The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1893-08-12

California was ut It's zenith, ] y. aud
a number OF Young men iu his neigh
lorhood organized an expedition gad
crossed the country IN q prairie schoou-
or ~. y, WAS iur time lucky In
his mining, and became n resident Of
one of the towns close tu the mining
legion, lie accumulated n handsome
sum Of money and started home with
IT, The vessel upon which he sailed
was wrecked, and during his absence
from home the town IN which he lived
was DESTROYED bN fire and "A st0p' he
longing To 3D. NJ was one OF the
buildings chat went down IN the COM
d9gWtiun, llv was wiped cut tnau-
cially. ljcwtuyurd The second time
to try his luck. He again sueVyded,
and once more started Tor his old home
4 In Ohio, and was one OF the passcugers
In the steamship Central America,
which touudcwd OF Cape Hattcr> in
September, lN31.
Among the pasSyugvIS saved WAS the
subject of this sketch, who after DRIFT
Ing for hours upon the open sea in a
raft was picked up 10y passing brig,
His fortune had for u second time
hnvu wu,stcd from him and mclau-
rhOlN developed which auerWard grew
into his prvsrut form of harmless de-
Eugrmvul bat this was not the only
incentive that caused Il once bright
mind 10 tottvr. Before he went away
to the gold fields he WAS engaged to hv
married to one Of the l1adiug Young
ladies of the country in which Il greater
I,
Everyone considered il to be most
Cougruial match But the old saw
about absence increasing affection did
not hold good i'm this ease. During his
absence she married another man of
McCuteheouville, and this couple ure
to-day residents of iifliu, =,
. lie did not have the famous pres
sure hUlluciuation at first, and this
did not develop until about the time
of the war. During the war he always
claimed that il he could get Abe Lin
coin and 5ctl Davis together he could
raise the "rWssure' and seeuW peace
II their minds and 80 the people at
large. lie said they are both right rs
they view matters from their own
standpoiuts. ltthcy will let me AS
sumo the pressure will bring harmony
and good Ietiug back To the country
lie once passed through the lines at
Richmond, and came near getting iu.o
trouble before his lunacy was discover
ed. After the capture of JEFF Davis ne
went to Fortress Monroe and endeuyor-
ed To gain admission, but was refused,
many reports 10 the coutrtry notwith-
standing,
/ His family, n before remarked, Is
very respectable one. lis brother,
John Free. an attorney, resides at New
LcXiugtonO. Tie has two sisters liv-
ing on the homestead in McCutchcen-
villc,aud there is another brother liv-
ing in Kansas.
tie carries more railroad passes than
perhaps any other man in the world.
some OF them are striking in the ycr-
biage of their authority. One, for
instance, has this inscription: "Puss
). n as far ~ the road j. cut out.
+ Another: pass the bearer from hell
% break fast Another says; Take
j, y to the yndof the road drop him
or and don't let him come back The
majority Of his passes are not ANIMALS,
but are good for his natural life, % he
has never any trouble about securing
renewals. He i uu invetgrate traveller,
and has been all over the country, and
haunts the newspaper Offices to such an
extent that not only every editor in
the country, but the compositors and
even the office devil all know this pc
culiar character Is far as they cam see
him. He never says 50 much a. by
your leave, but is absolutely 1T home in
every editorial s.Hctum. The way he
can cut out, p"src, write and prepare
copy would put 10 blush the ghost OF
Horace Greeley. The press of the
country have killed him of several
times, but he always bobs up seronCiy
when least expected. One Of his pc
culiaritieS is to write on ahead to some
town and ask some acquaintance to
secure the Courthouse or hall for him
TO deliver a lecture in, but he always
gets the pressure on 80 hard when the
date arrives that the lecture Is never
delivered; however, some years ago
he would frequently give harangucs in
some of the country towns.
He is very ready at repartec. and
inclined to be somewhat of wag: and
when it comes to profanity, if he hap
pens TO be slightly crossed there is no
man on earth who can reach q higher
octave in the scale than can j. NJ
There is probably no other man who
can secure the accommodations and
general attention wherever he goes.
He always eats ut the best hotels, gets
his shaving done at the best barber
shops, and, in fact, lives OF the fat Of
the land. He never has his hair cut
His memory is something phcnon-
email; he can doubtless remember the
names and faces of more people than
any other 10 persons combined. He
knows every newspaper man in this
broad land who has been actively en-
gagged in the profession for any length
of time, and can call him by his first
name. Passenger conductors on the
various railroads are equally well
known to this strange individual.
Volumes could be written of this
man and yet but little of his history be
told. He is still hale and vigorous,
Notwithstanding the weary, wander
ing, never-resting existence he has led.
Arthur +. Chase in st. Louis Republic.