Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-03-15
THE MINE JUMPER" "

The Little Christabei mine in Colorado long ago went through process vulgary called "petering outn It is now a mere hole in the ground. The half dozen shanties and cabins near it have long ago fallen into disuse. Their roofs have fallen in. and it is years since the gulch in which their ruins are was the habita- tion of men. The entire gulch is deserted now, and and the Little Ghristabe! is cnly memory to those who once shared in the prosperity it once brought to Fairplay gulch. A long, narrow pile of decaying logs and | parts of clapboard roof mark the spot | where the boarding house was There are l still living many of the men who once gath cred around the long, rough pine table that ran the full length of the cabin One of them told me the story of Miss Millicent. | Miss Millicent Hay was the only woman l ever seen at the Little Christable mine. | When Harley Vance, the owner of the mine, advertised in Denver paper for g.. cook for his boarding house. Miss Millicent Hay answered the advertisement in person.
 She came walking up the trail leading to the camp carrying little hand sachel and stout walking stick.
 "I have been staying down in Camp Crys- l tal," she said to the surprised Mir. Vance, who had advertised for ilan cook, "and l | thought the place would just suit me- The
 
 | and I walked the rest of the way. It isn't more than six miles, is it9"
 | She was a small but resolute looking woman, with keen gray eyes and mouth | indicating great frmness of character. Her thin brown hair was combed plainly back | from . brow beginning to show signs of wrinkles, although she was but 40 years old. "Do you think couldn't do the work7 she asked. @I am quite strong and have known nothing but hard work all my life." i She held out her ungloved hands as she spoke. They were rough and wrinkled, with : bent fingers and calloused palms. l "You might do the work, !" said Mir. Vance. "There are only about fifteen boalders and we live in plain, rough way, and there is a boy to help. But it wouldn't be a pleasant place for lady to live. There are no women i in this gulch."
 "I care nothing for that" said Miss Milli- cent. "Men are sometimes kinder than wo- men," she added, with tinge of bitterness in her voice.
 The end of it all was that Miss Millicent was installed as cook in the boarding house. She had evidently come determined to stay, for the sage coach that went rumbling through the gulch next day brought up little hair covered trunk with I'M. H." on the end of 1t with brass headed nails
 Before a week the boarders began blessing the good angel that sent them Miss Millicent. Such meals as she served had never been seen before at the Little Christabel; and it was wonderful to see the change she brought about in the dirty little boarding house and its con- tents. Her energy and strength seemed un- fa.ing. She went stepping briskly about, the neatest and sprightl est of housekeepels, sing ing at her work and smiling on everybody. At the end of fortnight every man in camp knew Miss Millicent and had felt the l influence good woman exerts ill every con- munity.
 Old mats and caps were doffed to her wher- ever she went. No oaths or rough words were spoken ill her presence, and the man who would have dared to offer her an indig- nifty would have ''rid on rail :" as my in- formant said.
 For year Miss Millicent lived at the Little Cnristabel, aud ill that time she had won the sincere regard of every man in camp. There had been great deal of sickness among the men that winter, and some of them owed their lives to Miss Millicent's careful nursing, good food and general good sense in every thing pertaining to the c,.re of the sick.
 Her own cheerfulness and good health never failed her. -s.qs s
 "1 don't believe you ever had sorrow in your life, did youW asked one of the men one day.
 Miss Millicent was standing in the cabin door at the time. The smile OH her face van- ished as she made reply; she leaned her head wearily against the door frame; her face paled for moment and her lips quivered as she said slowly: ~ ...,f. ....-
 then she turned and went to her own little room at the end of the cabin, and the man who had asked the question said:
 Some villain of man at the bottom of it all, I'll bet; I'd like to help stretch his neck!"
 It was no secret that one or two of the men in camp had been suitors for Miss Millicent's hand and it was known that she had received their proposals with burst of tears, and had begged them never, as they valued their hap piness and hers, never to refer to the subject again.
 The camp had been singularly free from the brawls and lawlessness that both distin- guish and disgrace most mountain mining camps. Mir. Vance would not allow a saloon within the limits of the mine, and had made it obligatory on the men that they refrain from many things common to the ordinary miner. .#a rgzsss,se
 The presence of Miss Millicent had had much to do with the unusual good behavior of the men and the good name the Little Christabel wore as a mining camp
 But one day there came bit of news to the camp that changed the men from good natured, easy going, jovial fellows to angry, determined men.
 There lived on claim near the Little Christabel man known as Capt. Tom, an honest, hard working and thoroughly good man, very popular with all who knew him, and unusually so with the men employed at tue Little Chrstabcl.
 For two years he had worked hard in pow erty and deprivation, developing a claim that was generally believed to be worthless.
 But fortune plays strange freaks in mining camps, and Capt. Toms unpromisng mine one day revealed splendid vein of rich silver ore. He came down to the Little Christabel, jubilant over his good fortune. He returned home to find his claim jumped" by two or three men, led by fe How of unsavory repu- tation known as Doc Grigson.
 Grigson and his confederates were in DOS session of Capt Toms two years of labor, and coolly ordered him 10 'clear out" when he appeared at the door of his own little cabin, tue order being emphasized by threats of inn mediate annihilation if he tarried long on the order of his go ng. aa
 This s'mine jumping" process is one I can not give in detail here Suffice it to say that possession is even more than thine tentbs of the law" when applied to unpatented and un- recorded mining claims
 There was nothing for Capt. Tom to do alone