davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09

mass of gold weighing $50 ounces was
found at Columbus, Ell Dorado County,
and was valued at $5236, and not far from
the same spot poor Frenchman found a
nugget worth $4,000. The finder was SO
overioyed at his rich find that he lost his
mind and had to be taken to lunatic asy-
lum, where he subsequently died, and the
proceeds of his rich nugget were RENTED
to his family in France. Near Knapp
ranch in the same county John Strain dis
covered nugget that weighed fifty
pounds, which was so nearly fine gold
that it brought when sold $4,000.
Near Magalia IN Butte County, on Aug
ust IA, 1859, Ira A. Willard found nugget
that weighed 81 pounds. The celebration
which followed the discovery of this mass
of gold was participated in by every miner
for miles about. and is still regarded in the
annals of Butte as the greatest historical
event in the history of that prolific county.
The days of nugget-dnding in California
seem TO have passed away. Nowadays the
nugget has been supplanted by the pocket,
in which repositories rich finds OF 100000
at a time are not uncommon. 1t is not
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09
~; AN{Iaa|8l|:1HzEE:;|;; a. )

in this country deserves rest from his whist
labors more than Mr.. Work. 1t was simply
phenomenal the way he kept up his work. A
daily column, and very interesting one it
was. requires an immense amount OF brain
work. Doing all this a labor of love, Mr..
Work has certainly done his share to popu-
larize our National game. We will miss him
every day while he is away and we hope the
rest will do him world OF good. Bon voyage.
HowELLS "wHIsT OPENINGS"
In an issue of July 26 we asked Mrs. F. H.
Atwater of Petaluma to send us a criticism.
Mrs. Atwater says:
Mr.. Howelps '.whist Openings seems to me to
be second edition of Foster in which one finds
little TO admire but his courage.
I do not know what he means in his introduc
tory remarks by 1.-The fallacles of the long-suit
game"
Most of the leads and plays of the long suit
game have been thoroughly tested by practical
players and only those rules and principles &C
cepted which have been proven to De in the ma
jority of cases productive of the best results.
His attempt TO rdicule those who do not agree
with him is argument and "Cavendish and his
parasites" can never be convinced by such style of
reasoning. 1t might not be presumptuous to ask
MIR. Howell if he considers his opponents to be
novices at the game.
If so his "short-suit SYSTEM or any other system
might be equally eifectve but with "Iongs suit in
vads" of ordinary whist intelligence his .'system'
would at once be understood and he would find his
game securely blocked.
His "short-suit system seems to rest on the
false hypothesis that his opponent cannot draw
correct references from the drop of the card.
While he is holding back his long suit s'waiting
for something to turn up' his opponent will be
taking in the tricks and Mr.. Howell will find him.
self turned down.
In leading supporting card that support has
two chances of assisting adversary one OF as
sisting partner and if these adversaries be up
to-date' players they should be able to place the
strong suits and defeat the short-suit tactics.
In his summary of secondary leads he says:
"Keep your nerve and don't turn hair even If
the development seems to run dead against you;
stick to your game, and sooner or later the ad-
versary will abendon his, which shall be the short
suffers victory and reward"
This is not whist, but rather matter of physi-
cal endurance.
The s'top DOWNWARD method" Of playing short
suits is idea in whist literature and well
worth the consideration of ''1ristans" But, taken
as q whole, match between teams OF short-suit
players would seem TO me to suggest the result OF
the simultaneous explosion of assortment of
skyrockets sending their fiery darts in all direc-
tions without apparent aim or purpose
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09

