Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1897-11-27
1VARMAN ON CREEDE.
"REMINISCENCES OF A MAN WHOM A
PARTNER CALLED WHITE.

Many Stories Thst Were Hss True Have
Been Printed About him and In Some
Quarters lie Was Given o Reputation
which Did him Great Injustice.
Just before dawn tho train stopped at
Salida to change engines and get helper
for the hill 1t was showing even there in
the valley, and was sure to be rough day
on Poncha pass. Tho train had been well
flied on leaving Denver At Colorado
Springs it had been packed. At Pueblo
we picked up another sleeper, and an adj
ditsonal day coach at Salida We hit the
heavy grade in two sections, and when the
conductor came through one of tho passen-
gers, who knew him, asked, "Where In
thunder is all the people goin, Troop"
"Goin to Creede replied the ticket tax
or without looking.
''Wcll, ct that's oil, they needen go"
said tho passenger playfnlly, sur Creede's
right here. He's in the snokin rum"
Now, there were many upon this train
who had never seen the founder of the fa-
nous silver camp, and some men followed
the conductor to the smoking room of the
sleeper. The door was closed and the con-
dnctor pushed against II. 1t yielded heav-
lily, and he pushed again and crowded in.
a man was lying on the floor against the
door, and when he had been placed upon
tho sofa and revived we saw q modestly
dressed man of middle age, medium size,
with blue eyes looking out of sad face.
He had tainted, he guessed, and then the
conductor asked his name "Creede, said
the man, and that was our first meeting.
My interest in the man began when
met an old eomrado Of his who had served
With him in the Sioux wars in the sixties.
After that Creole and I became very good
friends
He was born on farm not far from
Fort Wayne Ind. Creole put in seven
years as a scout and Indian fighter and
helped with his hands to open the over
land route to the Rockies. Some of his
adventures have been recorded and many
have not been told A most important
event In his life was omitted from all
these narratives, an event that lost to him
ell the glory he had gained in the Sioux
wars and put shadow on his trail. After
the war he went back to his old home in
Iowa, where he had the misfortune to fall
desperately in lovo with his brothers
sweetheart. The brother triumphcd and
1t broke Crecdes heart 1t was his first
and last love. Like the rejected poet, he
was mad with grief and shame Ho cross
cd the plains and changed his name.
So 1t came about that in the spring of
1870 in the register of the Drovers' hotel
at Pueblo be wrote his name Nicholas G.
Creede, which till then was not his name
In little while Creede became a well
known prospector He was patient and
persovering, and upon his trail are many
prosperous mining camps, notably Mon
arch and Bonanza. These camps were
called after the first claim located, and if
the prospector had kept that up Creedo
would have been called "Holy Moses.
Many amusing stories have been told as
TO the naming of this claim, but, unfor-
tunately, none of them is true The first
find at Creole, as at Monarch, proved to
be one of the poorest but it helped the
prospector Tt brought him in touch with
Mr. Moffet of Denver and put him in the
way to discover the Amethyst, which
brought him fame and fortune His share
was one-thlrd interest in the Amethyst
mine. One day, in his modest cottage at
Pueblo he showed me a small slip of pa
per from the First National bank of Dem
yer upon which was written. february
deposit, $50, 00O ="
THAT was my rake off for last month, +"
he said in his quiet modest way. At this
time Creole was not q strong man. Seven
years on the plains and 10 years in tho
hills hunting for mines are enough to wreck
even the strongest constitution. The one
companion that he kept through all these
Is years was little old dog whose shaggy
coat was the color of wood ashes At
Crcode's request 1 photographed him and
the dog
In June of that year, 1898, Creole said
he would go to California, and we agreed
TO meet at San Francisco. From Frisco
we went to Los Angeles, and when Creede
saw the pretty house at sol Pearl street he
wanted it. Standing in the garden he
took Off his hat smiled and said, "This is
my Eden, - little dreaming that it would
be his Gethsemane as well.
Just as the successful litterateur dis
courages young writers did this successful
miner discourage prospeotors.
"Stick to your quill, he wrote to a
friend who had asked him to buy q claim
at Cripple Greek, land you have my
friendship. Go prospecting and you lose
it." After a severe and long illness this
Same friend wrote gloomily, and Creole
replied; Never give up the ship. Cheer
up. There is much to live for"
Months ago he wrote to his friend, who
was then in Washington, cheerful letter,
and it CHANGED to be the last: We, too, have
q baby-a little girl--and do you know
that l have never known Of such pleasure
in all my life as the pleasure of caring for
this little child? l like to dress her and
undress her, as little girls do with their
dolls"
This was the little girl whom he had
+ol q 70 41,r+ hot latf
alone shows that Crecdes heart was in the
right place. What q loving father he
might have beeni What happy home he
might have made if things had gone just
little different Very few people knew
Creole intimately He avoided people. He
was constantly ashamed of having changed
his name. He exaggerated this bit of fool
ishness into crime and brooded over it,
and the bitter disappointment of his earlier
life staid in his heart and kept it sad.
And so people who never knew Creole
disliked him. This is especially true of
those who conceive it to be their duty or
who think it smart to hate the rich and
fortunate. Here follows q sample of the
unkind cuts that are aimed at the upfor-
tunate dead:
"The death of N. G. Creole removed
from earth rather harmonious case of
idiot that never aspired to anything higher
than eating morphine and figuring con-
spicuously in divorce suits"
Now, so far as know, he has never fig
ured in divorce court, and 1 make no
doubt his first dose of morphine was taken
upon that awful afternoon when he gave
up the ship and went into his garden to
die
To use the expression of an old prospect
ing partner of his, "Creede was white
man, and he was liked best by those who
knew him best "-Cy Warnan in New
York Sun
Appropriate.