The Arizona sentinel., 1894-01-13
WAYS OF A BIG TOWN.
Four Phases Of Life in the Eastern
Metropolis
A Queer Old Man Who Deals In EmbleSns
- of Luck-Meals on Trust-New York
; 'sGawpers"-PlayingO on HUI
man Nature.

in this port of New York the other day,
and in rambling about for an hour how
many horscshoes do you think found
nailed up TO give Jack Tar good luck?
The number was eight, and three OF
these were abaft the mast. l have
boarded square-riggcrs, barlls, brigs,
schooners, smackS, scowS, tugs,
canal boats, liners, coasters, dradgers
and every other sort of craft
moved by sail or steam, and always
find the horseshoe in sight. Sometimes
there is but one, but the average is
three. / don't believe you could get
craft out of this harbor without she had
at least one horseshoe nailed up
In plain view of the crew. A
new shoe won't do-oh, mol There may
be luck in q new silver dollar, but
there is none in new horseshoe It
must be shoe which has seen service
tho more the better. II there are
three or four nails and bit of hoof at
tachcd to it the price is way up. Down
IN Pearl street the other dcy l found
the queer old shop OF the queer old man
who has dRalt in horseshoe luck for the
last quarter of century. The news
boy who finds horseshoe on the street
makes bee line for this oil Junk shop
TO sell it for Il nickel. When craft is
fitted ont her owner sends TO the same
place for the necessary charms. The
superstition is not confined To sailors
alone, but truckmcn, cXprcssucn, rail-
road men, lawyers, brokers. doctors and
others believe in the luck of the horse
shoe over the door. There is hardly
saloon in New York in which you cam
through those bare canyons IN n wall
ten feet high. and enough water goes
to waste il twentyfour hours To irri-
gate a whole county for season.
I'VE got IL our dams all right and
about twenty miles Of main ditch and
everything went very well. considering
the fact that we were working new
venture i'll II country where it usually
takes an innovation Il couple of centu-
ries to settle down and feel at home
II put this young fellow, Nick Hen
messy. in charge of the dam. lie had
his Office of Il couple OF rooms there,
with Mexican to cook for him and to
help around and about All he had to
look after the state of things at the
dam which he had helped TO build.
There was 4 little telegraph line from
the Office down TO the land company's
home ranch, about ten miles below the
dam, the nearest settlement of any
sort, and Nick used to take ST rnal serv-
ice observations TO hel p pass away the
time. But. us l sand, he didn't know
the people.
''In the first place, he got himself
dlslikcd for demonstrating with the
Mexicans for loading two hundred and
fifty peund Of stuff or thereab bouts on
their poor little burros. They haven't
any humane societies in that country.
Then he got into unpleasant relations
with the sheep herders, ;iil of whom
are embryo murderers by nature, by
chipping into Il fgh3 and helping
couple Of lonely cattlemcn the hcrders
were trying to bushwh;icil up i'll the
hills one evening. That vas all right,
Of course, for the cow-puuchcrs hap
pened To be Americans, but Nick
winged a couple OF the sheep men, and
they naturally had it in for hlnl after
ward. Finally he did the business for
himself by flirting with the alcade's
daughter over in the adjo!niug plaza
She was the only marriagca ble girl in
the county, and he couldn't have found
better way to get loco in his coffee, or
to secure some other of the delicate at
tentions il order in such IL case
"The dam was big masonry one,
built pretty much after the Roman
model, with securing sluices at the bot
tom and lateral passagcway through
the center, with valve doors at each
sluicc gate to shut when the dam
is full, while the passage that ran into
the length of the dam opencd-up 10 the
top through a man hole at each end
one of these right by the door of the Of
fee and the other on the abutment
across the river.
''Well, by the time Nick had been
down there three months and got these
three separate fights on his hands, his
paid-up life insurance policy would
have been good speculation. lie did
not appreciate that, of course, for the
MeXicans were polite, knowing they
would soon have their innings.
There was always more or less of
them that had nothing TO do save hang
ing around the dam, chinning with
Hennessy's man. Their time came one
evening when there was big thunder
storm coming up in the mountains. 1t
was on toward the end of summer,
when nearly all of the bed of the dam
was dry except little tricllc of water
turned off into the main ditch, and
Nick was in the habit of taking book
| and bla-nkctr }A tAe afternoon and