The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-04
FAST SPENDERS OF MONEY.
Idaho Silver Miner Who Was Cheerful Money.
Burner
Burner.

while we're on the subject of spend
thrifts," said Tancrede Lucas. an
Idaho silver mine owner. at a Chevy
Chase roadhouse the other evening.
"oid Conner Larkins.. who made things
warm out my way until within few
years of his death at Nampa a short
time ago. was surely the most cheer
full and philosophical money-burner I
ever met. Larkins struck it rich in sill
yer I'D in the Occur d'Alene country
seven different times, and on each Of
these seven occasions he chucked
away within month at most the tens
of thouse9ds of dollars the syndicate
gave hir for his claim But he al
ways stood pat to the situation when
he reached the bottom of his stacks of
yellow.
He struck a ledge of rock in the
summer of 'S3-this was his sixth find
within four years-that he got $4,000
spot cash for a week after he happened
upon it. He was fool TO give it up
at any price, for it has since panned
out millions; but he hadn't had
time down in Spokane for over a year,
and he couldn't stand it any longer So
he took the syndicate managers draft
for the $4,000 and, still in his red
flannel shirt and spattered boots, he
kited off for Spokane TO blow 1T in. He
He was a grizzled man of So, who had
been tinkering with prospectorS
hammer all his life, and you'd have
thought that his years of hardship
would have jammed some sense into
hi; fool head. AS a matter of fact he
was a quiet, Ievel-headed sort of man
when ne was broke and up against it
with his grub stake and pick, but when
he got hold of his wads of money he
was just a natural born wild Indian.
He blew in from $1,000 to $4,000 a day
on this Spokane trip, just as he had
done before with the money he got for
his other strikes. I could generally
figure to a day when he would get
back to the hills. 1t depended on the
amount he carried away with him. The
basis of calculation 1 used was that it
took an average of s1,5O0 day for him
TO buy rum and trimmings for the town
of Spokane.
About three weeks after Larkins had
gone away on this sixth excursion,
started out in a wagon one morning
for some holes in the ground my boys
were digging in the hills. I hadn't
Travelled mere than five miles on the
road, before 1 saw, g. little ahead. the
figure g a man in a red flannel shirt,
with -four sack of grub slung at the
end of the pick he shouldered, trudging
on at a good slip. saw it was Lar
kins as I drew close behind him with
my wagon. He didn't turn in his
tracks, and 1 could hear him alter
nately muttering and whistling to him.
self. felt sorry for the blamed old
idiot and pulled up.
Want a ride, Larkin?' I inquired
of him.
Rider said he breaking off his
whistling and recognizing me with
nod. Much obliged, but not by a
damned sight do I want a ride. Fin
ished my ridin' down Spokane way.
Now, damme, I'm goin' to walk He
took up his trudge again. 'Hoof it, We
bloomin' galoot,' he muttered to him
self. Go on and wear your dadbinged
feet off a-hoofin' it. Aain't We had
your fun, blast we, and amt your
head bigger'n a dgg's yet? What more
do you want. and what kick have you
got a-comin'? G'wan, now, and hump
it up lively and he started whistling
Rory O'More' with all the cheerful
ness in life. I couldn't induce him to
get into the wagon, although he was
bound for the same place 1 was. He
wouldn't even take a drink, badly as
he needed one. He was used to taking
his medicine like this, and hated a
wilmer. He struck 1t again seven
months later, got another pot of
money, and did the thing all over
again. Then his sister, a ievel-headed
Irish woman, turned up, and to give
Conner a change of scene she started
him off for the gold country down near
the Mojave desert. He was one of the
first to light upon pay ore there. and
his sister saw that he kept his money.
When he died in Nampa a few months
ago he left her several hundred thou
sand dollars
There's a heap of difference" said
California wine maker in the party,
between these bust-blowers you hear
so much about when they are in the
middle of their imbecile performances.
and so little about after they've finished
the second and final stage of the
skyrocket trip. As a general rule the
spendthrift Who has made his own
money and scattered it, never degen-
crates into a whimpering. repentant
prodigal after his little fling is over, and
he awakens some fine morning to find
himself broke and I'D against it. No