Omaha daily bee., 1885-11-14
A TOWN WITH ONE lNHABlrANr.
He Takes Visitors Around M Cos
sips Concerning Hts Former


NNlRuinptS.
A correspondent of the New York
Sun, writing under the date Of Oct. "a.
from Comovillc, California, says.
For five or or six years old Pete Fer
gus has been the only resident of this
town. lie was here first and he was here
last, He saw the mining camp develop,
c%yolutc and decline. 1t was he who wei
coined all the new comcrS and who badc
all the Ouigoers goodbye. There are
twenty or thirty houses in the place, but
only his is tcnantcd. The others stand
about rs they were left by their last oc-
Cupants. Some of them are in GOOD con
dition, with windows and doors in place,
but others are riokcty and tumble down
The Cumovillc fever was violent, and
II soon faded away. OF the twenty or
thirty mines here nonc ever paid, and
during all the time that they were worked
not enough bullion was taken out of them
to pay for the tobacco consumed in the
place. Pete Fergus kept u boarding
house, and ii was not his business to wOr.
ry over the poor success of tho mines.
They came and went, and as long rs
there was one in town he had an open
house. When everything in the nature
of mining ceased he still tarried, and en-
tertained an occasional prospector, and
even when the proSpeCtorS ceased to
como this way he remained, though his
help" left him one Ivy one until he was
alone. He now managed to make his
w living in some way, and exists TO Il
large CNtont on his faith that there are
great days in store for ComOvIllc vet.
Walking through the deserted camp
yesterday with this aged man, he enter.
tanned a party of tourists with u running
comment on the history of the place and
ON II few of the more important events in
its career, ihc day was Il brilliant one
The sun shone bright and warm, the ar
was DELIGHTFULLY."- soft, and the froWuing
picturesque background tor the rambling
and dilapidatcd village.
This here place, - the old man said,
pointing to 4 wcathrr.buatcn shanty, lis
where linn Fuller lived. lie came in
with $4,000 in cool cash and blew it all
in in this very room playing faro 10
you see that hole in the board? Well,
that's where the bullet that killed him
went. It's in there now, | guess. He
didu' mean any harm, but he ran eros
II hard crowd one night. and, being dcS-
porate, lac attempted Il little shcnanigan
with the cards. just rs he was raklng
of the pot in Il poker game a big Mexican
pulled on him and let him have it.. That
was in busy times, and nobody had any
time to think about it much. A long
while after that ! got the idea that Tim
might have had Il little none hidden
here, and the more | thought of il the
more likely it seemed. Finally | pulled
up the floor, and after Il thorough search
| found under II flat stone Il wad of bills,
about Il thousand dollars | believe,
though I've forgotten. spent it all long
ago.
"Ovcr here in this long building was
where Tennessee Barker run Il gin mill
and II gambling house. He was the best
man that ever stocd i'll this town, He
could fight or shoot, but 1t gun fight is
what pleased him best. He had manyo OF
OF him, and he got four bullets in his
chest. He's up here now"
up whcre?" was asked.
Cup in the cemetery" answered the
old man, with Il wink. Then, coutin-
uing, he said:
Just down the street here a ways is
where Il mighty queer thing happened.
One Of the first men in the town was Il
slim young fellow named IOmlinson.
lie had Il little money and could play 1t
good game, and | am sorry to say that
he took up with Il young oma who WAS
here mt the same time. One day Il lady,
one OF the kind that you read about,
came in hero and found Tomlinsop,
and asked him to 90 back
home with her. She was bis wife, and
about the shckest looking girl | ever saw
too. She was around here for two or
three days with ( Il sin her eyes, and this
young woman that had been living with
Tom finally ran across her, and there
was as lively Il time as the camp ever
wildered look on him, and when his wife
appealed to him to back her up in her
statements-hc had the devil in him, |
gucss-he pretended that he never SAW
ncr before. That was Il great mistake
on his part, for the lady had II gun, and
before anybody could think, she mad snoC
HIM and herself, too: She fen right here
the board. They are both up here.
"ln the next house is where Joe Cotton
held the live biggest hands at poker that
were ever held ON the C D0St. He cleaned
out every man at the table, aud lett be-
tween two days for tear that the boys
would clean him out. He was a power
tul sharp at cards, and old gamblers al
ways regarded tn 5 room with supcrsti-
tiOus awe. Not one OF them would ever
play here after that, because, though il
was plain that Joe had fixed the cards,
it was thought that there was something
here that was very favorable TO that kind
of business"
Right over here in this back room is
where Jones, sam Dalrymple, Benton,
Van Brunt, DuttOn, Briggs, ChasublG,
and the rest of the boys got together one
night ana turned cards to see VINO would
have what money there was in the crowd
and all the mines. Things had been get
ting pretty bad, and there did not seem
TO be any prospect of Improvement.
Somebody suggested that if one man had
all the Resources and Ill the mines he
might, perhaps, make II stake, and the
gambling spirit was too strong to per.
nit the chance TO go by. 1t was agreed
that all should put up money they had,
and that then they would each draw II
card TO see who would deal, the high
card to win. Dave ChuSublc got nm ace,
the only one that came out, and he took
the cards and gave them 4 rafting shut
Tic. I've seen hundreds OF dollars on the
board, but never saw amy men as eX-
cited liz they were. There wasn't 50
very much money up, and nobody
had much faith in the mines,
but it. meant exile for most
OF them. Dave shuihed and shuliied,
the pcrspi"at on standing out on his fore
head, and finally he turned 10 Vaml5runt.
who eat them. Then Dave threw the
cards around as quick as iightnmg. No
ace came OGt, but three men, Chasuble
himself, Briggs and DuttOn got kings.
Then they had 70 play OIL. II took some
time to do II, aud Brings rot an ace. aud