Little Falls transcript., 1886-04-09
ELY'BLUt,E.


Ihere was quite q numerous gather.
ing around the small mahogany tables
IN anup.town cafe recent " when / en-
tered, says the New York correspond.
ent OF the Atlanta Constitutions. 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 throne sat one whose appearance
made him seem out of place in such
surroundings. He was an oldish-look-
ing man, but still in tho full vigor of
health-a big, strapping uncouth fel-
low, OF almost giant proportions. A
rough diamond: and one that
no polishing CAN alter, would be
the comment Of a 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
OF his history. His name is Ely-'sJim"
Ely, as I remember--and not twenty
years ago he struck a silver mine out
in Nevada that made him a 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
life OF wrecked hopes and disappoint-
ed ambitions.
"Jim" Ely lived in Missouri until
along somewhere in the early '5Os,
when he left his home and made for
the Pacific slope. The gold craze OF
40 was still rampant through the
country, and he h I'd 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 rather long and
narrow lane that he Travelled until
the inevitable turn came in the winter
of lS66-67, when he finally woke up
one morning to find that the wealth
he had dreamed of was actually his.
The "find" 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 n the claim and had
full partnership in it. Over Sc 6,OOO,-
600 in dividends alone have since been
taken out of this property, and it's
yield is almost as rich now as it ever
was. The two men whosespades first
uncovered it's riches retained their in
terest in it but q few years, however,
when each returned to San francisco.
Raymond took his million and lived
out life OF ease and plenty. Ely, how.
ever, was of a, different turn OF mind.
He at once drifted into extravasant
and reckless ways of life which made
| Frisco" a VERT able "Go]den Gate"
in the days Of the bonanza kings. But
be was still living in the food tide Of
fortune, and the speculations he plung-
ed into more than doubled the mill
ion he took out OF this mine. For a
tir1e-a brief time, though-he was
the central figure l. 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 a partner for
life.
What fate or caprice brought him
into Salt Lake City in the spring OF
1871 no on knows; but he went there
and saw a pretty face, and-big,
brawny, uneducated fellow as he was
1T fascinated him. 1t was the face
of q young Mormon girl--a handsome
daxen- n-haired little thing, whose beauty
was all the more res plendent in his eyes
because it shone out from the coarse
surroundings in which she lived. Like
himself, she was not agirl of fine man
ners and education, for she had Meth.
er. She was a product of the rude, ,un-
tutored life which prevailed out there
then, and, like himself, had little use
Tor 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 of
q queen for his palace if she had few
years Of training and education in
more cultured sphere. So he took her
with him to San Francisco, and told
the world that he was going to marry
her when she became of age. All that
money could do i'll the way Of fitting
her for the place she was to occupy in
after life was done, and on the day he
made her his wife one of those who
were present at the ceremony says that
she seemed every inch queen and the
handsomest woman on the slope
This was in the spring of 1873. On
the same day hegave her outright what
was then about half his fortune-$1,-
100000. Not satisfied with what she
had learned in San Francisco, she pro-
posed q trip for educational purposes
through Europe. and thither the ill.,
matched couple departed on their
honeymoon.
Either the untutored ways of her
husband or the glories Of the old
world were too much for the young
girl, for she lost all interest IN her ma
tive land during her travels and has
never returned here since. Not so
with "Jim" Ely, though. He had no
use for the life he had led over there,
and dropped into San Francisco
alone one day to take up the free-and-
easy ways he had dropped a few years
before at the bidding Of his bride. The
tide of fortune turned the wrong way
for him, however. Things that had
before turned to gold almost at his
touch now quickly vanished, and spec
ulation after speculation rapidly
made heavy inroads on his fortune.
With his reckless habits of life, his
confidence in his own luck and the
knowledge that his wife still kept in.
| tact the million thSo he had given her