located claim on the creek, eight miles
north of.Redding, and in few days dug
out the Shasta nugget, which they sold for
$4,000.
Plumas County, though it has contrib
uted many millions of gold to the world s
supply, has furnished but few nuggets.
The largest was found by Chinaman in
1860. winch was sold for $4,000. Archie
Little, miner, found one in the same dis
trict that sold for $4960. In Placer County,
in 1859, Edward Gilbert, in drift mine
near Butcher Gulch, about dozen miles
from Auburn, found gold and quartz
nugget that he sold for $50O0 The same
man later on discovered another one, less
valuable, however. Another miner, whose
name has not been rescued from oblivion,
found in Placer County the most beauti-
full nugget ever discovered in California
The gold was imbedded in a mass of crys-
tallized quartz. 1t sold for $6206.
In El Dorado County at Spanish Dry
Diggings a nugget weighing 105 ounces
was found in 1868. 1t sold for $500. An
other was found at Kelsey in the same
county winch sold for $4,000. In 1868 q
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09

tricks. The third best score was made bv the
ladies with 1877 tricks. The next match, "free
for all" for players not engaged in any of the
contests that the ladies entered, was the
straight whist Saturday night this match
wound up the weeks carnival. There were
sixteen tables and twenty deals were played.
The prizes, a rabbits foot mounted in a silver
matchbox, were awarded to Mr.. and Mrs. II.
Payot of the San Francisco Whist Club.
AMERICAS QUEEN HOLDS LEvEE..
There were many other young ladies at the
Whist Congress, who played very little. One
little woman, neatly dressed in dark blue,
with salmon lining to her jaunty jacket, was
the center of attraction. From the crown of
her well-poised head to the tips of her dainty
tan shoes she was every inch "whist queen,''
full of dash and vlgor. She held quite levee
in the main corridor, for delegates from far
and near sought introductions to this famous
exponent of scientific whist Miss WheeIock
was one of the tournament committee, and
had very little time to play.
ECHOES OF THE CONGRESS.
The great whist department of England's
standard sportsmen's newspaper, the Field of
London, in It's issue of July IL devotes the space
of thirty-two lines to its report of the pro-
ceedings of the sixth congress of the American
Whist League but there is one item of infor-
nation IN IL JnaC our papers dld not report.
1t says: "The Minneapolis trophy was won by
the Baltimore Club OF Baltimore, Indiana" !"
Our little scrapbook, "Echoes from the Con-
gress," contains $50 columns of over 200 lines
to column.
THE FATE OF SHORT-SUITERs.
The Globe of Boston says: Judging by the
results of the Manhattan Beach whist tourna-
ment. the Boston whist players can't call the
Boston Baseball Club names.
ESTABLISHED TRUMP.
A communication was received by the re-
cording secretary of the American Whist
League from the Superior Chess and Whist
Club stating that they wished to go on record
by their club passing the following resolu-
tion: s'Resolved, that it is the sense of this
club that an established trump should be
adopted for general use in the American Whist
League and that we recommend club as such
trump" The idea does not strike us with favor
at all, but we will be glad to get the views of
clubs on this coast.
Milton C. Work, the whist editor of the
Evening Telegraph of Philadelphia, sailed for
Europe on Wednesday, July 20, therefore his
whist articles will be discontinued until his
return in the latter part of October. No one
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09
CAN WOMEN PLAY wIIsTY

