Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-02-19
THE SAD FATE or A 'lo-ER.
Might Have Been Bonanza King If He
Hadn't Converted His Mule Into Cal
Spokane Falls Spokesman.

Spokane Falls Spokesman.
A party of prospectors had located
their dry camp on the headwaters of the
Meadow last summer and were having
rather Indifferent luck. IL is a broken
up country, and its redeeming feature
is the abundance of game of all kinds
While il may be termed hunters par
adise, it is certainly miners shoel.
Flour and bacon and beans had run low,
and the boys had begun TO "cuss" the
country.
They were sitting around the fire one
night smoking when visitor, stran-
ger, with about as little ceremony as
Poe's Raven, made his way into the cir
Gle and perched, not on bust of Pallas,
but on Il busted aparrahoe. For about
two minutes the remarks were about as
extended and interesting as were those
of the famous 'Forty-niner. Finally he
was induced TO chew, and then he gave
an account of himself. lie was as near
a nabOb as proSpectOr can ever be-
come: that is, he was making no attempt
to better his condition, making his way
afoOt from one proSpector's or trapperS
camp TO another. He was an old man,
bowed and wrinkled. 1t was evident
that the end of the rocky trail Of life
that he was travelling was not far off.
In the course OF the evening one Of
the boys happened to speak of the old
mans condition. The old fellow
Strengthened up, adjusted one mecca
Sned foot under him "Injun' fashion,
and remarked: at may seem a'little
tough TO you fellerS to see me knockin'
round this way when | ought ter be
respectable member of Sassiety, holdin'
my own with Mackey, Flood, Hearst
and Lucky Baldwin. | used to train
with them fellers. I'm a '40-er, am,
and might right now be a millynair II
it wasn't fer a piece of hard luck struck
way back in the SOS.
Il struck out one spring mornin' in
Californy with mule packed with
plenty of grub and a good prospectin'
outfit. had two dogs, cross between
bull and shepherd, along for company.
packed with me a tin horn that called
'em up with when they got too far away.
IL was maxim for the Mokeleunne
Hill district, which hadn't been pros
pected hardly any yet. l made burned
good time, considerin' all things, till on
the second week that gosh blamed mule
got sick. The son of gun begun to
swell. He got down and rolled. Well,
he kept Swelin' and r0llin' and groanin',
and thought every minute he'd bust. ."
The sweat stood out on the old mans
brow aS he related this. lie paused Il
while, detected and continued.
"The way | figgered it out was that
he had collie | couldn't think of any
thing to give him but the soda | used TO
cook with. I'd heard it was good for
the stomach, so | fixed up drench OF
soda aud water, stuck the dinner horn
inter his throat, and commenced pour
ing the stuff inter him. 1t Skeart him.
He Sneezed and Snorted all ut wunS, and
spit orU the drench. And when he
Snorted he blowed that ere horn. He
seemed surprised to find that he wuz
musician. His ears riz, an he
pranced round an footed that derned
horn. The dogs heerd the tOotn', and,
true to their trainin', they come along
head an tail up. That burned mule
KEEP tootin' that ere horn, all the time
a tOOtin' the wind otf'n his stomach, an
all at once, by gum, ne struck out a
tootin' that horn like hell, an the dogs
follerin'.
Il wuz left thar 800 miles from no.
whqr, with no grub, mule, dogs, nor
nothin'. | wandered back to the near
est camp, and Sence then I've been
wanderer, with no aim in life but to
find my mules an dogs. For forty
years I've been chasin' the cuSSed var
mintS. I've seen lots of mules, but none
uv'm he'd er tin dinner horn in his
mouth, nor two brindle dogs follerin'
him. Have any of you fellers seen
stray mule around here?"
The old mans story created pro-
found impression. The boys unanimous
~ elected him Grand Patriarch and as
SiStant cook for as long as he cared to
lay of from his wild and thrilling chase.