The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-08-19
elves at the expense of others of les.

selves at the expense of others of less
rank.
| At any rate, when James Strickland's
father died, his son, who was then a
lad of 20, found that he possessed in
the world no more than $1,000. This
sum, being of venturous mind and
sanguine temperament, he invested in
a ranch in Texas, where he endured
much danger and hardship, and lost
| all his money.
| After this, having nothing to live on
and no friends, he was obliged to labor
with his hands like a peon. and this
| he did in many ways He broke
IhOrses, he herded cattle, once. even, for
two months he came so low-it makes
me angry to write of it-as to be forced
to wait upon the guests in an inn at
Panama.
| Thence he drifted to Nicaragua and
became mixed up in the mining ven
| lures, and when first l met him he had
been a miner for ten years. Most Of
this time he spent managing a mine
for an American, in the Chontales
country on the frontier of Honduras,
where the fever is so bad that, few
white, men can live, and here it was
| that he learned to speak the Spanish
and Indian, or Maya tongue.
At length after an attack of fever
that nearly killed him, he left Hondu-
ras, and came to Mexico, where he ac-
cepted the management of this silver
mine at Cumarvo, that hitherto had
been worked by a Mexican on behalf
of its owners, who dismissed him for
stealing the ore and selling it.
| This mine, though very rich. was also
hard to work because of the water that
| n 10 he hot
| the Senior Strickland had been there
| he was employed in driving a tunnel
| from the lower level in the cliff. in
order to drain the workings. Shortly
after 1 came into his employ this tun-
mel was finished for now 1 was able to
get plenty of labor which before he
| had lacked, and we began to get up
ore running as high as two hundred
ounces to the ton, so that for some
months all went well.
| Then of a sudden the ore body dip
| ped straight downward, as though it
had been bent when hot, and we fol-
| lowed it till the water increased so
much that we were unable to get it
out, for in those days there was no
steam pumps in Mexico such as are
used now for the drying of mines.
First we tried to strike another vein,
but without success; then we attemp-
ltu W pierce d ScCOlll lullHtl
at still lower level, but, after more
| than three months labor. the rock be-
came so hard that we were obliged to
abandon the task.
After this nothing more could be
done except to cease work at the ,tun-
mel and report the matter by letter to
the owners of the mine, employing our
selves meanwhile smelling such ore as
we had stacked, which, indeed, we
needed to do in order to pay wages
with the silver, seeing that after the
| first few months the owners ceased TO
remit us money.
One evening, on returning from the
smelling works to the house, 1 found
| the Senior Strickland seated at a table
on which lay an open letter, With his
chin resting on his hand and an an
| lighted cigar in his mouth. All through
our misfortunes and heavy labor he
had never lost heart or ceased to smile
and be merry, but now he looked sad
as a man who had just buried his
mother, and I asked him what evil
thing had happened.
Nothing, paticular, Ignatio," he
answered, "but listen here" and he
read the letter aloud. It was from the
owners of the mine, and this was the
purport of it: that the shaft had be-
come choked with water because of the
incompetence and neglect of the senior,
| that they the owners, hereby dismiss
ed him summarily and refused to pay
| him the salary due; and, lastly, that
| they held him responsible in his own