One of the features of the sixth congress Of
the American Whist League was the large
number of ladies that were in attendance. 1t
pleases us to say they made a very excellent
showing. 1t is true they did not enter any of
the major contests, such as the Hamilton, the
A. w. L. or Minneapolis trophy, but the
matches they did enter showed by their whist
play that they were capable of holding their
own.
In all matches that we conducted where the
ladies played, they conformed to the law of
playing their cards on the table better than
the men. The law reads: "Each player, when
1t is his turn to play, must place his card face
upward before him and toward the center OF
the table, and allow it to remain upon the
table IN this position until all have played to
the trick, when he m ust turn it over and place
it face downward and nearer to himself etc.,
We could not help but notice this Most of
the men dropped their card anywhere it was
convenient, on the edge of the ia ble on top of
their other cards, anywhere as long as they
dropped it. A "ball-bearing jointed neck
ought to be applied to players who do this.
The first ma teh that the ladies entered was
for progressive pairs and a remarkable feature
of this match was the distinguished achieve
ments of the ladies who took part in it. There
were six women teachers of the game who
played together and their scores were all
above the average. The six in question were
Mrs T. H. Andrews (vice-president of the Trist
Club of Philadelphia), Miss Gertrude Clapp of
New York Mrs Rodman Wister of Philadel-
phia, Mrs. w. S. Fenollosa of Salem, Mass,
Mrs W. H. Newbold of Philadelphia, and Mrs.
Rachael Frances Harrison of Columbus, Ohio.
The splendid showing of these ladies placed
them in the front rank in the wide world of
whist t. Sixty-one pairs entered in this match
In the progressive match for fours, twenty-five
clubs were represented, and twenty ladies
took part and they all made remarkably
good showing. This was the match that was
won by Baltimore with $40 tricks. We an
nounced two weeks ago that the Trist Dupli.
cate Club of this City came out second with
677 tricks; it should have been 667.
The match between the men and the women,
played on Thursday afternoon, was sort
of q go-as-you-please conducted by Miss
Kate Wheelock. This match was won by the
men by score of 20 tricks. Professor w. III.
Whitfield and C. D. P. Hamilton made the
highest score for the men-146 tricks Mrs
Fenollosa and Miss Harrison tied Mrs. t. H.
Andrews of Philadelphia and Miss Bessie Al
len of Milwaukee for second place with I42
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09
A Tree
That Has Split
A BowIder
Remarkable StrengtE,
Of Growth Of a
Mill Valley
Laurel

The wonderful force of the roots of grow.
ing trees is demonstrated on a hill in Mill
Valley, where laurel has split huge
bowlder into three pieces. The tree is of
the type common in many parts of Cali
fornia, but there are several queer things
about it and its surroundings. The place
where the tree grows is most unusual
one for its species, which naturally re-
quires considerable moisture. The fact of
the tree taking root in a barren rock is
also unusual in California on account of
the long, dry summers, during which
young sprouts usually perish unless there
is considerable moisture in the soil.
The exact location of this botanical curl
osity is few hundred feet east of the trail
to the top of Tamalpais. The general APP
pearance of the tree is most unusual and
undoubtedly it is very old. at first glance
10 oks like an oak, but most unusual
one. The upper branches are twisted and
turned i'll all directions and large portion
of them are dead. In reality the tree looks
like those iu the Dore illustrations of
Dantes Inferno.
An examination of the tree and its sur
roundirgs shows that the bowlder is one
of the largest stones in the vicinity and
cannot weigh less than 500 tons. The loca-
ton of the tree is almost exactly in the
middle of the stone and about five feet
from the end of the split. This rift in the
rock is about fifteen feet long, and at one
end is only few inches wide. at the end
where the tree isit is at least three feet. To
prove that it was the tree that caused the
split there is crack in one of the halves
4 kl.o4 H. oe
the growing roots was so much that it
cracked the rock where it could not
move it.
Miss Eastwood, botanist of the Acad-
emy of Sciences, gave as her opinion that
the strange natural curiosity was the only
one of its kind in the State. She says that
in all her studies she has never seen its
like here, although in localities where
there are summer rains the phenomenon
is not unusual. And yet even under those
conditions she never heard of laurel
growing as the one in Mill Valley does.
In Miss Eastwood's s opinion there must
have been small rift in the bowlder to
begin with. Possibly IL was tight enough
to hold water. In the fall of the year the
seed of the laurel blew into it and in the
spring of the year came to life. The walls
of the rift then acted as sunshades and
also kept the water from being evaporated
too rapidly, so that the young shoot was
able to struggle through the long summer
until the winter rains came. Or it may be
that there was an unusually rainy summer
that gave the tree Its start in life. After
the tree was year old it was able to take
care of itself, and then showed its in
gratitude to the rock that had protected it.
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09
Great
California Gold
Nuggets
The Wonderful Chunk
Pound by Oliver
Martin Worth
$4,000.

