The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-01-20
A ROMANTIC LIFE.
Remarkable Incidents in the Career Of
James G. Fair.

Mining King and Died a Millionaire.
A Life Devoted to ths Acquiring Of
Wealth Which Brought Him Little
solace in His Declining Years.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The death Of ex-senator James O.. Fair.
/ the California mining king and forty times
millionaire. on Dec. . last. brings back
a train of memories and "reminiscences
that lead from the Calavcras lumber
regions 10 Virginia City and On 10 the
United states Senate, which with all The
attending incidents Of a career. the be-
ginning Of which was shrouded in pow
erty. and which ended in the midst OF
. afluence.
The life Of Senator Fair was one Of hard
work and shrewd financial manipulation.
crowned with what the superstitious term
luck. As miner his instincts seemed TO
lead him unerringly to bouanzas Like
the lone inhabitant Of Carcanez woods.
he possessed certain acute senses beyond
the ordinary man. which I'm his case.
enabled him to read the rocks and guess
the riddle Of the blind lead and the wor-
/ SHIPPED lode. There were times when he
was compelled to wait patiently for his
returns which he always did with the
same cynical reserve that characterized
the man when fortunes smile was bright
est In regular graduations his name
mounted from slippery Jim" to "Uncle
Jimmy and on up to Senator James
| q. Fair Socially he may be said to have
cared for no man. His life was devoted
| to gaining riches.
The hazy past finds him digging in
/ placers of Long Bar on Feather river.
| but nothing of his career is distinctly
/ recalled. Following a party of Califor-
mans to see where their gold came
| from, he gathered the harvcsts of Shaw's
/ Flat in Calaveras county. From "a gar
| den that himself and Talton Caldwell
mad planted $4,000 in nuggets and dust
| were taken This fortune. directly
| or indirectly, led to anothcr-his winning
| and wedding the belle of Calaveras, The
| resa Rooney.
Several years after he had moved to
| Nevada his greatest of all strokes of for
! tune occurred-the development of the bO-
| nanza on the Comstock lode His first
/ position Of Importance there was the SUI
! perintendency Of the Ophir mine. In Nir-
| ginia city his associations with John W
| Mackay began. Their combined abilities
| made the strongest force on the lode
! In order to conduct their negotiations
| in the stock market il was necessary to
| affiliate with some San Francisco spec
/ ulator. This led to a formation of part
| ncrship between Mackay. Flood. and
! w. Walker, and Flood & O'Bren of san
| Francisco. The first operation i'm mining
| stocks by which the last named firm
| attracted attention was i'm gaining con-
! troll of the Kentuck in 1862 But their
| biggest deal was in 1865, when they gained
| their fight against Haywood and Charley
Low and gained control of the Hale and
! Norcross In order to get five shares
| necessary to insure their majority they
had to pay $1,000. Fair then became super
intendent of the Hale and Norcross prop
erty.
The Nevada miners and their San Fran
| cisco partners acquired the Consolidated
Virginia, known as the Old Prospect. The
| operations of Fair and Mackay i'm these
! properties were their greatest work i'm
the development of mines. About S5o000
was spent while other old miners were
| jeerng at them. They kept on. on that
| famous drift from Gould and Curry
| through Best and Belcher into COnsoli-
| dated Virginia. The drift was 200 feet
long before the enormous bonanza deposit
was struck. In less than five years the
| Consolidated Virginia produced more
than $5OO0O,OO0 Of bullion.
Fair was always mysterious. The men
| could never tell by his manner whether
he was pleased or displeased. None could
or promotion. The miners dreaded as
much to see him as they liked to see
MaCkaY. one day in the lower level of
the Consolidated Virginia he Smelled to-
bacco smoke and smoking in the mine is
strictly prohibited
Uncle Jimmy" followed the scent I'M
till he came to a drift where two men
were working. He looked at their work
with apparent interest and then rubbing
his head said. Me boys. you re doing
good work here. I'd like to stay a min
ute and look at il if I only had something
to smoke. I'm feeling bad to-day, and
/ ia like some tobacco"
one OF the miners. pleased with this no
tice from the superintendent, pulled
pipe from a creVice in the rock and
handed it to Fair The superintendent
took it and felt that the bowl was warm.
He took a couple of whiffs. thanked the
miners, and walked away. He hunted
up the foreman Of the gang and said to
him:
discharge those two men. They're
not working, they're smoking"
The next morning the discharged min
ers called at Mr.. Fairs office and told
him that they had been discharged.
"Well. well" said Mr.. Fair. THAT
foreman will be the ruin of me. He's dis
charging all my best men,"
Then we can go back to work" said
one Of the miners.
What would be the use of that?" said
Fair. That man will discharge you as
often you go back, so what can I do
for you?"
Fair was never a society man and al
ways avoided it, but rather preferred go
ing to bed at O'Clock and getting up a.
o'clock. In his contest with Sharon for
his seat in the United States Senate the
assistance of Mackay was invaluable to
him. After this his residence was prac-
tically given up in Nevada
Before his term in the Senate ended the
| difference between him and Mackay oc-
CURED. As they had never been strong
| personal friends each was bitter toward
the other The cause of the trouble is to
this day a mystery on this point were
| divers theories. one was that MaCkay was
! thoroughly displeased with Fairs action
in the matter of his wife's divorce OBJ
tanned in Judge Rising's chambers, at
which evidence of the husbands mis-
conduct was shown.
If Fair had had any desires for re
election Mackay's opposition would have
I defeated them. 1t was during these diff
ferences that Flood became their mediator
in business matters. Each would so to