Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-09-12
1t is Hallowed by the Blood, Tears
and Hopes of a Western Hero.
THERE'S SILVER BY THE CARLOAD.
Twenty Years of Patient Search Is Richly
Rewarded at Last.
A TRUE TALE OF EARLY FRONTIER LIFE

ana undoubtedly Is the famous lost vein.
For 20 years prospectors have searched fc
this vein and thousands of dollars have bee
spent in the quest
That is the plain news statement of fact
but back of it ranges the incidents of on
of the most pathetic love stories that eve
was written. Some time, when that Stat
of Marvels shall produce its poet or it
scribe, the. tale of the 'lost vein" will b
embalnred in song or story that shall capt.
vate all ears. For the present, and les
these incidents like the vein about whicl
they gather should be lost, this modes
recital must suffice to give while they liv,
some measure of honor to noble men anC
women.
ALBRIGHT AS A TENDERFOOT.
Amos Albright went to Denver in thu
sixties, and left his wife and boys on the
farm in Illinois. He knew nothing Of min
ing, but found himself after all as vel
equipped as hundreds of others who haG
dared the mountains, and tempted fate
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 a mining camp more than a city, and
there were twice as many tents as solid
buildings in the town. There were three
drinking places to one store, and gambling
places were out of all proportion to hotels.
But Amos was sensible fellow, and saved
at least a part of his money. Of course, he
had cash. Every one had. 1t was in the
finch and roraiH Of tho nn11ore
were as free as doughnuts. The man who
was alive enough to do anything at all
could get good pay for it. Men were in a
fever and tremble of excitement. There
was not calm or quiet hour of the "a. Now
and then miner who had been dependent
on the rough but gracious charity of gam
blers one day, would come into town the
next with all the prestige of wealth upon
him. Rich finds were reported almost con-
stantly. 1t seemed there was no limit, to
the field. Sometimes it was miles away,
clear up at the dropping fringe of clouds,
the next it was right in the streets of Den
ver
HIS HEALTH BEGINS TO FAIL.
But the air of the mountains was trying
on the lungs of men from Illinois, and
Amos Albright found his vigor failing.
The first symptom of decay was a weak
ness and lassltude that would have seemed
like ague, only that there was no aching
and no fever. And, here, when he first
needed help he found it refused him. He
had lost his nerve, they said; and that was
the one objectionable sin of a mining
town. As long as man could smile and
swear and drink little he could call
friends about him and could get assistance
in the furthering of any scheme. AS soon
as he came with faltering hand and dim
ming eye, they passed him impatiently.
They 'hated to see man weaken"
Albright thought of the woman at home,
of the boys who needed him and the credit
ors who were troubling. He mourned for
the chances he had passed disdainfully when
he was stronger. He crept to the postofice
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 darkening troubles at his home.
The crops had failed, the season was bad,
the rush of the war period had made money
more valuable, and George Carlisle de-
manded return of his loan. "He threat
ems to foreclose and turn us off the place"
wrote Mrs. Albright "He says worse
things than that to me. I am doing the
best can for you and the boys, but it does
seem dark ahead. Maybe it would be better
if you were here"
A RIVAL IN LOVE.
That letter ground In Amos Albright's
heart. He knew what the "worse things"
were. He knew George Carlisle and knew
that man had been suitor 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
bod rraddad A 1hr,ubf Ind 1,a1o
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
he believed his wife would be more care
fully guarded by the loyal friends if he
we're absent in the army than if he were
here gold hunting in the Rockies If he
only had the money!
He brooded over it and worried and
hoped and planned till he became a ghostly
creature Stunned by his fellows and out of
place in the town. He could get no back
ng, no 'stake." No one had confidence in
him when the appeal came so tremblingly.
He sold half of his kit to a tenderfoot,
bought grub enough to last him week, and
worked slowly out of the city to the North.
As he passed out of the town he met a
rain of new arrivals and they shouted to
lin the news of a victory at Gettysburg.
lie knew where that was, though he had
lot been following very closely the move
nents of the armies in these years when
history was making.
GETTYSBURG WAS HIS HOME.
He knew where it was, for he was born
here. There he grew to manhood. There
le met Mary. There he married her.
There he fought George Carlisle and van
luished him. From there both he and later
he Carlisles had come to Illinois. He
new the peaceful little Pennsylvania
own, and realized how sore the danger was
vhen rebel armies dared blacken the fair
ields of that free State And that con-
ciousness-spite of the fact that his was q
him back again to his own
rouble. 1t would only make the fortunes
f debtors harder.
George Carlisle would take the general |
ry for his own excuse to persecute Mary.
t spurred him afresh, and he toiled all |
through the hot July day, far into the cold |
-uly night, past hundred camps where
Tealth was pouring into waiting hands, or
there want was chasing desperation over |
aggard faces. He slept in a little cleft in
he rocks where some grass had deigned to
row and where the chill was partly broken
rom him. He rose in the morning with T
Consciousness that his lungs were failing,
nd he could not struggle on much longer.
low he prayed for fortune!
Next day he came to the rugged hills
eyond the timber line, beyond the camps,
p in the mountains where mining seemed
npossible. He turned from the trail and
lied to find unbroken, undiscovered ground.
PROSPECTING WITHOUT SUCCESS.
He found it and began prospecting.
-othing but disappointment awaited him for
ays. He was gr wing weaker every hour.
he pick was almost too heavy to lift. The
,od was gone, and he knew starvation or