The history of the great California mug
gets is in many respects interesting and ro-
mantle. The discovery of one of the great
est ever found was under most singular cir
cumstances. It is known as the Oliver
Martin nugget and gilded cast of it is
now an interesting object to all visitors of
the California Mining Bureau. This mug
get was found near Camp Corona in
Tuolumne County and weighed Isl pounds
and six ounces. Oliver Martin and COM
panion named Flower were camped in q
canyon when terrible rainstorm came on
in the night and the water in the stream
suddenly rose to a great height The
miners attempted to climb the hill, but
the food overlook them and both were
carried down the stream. Flower was
drowned, but Martin, though severely IN
iured, escaped. Afterward, while trying
TO bury his companions body in a grave
at the foot of a tree, Martin discovered the
nugget which bears his name. He was
too exhausted to remove it. He attempted
to reach some neighboring miners, but
tainted from overexertion nd was found
on the trail by them in a state of COM
plete collapse. 1t was weeks before he re-
covered sufficiently to again visit the mug
get, which was found intact and removed
to camp with great rejoicing.
1t was composed of gold and quartz,
but the lucky finder received 500, 900 for it.
The Martin nugget was not the largest
ever discovered in California. One was
found in November, 1854, at Carson Hill,
Calaveras County, which weighed 180
pounds. Another nugget was subsequently
found at the same place which weighed
149 pounds. In August, 1869, w. A. Parish,
A. Wood, ]. Winstead. F. Clevers and
Harry Warner were partners in the Mon
umental claim near the Sierra Buttes in
Sierra County. During the last week of
that month they discovered a huge mug
get which weighed 1893 ounces troy.
1t was sold for exhibition purposes to R.
Woodward of San Francisco, who paid
S21, ,637 for it. 1t was afterward melted
and $17,655 realized from it. Sierra County
is famous for the number of nuggets found
within its limits. 1t was in this county
at place called French Ravine that one
was found in 1850 worth $4,000. The
largest nugget ever found in Shasta
County was discovered in 1870. One day
three Frenchmen, Oliver Longchamp,
Fred Rochow and another. drove into the
old town of Shasta in search of place to
mine. They happened to have some busi-
ness with A. Coleman, dealer in
merchandise. and inquired of him for
lucky spot to mine. He carelessly
answered, "Go over to Spring Creek
The Frenchmen followed his advice and
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09
Pace. tie Jester.

Pace, jester to Queen Elizabeth, was so
bitter in his retorts upon her that he was
forbidden her presence. After he had
been absent for some time few of his
friends entreated her Majesty to receive
him back into favor. engaging for him
they again met Pace was as bad ever.
"Come on, Pace" said the Queen, in ner
gracious humor. now we shall hear OF
our faults" mo, madam" said Pace, ~
never talk of what is discoursed by all the
world. ALLIANCE News.
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09

