Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-06-12
THEY STRUCK PAY DIRT.
A Dog Fight That Ended in n Hole In
the Ground with Gold in 1t.
From ne Neio York sun.

From The Nst0 York Sun.
In the barroom of the Miners Arms. the
Front street hotel patronized chiefly
by miners bound to and from
the mining regions of the West,
were two or three groups of
men drinking and talking over old times
yesterday, when a slender young man
came in carrying an old-fashioned carpet
bag shaped like slice of cheese. All
eyed him for a moment, and three or four
jumped up and said in concert: ITS
him, and he's struck it, sure. How did
you do itY'
The newcomer waved his hand toward
the bar, where man In n white apron
set out row Of small glasses and a fat
cut-glass bottle. The men all drank, and
then, as the newcomer drew the back OF
his hand across his mouth, he said:
"Remember the parson and his boy?"
"Don't W said tnree or four.
'lGs nigh on TO six months since the
parson moved into a shanty just a mile
out Of Elko. 1t was the dead of winter,
but be was cheerful. and lowed he
shouldn't suffer much while his piety
lasted. 1t was mighty lonesome for the
boy, though, 20 hear him tell it, until the
breakup, when Deacon Holbrool from
Connecticut drove a stake joining the
parsons. The deacon had boy called
Dick, and he and Bob, the parsons boy,
dogs, and each thought his dog could
lick the other one; but, Pm a
giving it to you straight, the par
son and the deacon watched them
that close that they couldn't get up
fight to save them. One day Bob he came
to me and told me all about it, and told
him we'd put up job on the piety bust
ness. Accordingly the Saturday paper
announced special service for Sunday
morning in Bin Stevens dance hall.
When the hour came, and the pars0n and
the deacon were turning over their hymn
books, Bill and me and two others that I'd
let into the secret was up to the parsons
ranch arranging the preliminaries. We
made a beautiful enclosure with two
boards and a wagon box against one side
of the shanty, and then we washed the
dogs. BIZ he coached the deacon's dog
and / looked after the parsons. They
were both in prime condition, and when
we'd turned them loose it was
glorious spectacle to see them claw
across the gravel for the
centre of the pit. The deacon's pup got
the first hold and give the other good
shake, but he lost 1t again, and then the
two of them rolled over and over and riz
up on their hind legs and chawed, and
got down on their knees and dug their
paws into the ground. There was dust
flying Immediately, and 1t was all we
could do TO see which was ON top. In
fact, il was such G mighty interesting
fight that we never noticed how time was
passing, and before we knew it the parson
and the deacon rode up on their bronchos.
" Brethren, BRETHREN says the pars0n
what does this mean? Dick, take your
dog home, SIR
"'Maybe you'd better take you dog Off
from him so he can go home himself
said the deacon, sarcastic like, and he
was just about right, too, for the parsons
dog was on top a chewing the others
neck scandalOus. That made the parson
mad, and he lowed the deacon had an
Ornery pup, anyhow. That was enough
for the deacon. He was beginning to
reach for the parsOn when Bill Stevens
began to yell Ike an Apache. The dogs
had wallOwed their way right down into
the ground and Bill had in a mechanical
way picked up a handful of dirt and
rubbed it between his fingers, and he'd
hefted q nugget. There was a rustling
thereabOuts, stalking of claims over the
parsons ranch for a few minutes, and
when we'd got it all done regular we all
had enough TO take US back TO the States"
(Which licked:7 said the bartender,
wlping his hands on his partially white
apron.
The newcomer looked at him reprOach-
fully for moment and then said
III you'd been there you'd have known
we didn't waste no time watching dogs
light after they'd struck pay dirt"