The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-03-09

ledge and they had several tons Of the coal
pied at the mouth of the tunnel, around
Wnlca they were dancing and drinking in
hvely state Of hllarity. lie thought to add
TO the general good feeling by paying out
the 81 800, but he mistook the crowd.
Money don't go. Dag; we want stock. q"
stock be -; bere's your money!
we've stood by you Tor months without
Dean and now you mustn't go back on US.
We want stock, and pretty - quick"
About this time half dozen G-shooters
were placed in front OF Daggett's nose.
he always carried blank stock certificates
about with him to sell to his friends, and
these same certificates bad become a
nuisance as well as byword on the Com
stock. He had been selling them for 81 a
share, and now he made a bluff at the
crowd to work them of for two.
1t don't go, Dag; it's bedrock to us.n
stockp
"All stock; no monkey business with US. -
mere was no help for it, and he had to paw
out 1.500 shares of stock to the hungry
crowd and take bis 81, 500 back to Virginia
City.
They also loaded a couple of hundred
pounds OF coal on the blackboard to exhibit
to the stockholders, as that would send the
stock to IS a share in a day.
The first thing Dsggett did when he got
back was 70 try his coal. 1t appeard eto be
A No. coal, but for the life of him he
couldn't make it burn. it was nothing more
than a sort OF black shale with about the
came tnhammRble qualities as asbestos
Daggett gave a long whistle and then went
out and purchased a 5-gslIon can of kero-
sene oil. Then he rugged up a sprinkliug
pot and proceeded to sprinkle the coal with
the OIL. The porous stuff drank up the oil,
absorbed it almost instantly, and left no
trace. When the coal went into the stove
1t made magnificent fire. Being in an ex-
perlmental mood, Daggett put in the balance
OF the night improving his draft. He was
alongside tall building, on the up side of
the hill, that had drain-pipe, the longest
and largest in town, running up to the gut
ter on the roof He connected his stovepipe
with this and thereby secured a draft like
blast furnace.
With everything in readiness Dagget
built fire i'll his stove, piled on the oil
saturated coal and awaited his usual even
lngs visitors. When they got there they
found the stove almost white hot and Dag
gett bemoaning his bad luck. "Just as
thought fortune was In my grasp be
whined, "Pm left again. This coal WON'T
do; the public won't have it. 1t will burn
out the CRATES and ruin all the stoves in
the town"
drawback in the coAlP'
"Ain't that enough2 Look at the -
heat it gets on. You can't regulate it.
Hear it roar like an assaying furnace.
You'd have to mix in half a ton OF rock
with the stuff to keep it in check. The cost
OF buying new CRATES is the drawback.
Only millionaires can afford it. l want
coal for the poor"
Here Prof. Stewart the leading geological
authority of the Comstock, lifted a piece of
coal to his nose and shifted 1t a time or
two
TITS got kerosene oil on It," he said.
YES, that's it-that's the great draw
back" said Daggett. tits the oil that
makes all the trouble. If you could only
get the oil out and get just the plain coal,
you have fortune, but, you see, there's
the cost of extraction; all these things must
he considered"
Most men would have lost their nerve
completely when Stewart discovered the
kerosene in the coal, but not a man like
Dagget t threw the crowd completely off
their guard and then some of them ven
tured to inquire If Dsggett wanted to sell
any stock in the mine.
He said he'd sell every share, and added
that if any body bought it they did 1t with
their eyes open. He didn't want any man
TO purchase who didn't know the facts, and
in about five minutes he had sold over 5000
shares.
The boys thought Daggett, who had been
drinking good deal, was losing his natural
wits.
elf we don't sail in and nail the thing, .
they argued, somebody else will. Dag
getTs good fellow and means well, but tne
nervous excitement has unbalanced his brain
and his friends might as we'll get the benefit
Of his great discovery as strangers"
So his friends proceeded to fall on bis
neck and then on his shares, and in forty
eight hours he was supplying the demand
at IS and still the boys were calling for
more
When the shares gave out he opposed the
further demand by starting Steve ellis at
work kicking the old Enterprise job press
at $50 e day printing shares. Gillis, by
working ten and twelve hours a day, and
putting on q boy while he ate his meals
managed to keep up with the procession.
When the true inwardness of the great coal
discovery and the stock deal got out a good,
hearty Comstock laugh went up and that
was the end of it. They were used to these
sort OF things in those days. Years after
ward came the great fire that swept I'D the
town in day. After the ashes cooled they
raked over pile Of queer black stuff that
had successfully resisted the terrible con-
fieRration. 1t was q ton OF Daggett's coal
that had naVAr haan aDrinkIa6