New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-04-07
ELY'SLUCK.
"A Miner Deserted BY the Woman ts
Whom He Gave Fortune.


A Miner Deserted BY the Woman to
Whom He Gave Fortune.
There was quite numerous gather
ing around the small mahogany tables
in anup-town cafe recently when en-
tered, says the New York correspond
ent of the Atlanta Constitution. It
was a brilliant, though not an unusu-
al picture, as one stood in the door
way and watched this curious gather
ing of young bloods and listened to
their gay talk. Right in the midst OF
this throng sat one whose appearance
made him seem out of place in such
surroundings. He was an oldish-look-
ing man, but still in the full yigor of
health-a big, strapping uncouth fell
low, OF almost giant proportions. A
rough diamond. and one that
no polishing can alter, would be
the comment of q person who
would watch this singular character
for a short while, and it would be the
truest estimate OF the man that could
be made. AS sat watching him, and
wondering what curious train of cir
cumstances had brought among the
present company, learned something
ofhis history. His name is Ely-"Jim"
Ely, as l remember--and not twenty
years ago he struck a silver mine out
In Nevada that made him millionaire
thrice over and the biggest man in the
territory. He dragged the woman
whom he loved from ignorance and
| poverty to education and wealth,
| gave her his name and fortune, and
| from that rich sowing has harvested
allie OF wrecked hopes and disappoint-
ed ambitions.
"Jim" Ely lived in Missouri until
along somewhere in the early SOS,
when he left his home and made for
the Pacific slope. The gold craze OF
40 was still rampant through the
country, and he had set his mind on
| joining the sturdy army of fortune
seekers who were then steadily wend-
ing their way west to the land OF
promise. But there was no gilt edge
to the life he led out there for many
years. He moved from one mining
camp to another with even less than
the ordinary run of luck and a great
| deal worse than the ordinary run OF
hardships, even in that desolate
country. 1t was a rather long and
narrow lane that he Travelled until
the inevitable turn came in the winter
of 1866-67, when he finally woke up
one morning to find that the wealth
he had dreamed of was actually his.
The "fnd" was in Phoebe, Lincoln
| county, Nevada, and it has since been
| known to the world as the Ray
mond & Ely mine, for both men had
worked together en- the claim and had a
full partnership in it. Over $6,OOO.-
900 in dividends alone have since been
taken out of this property, and its
yield is almost as rich now as it ever
was. The two men whose spades first
uncovered its riches retained their in
terest in it but a few years, however,
when each returnedto San Francisco.
Raymond took his million and lived
outa life ease and plenty Ely, how
ever, was Of different turn of mind
He at once drifted into extravagant
and reckless ways of life which made
Frisco" a VERT able Golden Gate
in the days Of the bonanza kings. But
he was still living in the flood tide of
fortune, and the speculatious he plung-
ed into more than doubled the mill
ion he took out OF this mine. For a
time-a brief time, though-he was
the central figure in the wild round OF
dissipation which men of his mould
made the feature of far western life at
that time. He built palatial house,
made hosts OF friends and then began
to look around him for partner for
life.
What fate or caprice brought him
into Salt Lake City in the spring oil
1871 no on knows; but he went there
and saw q pretty face, and-big
brawny, uneducated fellow as he was
it fascinated him. 1t was the face
Of a young Mormon girl-a handsome
flaxen-haired little thing, whose beauty
was all the more res plendenti in his eyes
because it shone out from the coarse
surroundings in which she lived. Like
himself, she was not q girl of fine man
ners and education, for she had Meth
er. Shewas product OF the rude, I'M
tutored life which prevailed out there
then, and, like himself, had little USE
for books or learning. The story goes
that she was barefooted and almost
ragged when Jim Ely first met her
But he saw in her the making O
queen for his palace if she had a few
years OF training and education in &
more cultured sphere. So he took hel
with him to San Francisco, and tolc
the world that he was going to marry
her when she became Of age. All thai
money could do in the way OF fittin!
her for the place she was to occupy il
after life was done, and on the day h
made her his wife one of those who
were present at the ceremony says tina
she seemed every inch a queen and tn
handsomest woman on the slope
This was in the spring Of 1878. o.
the sameday he gave her outright VIVA
was then about half his fortune-S1,
100000. Not satisfied with what sh
had learned in San Francisco, she pro
posed a trip for educational purpose
! through EurODe and thither the i'll