and our Boer friend said "Karels. it zal
ecker de vaarhuit wes.'' (Men, it is cer-
tainly the TRUTH
The matter was forgotten during the
next day or so, and it was about six
weeks before we reached home-as we
were some 400 miles north of Pretoria at
the time-and just as l jumped off the
wagon to embrace my wife and children,
she said: "0hl Tom, darling, l am
so glad you have come, for our
| little Violet has been so i'll that
| the doctors gave her up and said she
would certainly die" / then thought
about the witch doctor, and Immediately
hauled out my pocketbook, asking my
wife what date the child was so i'll. She
Immediately gave me the same date as
that in my book and the time of day
exactly corresponding.
When 1 asked her if she could recollect
any particular thing she said in her ex-
element over the child's serious state, she
said: Eyes, dear; l could think or say
nothing else as | was carrying her about
the bedroom but, 'Oh, my little darling
/ am afraid your dada will never see you
again.
Here is the whole thing. "What is it 2"
a Kaffir, you may say, almost a savage,
perfectly uneducated, did not understand
single word of English, had never seen
us before-at least, not to our knowledge
comes out IN the bush and for shilling
tells you most thrilling truths, both past,
present and future; in fact, what con-
slider most wonderful was his telling me the
very words my darling wife was saying, in
har ,f ind of hn rynn
ment he was telling me, 400 miles away.
The affair has always been great mys-
terry to myself and friend. We have told
of it many times to friends, some believ-
ing, others doubling it. and we still re-
main in ignorance of what it could be;
therefore, | have at last come to the de-
termination to ask some one to answer my
question, What is itP"
Without attempting to enter into
details, our corresp spondent's question may
be answered in a few words. There are
various methods of natural divination,
divided into two broad classes
The first of these is based on the fact
that the soul itself. from it's own nature
and essence, has some foreknowledge of
future things, as well as a retrospective
view of the past. By means OF this soul
power, acting as clairvoyance and CLAIR
audience, the Kaffir saw the sick child and
heard the spoken words. The second gen.
eral class is based on the postulate that
the soul, after the manner of a
mirror, receives some secondary illumin-
alton. This may be set up by
artificial divination (external signs, etc.,.
The casting of the bits of stone by the Kaf-
fir comes under the head of lithomancy.
BY observing the relative position of the
various pieces, as regards size, color, etc.,
he formed general idea or skeleton of the
facts to be known, and with this as basis
he was able to become en- rapport clairvoy-
antly with the exact facts of the
past, and the probable facts OF the
future, so far as they had been
mapped out by Karma. The whole oper-
alton comes within the range of natural
laws, though they are little understood at
present. RAM SINGH.
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09
COLORED DRESS GOODS

At Is Cents.
49 pieces 39-INCH ENGLISH MOHAIRS,
in figured and striped effects, former
price SOC, will be closed out at l5c a
yard.
At 20 Cents.
50 pieces 39-INCH FANCY STRIPED
DRESS GOODS, in grays and tans,
former price Soc, will be closed out at
zoe yard.
At 25 Cents.
90 pieces 36-INCH FINE ALL WOOL I'M
PORTED DRESS GOODS, in mixed,
mottled. figured and hairline. stripes,
former price 65c, will be closed out at
25c yard.
At so Cents.
40 pieces 44INCH ALL WOOL FANCY
MIXED DRESS GOODS, former price
75c and 81, will be closed out at SOC a
yard.
At so Cents.
81 pieces 44-INCH ALL-WOOL ENGLISH
DIAGONAL STORM SERGE, former
price 75c, will be closed out at SOC a
yard.
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09

doubted that with the revival of mining
nuggets of equal or even greater magni-
tude than those recorded will be discov-
cred. The treasures awaiting the patient
miner are just as great now as of old. The
stores of gold in California are practically
undiminished, ana the opportunities for
acquiring wealth are quite equal to any
period of its history, but no incident in
the history of mining in this State ever
surpassed in absorbing interest the finding
OF the great nuggets.
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09
LADIES' Shirt WAISTS!

At 25 Cents,
200 dozen LADIES' SHIRT WAISTS.
laundered collar and cuffs, in fancy
checks and stripes, worth 75c, will be
closed out at 25c each.
At so Cents.
$50 dozen LADIES PERCALE SHIRT
WAISTS, fancy stripes. full sleeves,
laundered collar and cuffs, regular
price 81, will be offered at SOC each.
At so Cents.
100 dozen LADIES' LAUNDERED
SHIRT WAISTS, in black and white,
navy and red stripes, regular price ST.
will be closed out at 60c each.
At rs Cents.
70 dozen LADIES' LAUNDERED SHIRT
WAISTS, in fancy tan and black
stripes, yoke corded with black, regular
price 81 so, will be closed out at 75c
each.
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09
SPECIAL LINEN SALE!

