Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-11-01

and numerous the combatants, the greater
is his inward satisfaction, as evidencing the
religious fervor of the beatas and his own
popularity among them.
The railroad house, which through the
courtesy of the company was placed at our
disposal during the few days we were
obliged to wait in Mollendo for the south
ward going steamer, is a neat frame cot
tage, inclosing central garden and sur
rounded by blossoning trees and shrubs.
1t occupies charming site on an eminence
overlooking the little plaza and command
| ing semi-circular expanse of "ocean
| blueD while from its rose-wreathed veran-
das and fowery patio the melancholy music
| of the breakers sounds forever in ones ears.
The pretty casa, however, which for sew
eral years has been inhabited only by a
middle-aged man servant, has a history
strange as sad. 1t was built by John
Thorndyke, the railroad man from Boston,
when at the hight of his power in these
parts, and was designed for his own occu-
pancv. In the great dining-room are
handsome sideboards and elegant table
service; the drawing-room and numerous
! sleeping apartments are large, airy and
well-appointed, and all the windows open,
Il ldSulOu, W tilc AOOI vi Tile tuCOul-
passing verandas. Though so long de.
serted, everything is kept as spotlessly
clean as on board man-of-war, for the
old servant who has been in charge so
many years still looks confidently for the
return of "Don JUAN" as he affectionately
calls his former master. The latter, who
always took this man with him when he
lorded it up and down the road, having
been long ago ousted by some changes of
railway management, has not been near
Mollendo for eight years, nor is he likely
to come again. Yet everything is kept
up as if he were momentarily expected
The hower-beds are beautifully cared
for, the windows polished every day, and
every inch of veranda and uncarpeted
floor scrubbed white as snow. Meanwhile
| the carpets have faded, and moths have
riddled the crimson hangings, and Father
Time has been whitening the hair of the
ancient seryitor, but has been unable to
abate his devotion by one jot or title. In
fact, he has gone daft on the subject of his
beloved "Don JUAN" and, like male
Mariana in the moated grange, is "a
weary" because he cometh not. His ailing
wife, who cannot bear the air of Mollendo,
long since went to live with a married
daughter in Arequipa; but even her death
could not tempt him away for day, for
did not the master leave him in charge?
When the Government seized the railroad
while ago. and this house among the
other property, the servant refused to sur
render the KEYS, and would have defended
them with his life, if need be. Another
major,,do was put in charge, but he stayed
on, in spite of repeated discharges and
lack of salary, until, his real merit being
understood, he has come to be considered a
fixture here.
Nights in this deserted casa, with the
watchful lunatic rowing about and the
the roar of the restless ocean sounding
in ones ears, are rather gruesome. Ghosts
of abortive schemes and dead ambitions
seem prowling around the premises, Turk
ing in the empty rooms and hiding behind
J the moth-eaten hangings. On the parlor
walls are pictures of the Meiggs brothers,
once the railroad kings of Peru, both now
dead. OF Henry Meiggs the older and
more famous brother, everybody has heard,
for Bret Harte has written about him,
Mark Twain has used him for a text, and
for years he was part of the history of this
country. Less than thirty years ago he
was a partner of Ralston, the California
banker, and a close friend of Senator
Sharon, Flood, Mackay, O'Brien and the
rest of the golden princes whose honors
dated from the days of '49. Under some
stress of temptation he committed forgeries
in San Francisco, and when the crime was
discovered, one day he calmly rowed out
into the bay, climbed upon the deck of
schooner, purchased her and sailed away
in search of pastures new. He came to
Peru, bringing with him much of his
wealth and all his irresistible energy.
These he applied to difficulties under
which this country was struggling, and
overcame them. He sent back money to
California to reimburse with good interest
those who had suffered by his forgeries !;
but he never returned himself, and finally
died here, one of the richest and most in
fuential men on the western coast.
Says a recent writer on this subject:
Little more than quarter of a century
ago, an unknown man, fugitive from JUS
tice, arrived from the port Of Callao and
appeared among the Spaniards, much as
Nance Capac, at once the Adam and the
Christ of the Incas, appeared to the In
dams, two thousand years before. As the
] HlVSlGTlOlto SdpdC luOoS CdllN PCO-
!, pie a knowledge of the agricultural and
mechanical arts, this unknown man taught
their successors to build railroads, and to-
day he stands as their ideal of Yankee en-
terprise and engineering genius. He
} plunged the Government of Peru into a
debt that will never be paid, but laid the
: foundation for a system of internal de-
velopment that will one day bring wealth
to the great Republic. From Ecuador to
Patagonia, through Peru, Bolivia and
: Chile, Meiggs' enterprise extended; and
: the result is series of railroads at right
angles with the coast, connecting the in
| terror of the country with the sea ports
| and giving to the mines in the mountains
the nitrate beds, estates and sugar haci
S endas easy outlets to the ocean. Nearly
i every port on the western side of the con
tinent has its little railway, from twenty
to $50 miles long. Some of them react
the heart of the Andes, and all are after
: les of commerce, making profitable posses
n sions that would otherwise be worthless
a From Mollendo to Valparaiso the coast
A for more than 1000 miles, is panoram.
:, Of deSolation, succession of bleak and
i barren cliffs, unreiieved by a patch o
a green. On one hand the mighty Pacii
d sweeps its great swells almost around tn,
e world, as regular land constant as tn
5 throbbing of the human pulse, while OF
/ the other rises the impenetrable Andes, il
: a wall.whose average hight is $4,000 feet
y some of the snow-topped peaks towerin
a $4,000 feet above the sea. Between tn
!, ocean and the mountains is strip of drift
h ing sand, varying in width from twenty
e fifty miles, which no river irrigates an
], where rain never falls. All the waite
IS used by the people is taken from the ocean
# that for mechanical purposes being used i
st its natural state, to the great detriment {
the machinery, and that for food bein
d condensed into steam and thus purged {
IS its salt. There is not well or spring i