The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-11-05
OLD TOM CRUISE OF MONTANA.
THE QUEER TRUE STORY OF HARD
HEADED MILLIONAIRE.

| Cspitni,st-li. $50, 900 wedding Biow.
out-His Unpopu mr. Eccentricities.
The lurid tales OF Aladdin's caves In the
Western mining country have at times sug-
Rested to Montana lawmakers the wisdom OF
Furnishing the authors. since each yenr brings
thousands OF young fellows and old men with
no other expectation than that OF finding tho
yellow stun sticking out Of the ground ready
to exchange for fast horses. yachts. and
women's smiles. Tho dream is. OF course
soon waited away. and then 1t is the old story
| OF forged checks. help from home and tho re-
turn OF the prodigal. II he is fortunate enough
to have loving parent. The result is an in
teresting society>of adventurers and lambs In
every mining camp Others come to take the
places OF the departed. and there 10 always
that buoyant atmosphere which 10 30 mag
netio to a Western man that he clings to It
after acquiring fortune.
| There are. nevertheless. many true tales OF
suddenly grown riches. and many characters
suited to that field OF Western fiction which
Hamlin Garland assures us will some day
grow chrysanthemums instcad OF sage brush
Bret Harte gained fame by associatinG odd
| California characters with the balsamic odors
| OF the woods and the echoes OF the cahons.
Some day there will come n novelist to add the
color OF the sage brush and the alkali sands OF
the plains to characters every bit as unique and
| lhen nOntaulhiS VIII 'cll thelF
tales OF a State that is a rich ana varied gar
den for tho cultivation OF both.
They will polnt you low to n small and unprc-
tentious brick building In Helena and tell you
that within Is tho man who during the late
panic. when banks were dropping like autumn
| leaves. enjoyed such sweet revenge as seldom
comes in this world: that whom bank presi-
dents and alleged mil!ionaires were chasing
up and down the old gulch, now called Main
street. and heating tho wires to New York and
| Chicago for help. this man sat calmly in his
banking rarlor, unrufIled as an August sky.
1t was good fun for him. He recalled the
days when he went to the same men and
received what farce comedians call the
| horse laugh" Now he had 100000 In
| gold in tho vnults Of his bank. and
waited for them. They waited, too. until the
| last minute. until tho directors OF two leading
| Helena banks decided to close the next morn.
| ing: and then they came. and got the same
| dose OF bitter disappointment which many
years ago he had taken in allopathic doses.
| He gave 1t to them with fine humor and
| crisp cotch-1rish accent. and then drove to
| his elegant home on Bruton avenue behind
coachman and a team OF imported horses He
did not forget to tell his cashier to keep IN eye
out for business. and that night the Sherifr's
officers were kept busy attaching every bit OF
the bank The next morning two banks closed.
and this man vas cursed ir%m one end Of the
t 6Wn tns other They VIII ten y9q nov thnt
| Helena IL It hadn't been for that damned old
| curse" Nevertheless there was poetic justice
| for some OF the fellows who had tried to jump
| that fabulous!y rich mine. the Drum Lummon.
| Now they take of their hats to the discoverer
qnss a aa T Tsm T"~ S G5u.''
Then old tommy.
Then Cruise
THEN Tnsn T ,,a ,.rss Cruise
Now President and Col. Cruise
He Is President Of the Thomas Cruise Saw.
ings Bank. the largest individual holder Of
two executions the richest millionaire in Mon
tana; He owns mortgages galore. aud could
as easily as Aladdin found his famous cave. lie
is withal AS pIain-go!nE and Indifferent to
tn 81 %nH ho fHs tourist
couldn't get trusted for q sack q Hour When
those stories are printed by the Montana news
nial. and say that he could always yet flour
whom he wanted it. However that may be. al!
alone in a itte cabin in th% lower sulch in IT,
winter and trampca tn hills by summer; A
old-time Helena man last year; whom he was
overlooked in the invitations 70 the Cruise man
snbb nIsh Sns shSi when Jack
But Cruise stood it year by year. Sow belly
and hard tack made up his bill OF fare and lie
jumpers he Climbed over the hills looking Tor
prospects. and whom his search failed was con
money for grub. Occasionally some one
stall ed him. but he never found anything. lie
had no COMPANIONS because he had no money.
and he was content to work and live alone.
The prospector is In most instances roman
dn With lore. e th %aS
Of solitude from long association with the
hills and cahons. and in time becomes as
quaint in manner and original in talk as the
two Wellers. What fathOmless fount OF
stories is found in this harmless Ilysses of the
frayed and ragged before the finish,
Tom Cruise belonged to ths field Of fiction
Known T" before s" or since SINCE in Montana He fund
It on the lower end OF mountain range end,
st. 1s kS the had
q swnrming ground for gold hunters until the
diggIngs had boen worked out and LETT to
toll Of John Chnaman. Cruise was still
e his tirsess search ~ When o1 oh he stun
float This as all miners know, had been
washed away from the mother lode, in a
ioow for o,hsT traces This "rIse did, Ills
keen eye followed his footsteps until another
pit OF shining quart nppeared on no WASHED ne
lowed this golden trail until his. pick struck
re shoot Of wa t net out w IGm
hut the old man knew that there was some
this was the discovery Of the Drum Lum-
mon. the greatest gold producing quartz ever
found in this country. and the llrstto he pnr-
chased In Montana 10y an English syndicate.
!. has paid for itself over and over again.
and to-day represents the largest inyestmrnt
property. Where Cruse's pick struck the
ore stands the entrance, to the Cruise
tunnel. 1000 fsct long. and running down
from this is the dee pest mining shaft IN Mon
tana. Cut from solid rock at the end OF the
Cruise tunnel f a great chamber higher and
Tider than the battery and herein is sP'G tn
speed and safety. This tunnel with ~ its
shalt shalt is bit part Of tn. mine mine Two rwo
the other side Of the hill: and two other HOSTS
quite as large as the giant are whirlng the
These levels, running at NIL angles. are 50
tlmbered and painted that under the white
rays Of the incandescent LAMPS the mental I'M
preston left is that Of a weird and gr,nresome
resting place for the dead to come. The ST.
lence In these depths Is broken by the dull
and heavy click OF the monster Cornish pumps
toms and the grind Of tho ore ears coming
from the drifts; Within this golden anu MI
without the scene is OF greater interest. one |