idea never entered his head,
however; misfortuneS fell upon him
like the gentle dew on the upper
de2k of wild goose, and when he
got through whole day without
some kind Of mishsp Detailing him
he couldn't sleep, and would mean
der aimlessly about the streets till
the destinies got in their work on
| him; then be felt comfortable.
He vent to a new mining camp
once, place where they were lay
ing men out at the rate of about one
an hour. The office Of coroner,
though financially one to be de-
/ sired, involved so much danger
to the incumbent thit nobody
~anted it, and at the fist election
Spriggins was chosen to fill 1t. He
thought decided turn had taken
place in his affairs then, but it
hadn't. The. camp Immediately be-
came as reaceable and laW.abi ling a
place as the sun ever shone on; no
body was killed and but one man
died; he fell in the river and his
body foated into another coroner's
jurisdiction. Spriggins got in deb!
for Office rent, ana finally tee IN
dertaker offered to settle the delin-
quenc1es and give him $40 beside
to leave the place, which offer he
accepted. He had scarcely got out
of hearing before the festive
but rusty revolver g1t to
work once more, and the
legitimate bushes Of the camp was
resumed. When he got to the first
town and the stage driver SUCCESS
ted In the quiet and unonstrusive
way peculiar to that kind Of animal
that the passengers fare was re,
Onirad ha y,ro1nood hi. c10 hill and
found out that 1t was counterfeit.
Spriggins succeeded once In Win-
ming a chronao in q rattle. He had
previously invested In every rattle
that took place where he happened
to be, and of course never won be-
fore. This time he was determined
to succeed; he took all the chances.
No amount or degree of bard luck
could prevent his succeeding then;
he took the dice box and
shook of his chances one
after another and got "a out Of a
possible 81 every shake. While en-
gagged in this monotonous pastime,
one of the boys stole the picture
and soaked" il for a dollars worth
of drinks. Determined to enjoy the
fruits of his victory he redeemed his
prize, which had by this time cost
him Sc, and, having no place to put
it, carried it around town for two or
three days and finally accepted an
offer from a secondhand store for
its purchase, the consideration being
S1.50.
Under all such circumstances
Spriggins never lost his temper but
once. He went o1t cunning and
was remarkably successful In find
ing plenty Of game. He
ran upon a convention of
ducks, hundred or more, close to-
gether and not more than ten steps
away they were discussing the adj
visabilityof enacting a prohibitory
tariff on the i'm Importation of shot into
their midst. He took a dead aim
and pulled the trigger, but the ham.
mer fell with a dull, unresponsive
thud. The gun wouldn't 60 off, and
the ducks didn't need to. He tried
several times, with the same result.
And the convention refused to ad-
journ, though II Spriggins' arm had
been about twice as long as 1t was
he could have taken the chairman
by the throat. The boys had put
black sand in his powder flask. He
swore little then. The next time
he went out he saw that everything
was in it's place; he found rabbit
almost as big rs its brother-in-law,
the jackass, nipping the succulent
twigs from the fragrant sage-brush.
The animal, seeming instinctively
to know whom it had tocope witha
didn't seem the least bit discon-
certed, but nibbled away as though
it were paid by the nibble, and had
gas bill to pay and was deter
mined to meter on presentation. He
shot over and under and on each
side: he converted the hallowed
ground occupied by the festive 70
dent ino a first class lead mine.
and still the animals ears pointed
proudly to the cerulesn dome.
When his ammunition was all
gone, he threw down bis gun,