The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-09-07
STORY OF A SILVER MINE
AS ROMANTIC AID PATHETIC AS
ANY IN The COOKS.

AN I'm LIE EOOAO.
A Rich Lead Reiiscovered by q Son
Of the First Finder and One Whose
Father Was an Actor in the Origi-
nal Drama.
A Boulder CD letter to the Chicago
Herald says: The lost vein" has been
found. 1t consists of six-inch streak of
almost solid silvlr, glance and brittle silver,
estimated TO ruI from $l5,0 to S25, 900 in
value per ton. 1t was found by Fred AL
bright and Window Carlisle, and uudoubt-
edly is the famous "lost vein.n For twenty
wears prospectus have searched for this
vein, and Thousands of dollars have been
spent in the ques.
That is the plain news statement of fact,
but back Of it rauge the incidents of one Of
the most pathetic love stories ever written.
Some time, when that state of maryels
shall produce its pet or its scribe, the
tale of the lost veinn will be embalmed
in song or story that shall captivate our
ears
Amos Albright went to Denver in the
Cos, and left his wife and boys on the farm
in Illinois, He kew nothing of mining
but found hinsslf, after all, as well
equipped as hundreds of others who had
dared the mountains and tempted fate
right at the margin of eternal SHOWS. There
was no such town as Boulder at that time,
and he drifted with the rest of the fortune
hunters into the whirl at Denver. 1t was
then mining camp more than a city, aud
there we're twie as many tents as solid
buildings IN the iown. There were three
drinking places 10 one store, and gambling
places were out a ali proportion to hotels.
But Amos was sensible fellow, and saved
at least part of his money.
But the air of he mountains was trying
on the lungs VI men from Illinois and
Amos Albright found his vigor failing.
The first symptom of decay was q weakness
and lassitdde that would have seemed like
ague only that there was no aching and no
fever. And here, when he first needed
help, he found itrefused him. He had lost
his nerve, they said, and that was the one
objectionable sill of mining town. AS
long as man could smile and swear and
drink little he could coll friends about
him and could get assistance in the further
ing Of any scheme As soon as he came
with faltering hand and dimnnng eye they
passed him impatently. They "hated to
see . man weaken"
Albright thought of the woman at home,
of the boys who needed him, and the cred
ltors who were troubling. He mourned for
the chances he had passed disdainfully when
he WAS stronger. He crept to the postoffice
after the rush was over and wonderingly
waited to see if the weekly stage had
brought him letter. 1t did, and the letter
told Of the darksnlng troubles at his home
Tie crops had failed, the season was bad,
che rush of the war period had made money
more valuable, and George Carlisle de-
manded q return of his loan. "He threatens
TO foreclose aud turn us off the place, wrote
Mrs. Albright. 'He says worse things than
that to me. am doing the best l can for
you and the boys, but it does seem dark
ahead. Maybe it would be better IL you
were here, even il you did not bring much
money"
That letter ground in Amos Albrights
heart. He knew what the worse things"
were. He knew George Carlisle, and knew
that man had been a sutton for Mary's hand
before she married. He knew the fellow,
spite OF marriage, was so characterless as to
still pursue with attentions the woman who
had welded Albright. But Carlisle was
rich, and there had seemed no better way
than borrow the money from him. Now
that war had broken out he felt the rush Of
feeling which led men into the ranks, and
be believed his wife would be more care
fully guarded by the loyal friends if he
were absent in the army than if he were
here gold hunting in the Rockies. II he
only had the money!
he brooded over it, and worried and
hoped and planned till he became ghostly
creature, Stunned by his fellows, and out Of
place in the town. He could get no backing,
no stake" No one had confidence in him
when the appeal came SO trenblingly. He
sold half Of his kit to tenderfoot, bought
grub enough to last him week. and worked
slowly out of the city to the north. AS he
passed cut Of town he met train of new
arrivals, and they shouted to him the news
OF q victory at Gettysburg. He knew where
that was, though he bad not been following
very closely the movements of the armies
In these years when history was making
lie koew where 'it was, for he was born
there. There he grew to manhood. There
he met Mary. There he married
her. There he fought George Car
isle and vauquished him. From
there both he and later the
Carhsles had come to Illinois. He knew
the peaceful little Pennsylvania town, and
realized how sore the danger was when
southern armies dared blacl1en the fair
fields OF that free state. And that con-
seriousness spite of the fact that his was O
vlctory-brought him back again TO his own
trouble. 1t would only make the fortunes
OF debtors harder. George Carlisle would
take the general cry for his own excuse to
prosecute Mary. It spurred him efresh,
ana he tolled all through the hot July day,
lar into the. cold July night, past hundred
camps Where wealth was pouring into wait
ing hands, or where want was chasing des-
peratlon over haggard faces. He slept in
niue cleft In the rocks, where some grass
hao deigned to grow and where the chill
Wlnd was partly broken from him. He rose
IN the morning with consciousness that his
lungs were failing, and he could not struggle
on much longer. How he prayed for fort
unel
Next day he came to the rugged hills oe-
yong Tue timber line, beyond the camps, up
IN tus mountains where mining seemed inn
possible. lie turned from the trail and
I ITN 70 md unbroken, undiscovered ground.
~! ne round 1T and began prospecting. Moth
ink Dut disappointment awaited him for
lays. ne was growing weaker every hour.
Ae PICK was almost too heavy to lift. The
Ioou was gone ami he know starvation or
retreat was right before him. He had
Morked IN cleft between the boulders
iearIy all day, and was sitting lust at sun
uoWn on a heap of drift ct the base of a
klah1 rock. He was growing cold. He
IInought with q panG that Yves bitterer than
ueayn OF the ursheltered heads back there
va 1ne prairie, and turned with gcoau of
surrender over on MS face to die.
nat was that Silver! Not quartz.
no6 glance, but virgin ore. 1t Law like ray
VI Z vory across the dull escarpment. 1t was
SLoau as his hand in the middle. aud
II~lnGIng away in wnvering lines yard in
,sth' The blood rushed through his
No. beius. there was the strength of health in
Tis arms The pick was a toy-a plavthinQ.
ne grudged the swiftly fading LIGHT and