The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1896-06-05

~ y tAAeAA filNtsl Hlt-ltl lNfs
cheek Not that l wasted my business
hours hating, for / just kept my head
shut unless 4 could give a chance mark
in the eye 10 the Gallagher's Daddy.
Wei one night, whoshould come into
my Office butsa young woman. Pretty
rs picture she was, all NET and shiyer-
ing. Int her mouth was gummy. cry2
Cried fit 10 break her little heart. Mr..
Srniif. She said, was a beasts horrid
little beast; yes, that's what she said.
sniff had sent for her all the way from,
England, as his clerk and typewriter:
then, when she showed up at the mine,
coolly informed her that he had since
written eountermanding the order,
Wouldn't take her out of the rainl Mad2
I'd have killed the thing. but that, being
midsummer, game was plumb out OF
season.
Pretty? A perfect little witch Of a
woman-blaclS hair, black eyes that
snapped, and a thin, oval. wlnsome sort
of a face that BOWED me rightout. She
had the eunningest, cutest little ways
You ever seen, and real lady, every
inch. / took her right on my books as
secretary, walked her over to the land
lady at our boarding-shark, and had a
cabin fixed up regarilessi oh, but she
was q ripping clerls-smart as stock
broker, always busy, eager to learn,
sharp as a steel trap with the books.
Shed take down my letters in Short
hand, whisk them off onthe typewriter,
keep the letter.boolS indexed up 10 the
minute. run the postage stamps. why. /
got so used to heri a week that L barely
took the trouble to sign what she wrote,
much less see II it was correct Facts,
! gave over my heart, the keys of the
safe and the books. She ran me, she ran
the office, and. II she liked. she was free
to run the mine. How she did hate the
Thing that horrid, nasty Sniff!
Bit by bit she put me up to the
scheme; little by little she led me on--I
just burning to get quits with the
Thing, if only for her sake. At least,
she showed me how / could fairly
knock the stutling out of the Gallagher's
Daddy.
You see, he'd struck It rich--lit onto
a bonanza thatwns the talk OF Colorado.
The Silver, Chamber. they called tia
mass of sulphurets and ruby silver. big
as church, running 50 900 a ton. twas
right ut my end of the ledge. within a
few feet OF the end of my third level
drift, which had been rich to the very
edge of my claim.
Grab into it" said the sly little puss.
Trouble? Never fear. If you've got
the pluck" says she, "I'll supply the
brains. Now. says she. "I'll go around
and begin by squaring smiff's engineer
get around him in a jiffy-and we'll
take such a rise outs of old Sniff
that he'll think he's sat down on lyna-
mite"
We bribed Shifts engineer, who dis
ahled his hosting gear in such a way
the niue had to be closed while he sent
down TO Denver for skilled hands.
At that little cats instigation, took
some carpenters by night to the Daddy's
shaft. Lowering men with ropes, we
got three solid brackets fixed 10 the
timbering say 40 feet down. Then we
lowered down tank of well-tarred
lumber, which fitted nearly in the brack-
cts, and filed up the shaft. Finally. we
put in three feet of water, and stole
away. Next morning the Thing came
sauntering lo@n1to the works and when
he looked down the shaft, there was
the blacklist water within a few feet Of
the top.
"Bai Joave! what beastly shamel"
1t walled. "Afe mines all full of water!
Come, you menLyou beastly engineer
fellah-wig up the pumps!"
but the "beastly engineer fellah"
couldn't wig up the pump" because the
said pump was busted.
Work? How we worked! Double
shifts, double time, Sundays, holidays,
hosting out the bonanza sulphurets of
the Gallagher's Daddy. The silver
chamber-why, the names plgwash to
the reality. never, in all my mining
experience, saw such haul. Think
that Sniff petted? Think he found out,
and had deputy sheriffs around my
ears? Not bit of it. The critterwent
off fishing; yes, fishing. and was the
laughing stock OF Colorado, while I
hustled.
Ye gods! l was the blindest ass ever
born! Never found It out illFd worked
the silver chamber down to the last ton;
never till the last ounce was consigned
to the smelling company down at Dem
yer. 1 was down there for my holiday.
when l met the manager OF the Great
Dinde smelling syndicate, and he
greeted me with a regular horse laugh.
well, Mr.. Philanthropist, /" says he,
show goes ito"
"'Philanthropistsl' What do you
mean?"
why, amt you been working double
shifts for the last three months and con-
signing every blessed dollar of your bull
lion to the credit of the Gallagher's
Daddy?p
You're mad!" says /.
well, I've been thinking 1t was YOU
who'd gone locoed-unlessy you've mort
gagged body and soul to Mr.. Smith,
A light broke in on me. Lets see
the books" howled. ''and my.letters."
Yes, it was the cold, Paralyzed truth,
I'd been victimized = horribly VIC
timized, by TINT little she-cat. While
signed letters without CHANGING at them,
she'd written strict orders: from me,
that all bullion was to be credited to
Sniff of the Gallagher's Daddy.
While he was away fishing, with
scarcely six men to 20 on his pnv ro1l