Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1885-03-28
HUT TO PALACE.
II is Sometimes Better to Ne bern
Lucky Than Rich.

"WelI, that beats the Arabian Nights
all hollow exclaimed gentleman in
the Russell house, at Detroit, as he threw
aside the newspaper. But don't be.
lieve Mackay has struck dirt this time.
doesn't it seem funny that man
who, twenty years ago, was shovelihg
ore for "a a day, and glad to get work Of
any kind, should now loom mp as the
prospective father in-law ola real live
prince? Funny! Why, that's no name
for it; it's simply amazing. But l don't
believe the deal will pay as big profits as
squeezing the holders of Sierra Nevada
stock by the mild sppIcaticn Of a 80 cent
assessment on every snare. Vi ii "a
However. Mackay is generally pretty
level headed, and with $lOO,OO0,OOO in
cold cash TO back him, and his daughter
a princess, / wouldn't wonder if he
showed The Johnny Crapeaus in Paris
how we used to make things hum in Cali
fornia and Nevada.
"Are you personally acquainted with
Mr.. Mackay and his familyf" asked a
Free Press reporter.
Acquainted with them? I rather
think | am, young man. l used to cabin
with .Msekay over in Sierra county, and
lots of times Xe went without our break
fasts becsus. the cupboard was empty
and we -hadu's the dustto replenish it.
Those were gtoriods DAYS, though, and
when one of lis was lucky enough to find
a pocket which panued out rich, the
whole town was soon made aware Of it,
and we made the place howl as long as
it lasted. Everybody couldn't ct rich,
though, and some of The boys, Mackay
and myself included, went to work for a
company, but we couldn't stand il long.
Shoveling gravel in a sluicaabout three or
four feet above the top of your head amt
very much like play, even if the wages
are good. We didn't mind it a bit when
we were prospecting for ourselves, but it
was mighty tough to do it for anybody
else. / struck cut fer white Pine and
Pioche, and Mackay made break for
Virginia City, and there's. where he
struck his gait, although first along lhe
didn't seem to know how to make mon
ey.
"He took his time about it, and when
he got chance he made it tell. The
first big money he made in gambling
stocks-and that's how he made his mil
lions-amounted to about $4,000. And
where DO. sos think be put ii? He
bought draf: for the VIII Die businessa and
sent it to his poor old mother in Ireland.
Taat showed what the man was ma le Of
Most of us forget the old f5lks at home
when we cot dollar or so ahead, but
MacKav didn't. He ST mt the money and
started over ,again. Everything he
touched seemed to turn into gold. If he
bought 100 shares in a wildclt claim the
stock began to boom, and he always sold
out just before price went down. After
awhile he made enough to bay 2 contrbll-
ing interest in one OF the inincs, 7 think
it was the Gould & Curry, and then he
began to boss the market Ifhe wanted
stocks 20 90 up, they went up like kite,
and when he said drop, they went tum.
bling like pile of bricks. The two
Jims-Flood and Fair --as well as
OBrien, were in with him in all the
speculations, but they couldn't have
made half what they are worth if Mack
ay had been out of the firm. Flood lived
in Frisco, and Mackay, Fair, and
OBren, lived in Virginia City. O'Brien
didn't amount tomuch, because he al
ways told ali he knew, and more, too.
1.-The bonanza finn intended to make
the elstocks go up or down O'Brien knew
Nothing about II. He made money, no
matter how the market went, and that
was all he wanted. There was only one
man on the coast that Mackay was afraid
of, and that was Ralston, of the CalifoI-
mia bank. Ralston was even smarter
than Mackay, but he hadn't the money
to carry -out his scfiemes, and lad to
knock untler. That was the time Mack.
ay broke the California bank, which was
the slickest piece of work l ever heard
of.
nYIn those days there wasn't any .paper
to 90 down to Frisco from Virginia or;
Carson, and had any great amount OF
money, it was mighty heavy and incon-
venient to pack around. For the con-
venience Of the people. the California
bank Issued gold certificates, which were
the same as the gold notes now in use,
except that no ank except the gCallfor-
mia was obliged to redeem them.
''Mackay secretly bought up all the
cert Gates he could without exciting
suspicion, and at last got about 81, 000,-
600 worth. He pat them in "Trip and
walked into the bank in Virginia City
and demanded coin for them They
coundn't pay them all and had t. put up
the -ehutfers.--Fhes very moment the
bank was busted be opened his Nevada
bank, which today is as good as any bank
in the world. Ralston, the cashier Of
the California bank. committed suicide
by drowning as soon as he heard the
news ''ifl t'A
'"You would be surprised to see low
common and slouchy Msckay looks
when he is in Virginia. l have wcrfe ed
for him and know him as well as krow
my brother I have often seen him on
the street with one trouser leg inside his
boot. the other outside. He always wore
gray slouch hat and dark coat, and when
he drove out in state a white horse
hitched to blackboard LAS geo4 enough