The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-29

y
wearing diamond pins. in the party
With the princely hoerahty born of ac-
Customed wealth, Duncan chartered a
special car. and with good and bad luck
principally the latter we may be sure.
he and his friends kept up the game lust
Tor the fun OF the thing, and between
friends, you know
He was Just two months making the
trip from Frisco to New York. and as
this was only half way TO Paris. Duncan
saw that he must make better time-if he
would see the fair then in progress.
One morning, after he mad been ten
days in New York, he took an account of
stock, and was startled To find that one
half of his fortune was gone He felt
like freeing himself OF his friends, whose
true characters he began to suspect. but
he lacked the moral strength. He might
as well have tried, unarmed, to release
himself from the strangling grip of an oc-
topus.
But there's enough left, he reasoned.
''and I'll be more careful in future.
But he was not more careful. As a
matter of fact he became more reckless,
and the men with the dyed mustaches
who now regarded him as their own pri-
vate claim, by right of original discovery,
proceeded TO work him with a holiness
and energy, compared with which their
transcontinental efforts were puerile in
deed
AT length and by desperate effort, Dun
can got started for Paris, but on board
theesteamer, though he had not paid
their passage. he found two of his
friends.
From the time the steamer. left Sandy
Hook till she entered the Mersey-with
the exception of a few hours given to
sleep, Duncan played his way across, ana
he found lots of friends among the pas
sengers, ready to humor his within for a
poker game, Just for the fun of the
thing, and between friends, you know"
1t is unnecessary to mention the details
of this wild career Duncan Ross reached
Paris with his friends. His often de-
clared purpose was to spend a few weeks
at the fair, then to go to Glasgow and
visit his family leaving them comforta-
bly, of, before he started back to America
Paris is a charming place at all times,
and it was particularly so during this
fair. The two weeks stretched into two
months of wild extravaganza and reckless
dissipation.
One morning Duncan went to his bank
and found that his last frame had been
drawn. He examined his pocketbook
and found that he had but few coins
left He went to the Grand hotel to find
his friends-but they had taken unto
themselves the wings of the morning ana
vanished
He was alone in great city. moneyless,
and, as consequence, friendless. He had
not the means to pay his way to GLASGOW,
where his fond mother was eagerly await
ing him.
He sold his diamond pin and gold watch
at sacrifice, got drunk to down his hu-
initiation, was robbed in a dive got intosa
fight, and brought up in a lookup.
He was released on condition that he
should leave the country at once. He
sold all his clothes but the suit he had on,
and after settling his hotel bill he had
Just enough money left to pay for his
ticket to Calais, and over to Dover
From Dover Duncan tramped all the
way to London, which place he reached,
with the soles worn from his shoes
Through the influence of the American
consul in London, Duncan secured the
position of assistant cook on q sailing
vessel, his only compensation being his
passage.
Just thirteen weeks to day from the
time he left New York in such splendor,
Duncan Ross found himself back in Bat
terry park, without home, money or
friends.
A tramp of the tramps, he at once
started out to beat" his ay back to the
land where he had disco Vered the mother
of gold.
1T was in January, 1865" continued
Capt Burr. land l was about to start
with some government wagons and an es-
cort of the Eighth cavalry from Wickers-
burg IN Arizona, to La Haz on the Col
orado river. A hundred miles of wild
country, infested by Apaches, lay before
US, and 1 was anxious to travel quickly
and in light marching order. AS we were
about to start ragged, dirty young man
begged me, almost on his knees, to permit
him to travel with the protection of our
party to the Colorado. Seeing that the
man was poor and that he was willing to
walk and to work, gave half reluctant
consent.
That was Duncan Ross. On the way
he relieved the tedium of the journey by
telling me his remarkable story. AT first
Twas not inclined to believe him, but on
reaching San Francisco some time after
found him corroborated in every par
ticular. 's'
Just ten months from the date of his
discovery, he had spent a half million
dollars, and poorer than when he began,
he was back in the Tulare valley search
ing for another mother of gold
And so Fll end as | began, sudden
fortunes are dangerous, and it requires
more brains to hold on to money than it
does to make it, )" said Capt. Burr in con-
ClDeiOp