This week we will offer our
entire Household Linen Goods at
such Reduced Prices as should
command the attention of all
shrewd buyers. Hotel and res
taurant proprietors will find it
to their advantage to avail them
selves of this opportunity.
BLEACHED TABLE DAMASK,
So inches wide, nice and styl- 00O
ish, was 35c yard. On sale at GVO
CREAM TABLE DAMASK,
heavy fabric, we'll made, that 9So
was SOC yard, on sale at. ccO
BLEACHED TABLE DAMASK,
Irish flax, 81 inches wide that ISo
was 60c yard, on sale at..... fCO
CREAM TABLE DAMASK, 70
inches wide, good heavy fab
ric, that was 75c yard, on 60o
sale at. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. OOO
BLEACHED TABLE DAMASK,
66 inches wide, satin damask, 6So
that was 85c yard, on sale at UOO
VERY ELEGANT SATIN DAM
ASK, 73 inches wide, thatG1 M
was 81 80 yard, on sale at .D 4'OV
BLEACHED IRISH LINEN
HUCK TOWELS, we'll made,
close weave, size 17x31 inches. G1 TX
that were 81 35, on sale at =. sD Lilo
FINE IRISH LINEN HUCK
TOWELS, handsome borders, CT Ok
that were 81 75 doZ.. on sale at sD 1'OO
EXTRA QUALITY HUCK
TOWELS, fully bleached, size
19x40 inches, that were 81 50aG1 Q0
dozen, on sale eat..............ep1. at ep LOU
500 dozen 3-4 DINNER NAP
KINS, pure Irish linen, 21
inches square, that were 81 so CT Ok
dozen, on sale at........... tp1'EO
CO. All Remnants and Oddments
Table Damasks, Napkins, Towels and
Toweling on sale this week.
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09
LACES and EMBROIDERIES

At Is Cents a Yard.
CREAM, BUTTER AND BLACK AP-
PLIQUE and CHANTILLY LACES,
all silk, inches wide. regular price
25c, 30c and 35c, reduced to 15c yard.
At 25 Cents a Yard.
CREAM, BLACK AND BUTTER AP-
PLIQUE and CHANTILLY LACES,
and inches, wide, all silk, regular
price SOC, 60c and 65c, reduced to 25c a
yard.
At 5 Cents a Yard.
2800 Yards CAMBRIC GUIPURE EN-
1213c, reduced to sc yard.
At Is Cents a Yard.
1900 yards CAMBRIA GUTPURE EN-
BROIDERY, regular price 25c, reduced
to 15c yard.
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09
LADIES',
MUSLIN UNDERWEAR!.

At rs Cents.
LADIES MUSLIN GOWNS, made of
heavy muslin, sailor collar, large
sleeves, regular price ST. will be closed
out at 75c each.
At $1.0O.
LADIES' GOWNS, made of Wamsutta
muslin, plated back, yoke and collar
trimmed with embroidery, extra good
value for 81 25, will be offered at 81
each.
The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09
Silks! Silks!

At so Cents Yard.
so pieces FANCY FIGURED SILK, for
mer price S5c, will be closed out at SOC
yard.
At so Cents a Yard.
80 pieces BLACK TAFFETA SILK, with
fancy colored stripes. former price 81,
will be closed out at 60c yard.
At 65 Cents Yard.
20 pieces FANCY PL Al d TAFFETA
SILK, former price 81, will be closed
out at 65c a yard.
AT rs Cents a Yard.
so pieces FANCY FIGU RED AND
STRIPED TAFFETA SILK, extra
quality, former price ST. and 81 25, will
be closed out at 75c yard.
At $1.OO a Yard.
40 pieces BLACK BROCADED AND FIG
URED SATIN AND GROS-GRAIN
SILK, small, medium and large de-
signs, former price 81 35, will be closed
out at 81 yard.