The morning call., 1893-03-26

would write letter for him to the
young mans mnther in Louisville, inform
iag her OF the death and respectable inter-
ment of her son. | wrote the letter, and at
the old negrO's solicitation omitted all ref
ereHce to Tracy's bad habits. and intImated
that his death was the result of accident.
And now" said Hiram after l had about
completed the letter, Il want yer to Seud eF
dis tve hundred dOllahs, an say it's Pom
me, and he took from his pocket and eX-
hibited ten ffty-dOllar slngs
l added the paragraph desired; then
crossed the street with Hiram and pur-
chased draft for $500, which l inclosed
wiki the letter in an addressed envelope
and dropped into the pOStoffee.
"BaoIblaeking must nay pretty well,
Hiram" l remarked You have been pay
ing cut great deal OF money during the
past two years, and seem TO have little
left"
as doin' sumpum dat pays heap bet
term boOt-blackin'. sah," replied tie old
man, rolling up the white of his eyes mys-
teriausly.
You clean Offices and saloons. know,
but there cannot be more than small wages
in the business"
'Dere cant. ell ?" returned Hiram with
chuckle. Now, if yeT'll keep it to yerse'f,
an go wiv me to my little cabin down by
de slew, I'll tell yer sumppm an show yer
sumpum dat'll s'prise yer"
OF course | went with him, for my curl
osity was excited. l followed him to
little out-of-the-way board houss Of two
rooms near the bank of the American
River slough. He unlocked the front door
and We entered a small room with n single
window and an uncovered loose board
floor. IL was furnished with a single bed,
joint cupboard and ciothesc'o oset, three
or four chairs and rough pine table. In-
vting me 10 seat. he said he would be
back in few minutes, and passed on into
the other room, which served as a kitchen,
closing the connecting door behind him.
He returned, after an absence Of perhaps
ten minutes, with three cloth-wrapped
parcels, which he deposited on the table
Then drawing down the window curtain
and hanging his hat on the door-knob to
darken the keyhole he removed the cloths
from the parcels, and exhibited an OYSTER
can overfowing with gold coins of various
denominations, quart pickie-jar quite two
thirds fuli OF clean gold dust, anu q glass
tumbler containing number of gold rings,
pins and studs. the most of which were
battered and crooked, and q few uncut
stones Of different colors and sizes.
need not say | was amazed. "Well,
Hlram," ! remarked after examining his
rches and roughly estimating their value,
''as the miners say, you have certainly
struck coarse gold with the bedrock pitch
ing. Where does it all come from?"
'F'Om sweepin's, sab - mostly t'om
sweepin's."
From sweepingsy 1 repeated with sur
prise.
"Yes, sab, Pom sweepn's sweepin's
fom de gam'lin' s'loons. Minahs is mighty
keerless wiv dere gole. Sometimes dere
per5ses leaks and sometimes dey carries 10
in dere pockets. An ebery time dey sells
1T at de bah a lot gets blOwed out
wiv de brack san. But de floor
cotches it all, an ! saves de sweepin's an
pans out de COLE. An / gets rings an pins
dat men loses wen de're drunk, an dimon's
an slch dat gifts loose dersel's or is knocked
out in fghtin'. Dey don't mount to
but da iut, tn
ebery day, sides wat ! gifts fer sweepin'
Dut. Udder people has tried it., but dey
couldn't make it pay 'kase dey didn't know
to sabe de fine goie, and didn't know how
10 sabe de sweepin's eder. But Pse got de
hang OBJ de business, an gifts 1t bout all"
Having told his story, Hiram was about
to restore his gold to its hiding place in the
next room, when ! suggested that there was
danger of losing, not only his treasure but
his life, In keeping so large sum in his
cabin. and advised him 10 deposit it in
some bank. Assuring him that his money
could be safely deposited, and that he could
draw all or any portion OF 1t whenever lie
desired to do so, he decided to be guided by
my advice. and in the afternoon turned
over his dust and coin to Adams & Co.,
taking certificate of deposit therefor pay
able to the Older of Hiram Marks. / do not
recall the exact amount of the deposit, but
1t was between nine and ten thousand dol
lars.
After Hiram had walked proudly away
With the certificate in his pocket was not
satisfied, on reflection, that l had given him
the best possible advice. Should It become
known that he possessed nearly $4,000 in
gold the amount was large enough to tempt
some one to beguile or abduct him into
State where slavery was tolerated, in which
event the money would be regarded as the
property Of the person who might become
his master by purchase. Nor was l even
certain that the laws of California, as they
were then administered, would protect him
were he TO be claimed as fugitive slave.
Annoyed at these doubts, and satisfied
that Hiram was more than willing to pay
for his freedom, l saw him the next day,
and advised him to oDen negotiations az
once for his formal manumission. He con-
sented to do so, and the matter was placed
IN the hands of a discreet and reliable attor-
ney. When left Sacramento for the noun
tains, week later, the necessary papers
had been forwarded to Mrs. Shattuck; and
as Hiram would not consent to offer less
than $1,000 for himself-ths exact amount
paid for him thirty years before-there was
little doubt that everything would be salts
factorily arranged.
".
Standing in front of a hotel In Mana ona