The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-01-27
K. B. ARRTvED ON TIME.
And in Manner That Delighted the
Downieville Boys.
From Id - York snn.


THAT was an awful steep divide between
Gold Hill. New, and Downieville. Cal. and
the stage coaches and freight teams had
hard work of il. making the climb, even
when the road was in good condition
When the mud was deep. or there was
much snow, the road was all but impass-
able. even with six horses to a stage, or
sixteen TO a freighter.
1T was one winters day when there was
so mulch snow the stage agent announced
that the stage would not go out until
the road had been broken by freighter
or two. That was mighty inconVenient for
Brown Kettlebelly,' we called him. but
the newspaper fellows up in Virginia City
called him X. B. So much in their stories
he got to believe those were his initials.
although his baptismal name was Lemuel
We'll sir, Brown felt mighty sore
about the agent refusing to send out a
stage, because he had, accepted an engage
ment to deal at All Whiteheads bank in
Downieville, and on his promising to. be
there that very night ATS chief dealer
had arranged to go to Sacramento, where
he was TO take charge of a new bank.
That would leave Aft without a dealer,
and it was pay day. or course that would
not do, for pretty smooth chap from the
Bay had just opened a bank in DOwnie-
vile. and if AIS game closed for want of
a dealer on pay day the new bank would
get all the trade, for a miner must play
again the bank on pay day, or else ii
don't seem like pay day TO him
well, sir, when the stage agent said he
would. not buckle up to swing out of
course no one else would, for if the stage
horses couldn't make the trip none others
could. Chuggage ran the line in those
DAYS. and Lordi You know what kind of
h had a.
tree if they had to- but the agent said he'd
be damned if head Of stock left the barn
that day, even if Mackey and Fair had to
get to Downieville. and he certainly
wouldn't for Kettlebelly.
"A lot of us were sitting around Orn-
dorh's stove-that was before Jim Orndorff
moved up Slippery Gulch to his small
/ place on street in Virginia City-sitting
around discussing what *. Is. could do,
aud it did seem like he couldn't do any
thing but just sit there.
After a while K. B. got up. walked to
the front OF the bar, and looked up at the
/ snow on the mountain, kind of savage like.
I when he saw some miners who were build
/ ing a sheeve with 12xl2 timber. He saw
that the heaviest piece they were handling
/ didn't go through the crust, and he says;
/ s'Ig it win. bear that it win bear even
i me. I'm going to walk over the divide
/ I'm not going to give ALI Whitehead no
I double cross like that I'll deal bank in
4 Downievilie this night or you'll find me
cached in the snow up there
we'll. sir, we thought he must be era
zv. SO we all took a drink, bat that didn'
I seem to do him any 5000, Tor ne Kept
g 1t amt very far says K. b; the
4 snow crust will last all day II the sun don
Il come out strong. and believe can turn
/ the trick
another drink. and then Jim set them up,
Il and then a young fellow who had come
out from Heidelberg to be an assayer says
that he'd go, too.
'"rhen that settles me. and 1 says Ia go
too, and we just naturally took another
drink and then got ready. We all wrap
ned sunny bags around our boots, each put
/ a bottle of whiskey and some pipes ano
tobacco and crackers in his overcoat
pocket and then, when we'd all had &
drink, we started out
1T wasn't very cold, but the crust was
good and hard, and the going wasn't bad
or wouldn't have been bad if the hill
hadn't been so steep.
1--WE didn't so round by the grade, YOU
understand, but straight up the side OF
| the mountain, and the pace that K. Is. Sc
was awful, considering that IN those days
| he didn't weigh an ounce less than 90
! mounds You'd never know we were elm
hing over rough loose. rocks and sag,
brush. for all these were buried out Of
sight, and only the few digger pines crop
ped UP through the snow
My, but It was hard work. / suppose
we hadn't got more than half way up t
the ridge before that Heidelburg studen
gave out. We tried to fire him up with
LIQUOR but it just naturally wasn't any
use. f. wSs a tenderfoot and probably
hadn't got accustomed to the kind o
whisky we drank on the Lodge in those
days.
Wen cache him. then said K. 3.
and he jumped up in the air, and wher