The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-12-12


frontier of Texas one. hears of strange
characters. Bold and daring men come
here to make fortunes, others come to
/ escape from the memory of their mis-
fortunes, and others in search of adj
venture. No one ever knew what
| brought the man Carleen to the San
Saba. He was a mystery. and almost
his every act was clouded in mystery
4 from the hour that he set his brogan
! shoes into black mud of Menardville
until one fine day ten years later,
when he bid his cowboys farewell, and
! they said as the strage disappeared
over the hills toward San Antonio:
There goes the strangest character
! that ever struck Texas"
Mr.. Carleen was q Frenchman, be-
4 traying his nationality in the pronun-
citation of the score or more English
words he had picked up on the read
from New Orleans to the prairies of
the Lone Star state When he APP
! peared for the first time in the streets
! OF the little frontier village where he
afterwards became so well known, he
was dressed as q common laborer
I smoked a short pipe and carried a
stout stick The cowboys lounging
about the Brindle Steer saloon sized
( him up and rendered q verdict that a
good average job of sheep herding
/ would just about fit the degree Of ten
derfootedness that was manifested in
! his language, manner and carriage. At
ter a few moments conversation the
winks that were exchanged between the
loungers indicated the superior salts
/ faction that they experienced over the
correctness of their judgment, but their
! organs CT vision were suddenly eX-
panded beyond all capacity of closing
without an extraordinary effort when
the newcomer, with little ceremony and
few words, invited the whole crowd to
refresh themselves at the bar OF the
Brindle Steer. He did want q job of
sheep herding, and ne began to ask
questions as to wages and about the
price of lambs and ewes and rams
while the barkeeper was giving him
change for the big yellow doubloon
that he had selected from a handful
of loose coins to pay for the drinks.
Something like respectfulness on the
part of the crowd toward the stranger,
which had succeeded the curiosity he
had aroused, grew into admiration
when Mr.. Carleen accidentally dropped
a silver mounted revolver from his coat
pocket and carelessly picked it up
with the Indifference of an old plains
man. All were apparently eager to an
swer his questions and grant him in
formation upon every subject with
such promptness and pleasure as
to please the Frenchman immensely.
Carleen lounged about the hotel fol
several days, getting acquainted with
the people and making himself i'm
mensely popular by his liberality. Peo-
pie thought it rather strange that such
a man would go off into the noun
tains to herd sheep for $40 per month
but those who were most intimate with
the stranger said they thought he sim
ply wanted to learn the business. There
were others, however, who did not hes
itate to express the opinion that the
Frenchman was a stage robber. anC
that he had come out into the noun
tains to hide.
Mr.. Carleen soon demonstrated thai
he was not a slow man. He developed
and executed his plans with the rapid.
ity that distinguished the greatest Of
all of his countrymen. While every
thing about him appeared to be shrotd-
ed in mystery. he acted as if he haG
Il nothing to conceal. He appeared to live
for the purpose of astounding and mys.
! tifying those VINO were watching him. II
the course of eight or ten days the
news came to town that the mysteriou.
F'renchman, after few days herding
had expressed himself as being tireC
had purchased 10000 head of sheep anC
, paid for them in good San Antonio
paper. so the story ran. Next HI
bought the famous Los Floretas grant
containing 100 sections of grazing lands
and soon afterWard Mr. Carleen cam,
to town, confirming all these storie
| and making arrangements to put
barbed-wire fence around one of tn
largest pastures in Western Texas
Could it be possible that the man wa
, going to actually fence in $4,000 acre
of land? This happened back in tn
f early los, before the cattle kings an
r big syndicates began to string barbei
wire around whole counties. TIL
I Frenchmant spent the night in Menard
) vile, and long before sunrise on tn
: next morning he was on his road t
= San Antonio, accompanied by half
| dozen cowboys, driving a herd of ponie
] in front of them.
r Ten days .afterward a traveller re
: ported on the San Saba that an arm
= was moving across the prairies. c
= Western Texas. 1t was an army, bu
S an army of laborers, stonemason:
: carpenters, painters, machinists an
2 teamsters. The Frenchman was re
e turning with 200 teams and more tina
500 people. Menardville went on
boom, and the Los Floritas ranch, onl
ten miles away, presented a scene {
hustle and activity which made tn
natives stare in wonder and amaze
7 ment. Mr.. Carleen had leased huI
: dreds and thousands of square miles
= grazing lands, and around all this vas
t scope Of country he began to erect
d wire fence. He instantly broke groun
r for the purpose of establishing a hon
d place on the banks of the San Sab
Hundreds of laborers were set to woT
Quarrying rock, while other hundred
were engaged in digging for tt
foundation of his house. 1t took hi
d two years to complete this immens
n structure. It covers at least a half a
u acre of ground, and is five stories higl
and altogether one of the most beaut
- full and astounding pieces of archite'
n ture in America today. The walls al
!. of pure white marble, while gre;
lie columns of blush granite support
d magnificent porch extending arour
re two sides OF the entire structur
le Artists came from Paris to exert the
skill on the ceiling and walls. Durir
the time that he was building tn
palace away out here on the fronti
of Texas, Carleen never said a wol
of his family, oI, for that matter,
word OF his own history. His tongl
4 ran ike a bell clapper on all subjec
~ but one, and that one was Carleen. II
10 agents had purchased cattle all ov
N Eastern Texas. and as a cons
lie ouence at the end of yei