Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1897-01-29
NO $1,000 NIGHT SHIRTS NOW.

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The fact that Fortune is tickle
goddess" WAS never more aptly illus
Jraled than in the career of ex Senator
II A. w. Tabor, of Colorado. A farm.
er, Il stonemason, small grocery keep
er, great mine owner, muti-mil-
lionaire and proprietor OF great blocks
1f buildings III Denver, the possessor
aud builder of Que uf the finest opera
houses in the world, Lieutenant Gov
ernOr OF Colorado, United States Sen.
ator, and now poor man once more,
ielving 10 the dirt for another fortune
among the hills ofCripple Creek-this,
IN a paragraph, is the history of man
who has received more flttery and
more criticism, more favors and faunts
Of fortune than fall to the lot of most
men. The other day a brief telegram
from Denver was published to the Of.
feet that the last piece ofproperty own
I'd by ex-senator Tabor had been sold
under the hammer to satisfy mort
gage for $500, 900, thus closing one of
che pages il a strange, eventful bis
tory.
Nov. 26, 1880, this man of varied for
tures was horn, and on the 26;h of No
vember, 1896. he found him self, at the
age Of Sc, rs bereft of earthly posses
'ions as upon the day of his birth, not
withstauding the fact that less than ten
years ago his fortune was rated at
over $6,0G0,000. When Tabor was rich
and prosperous he was rond of recall
iug the days of poverty ard labor
through which LIE had passed, and the
following facts are a condensation of
MS history as he related it to me, seat
ed in his pr vate Office in the Tabor
Grand Opera House before adversely
h al overtaken him
Iu 1859 Tabor came to Denver, leav-
~ farm in Kansas and seat in ths
legislature. He stayed in Denver
through the winter, and early in the
spring OF 1860, with two friends, drove
yoke of oxen attached to q rickety
bid wagon out of the city en- route to
California Gu!ch, the present site of
Leadvile. Rumors of finding gold in
The gulch had reached Denver, and
thus early in his career Tabor began
MS search for the yellow metal. The
oxen were experienced travellers, hav-
ng trudged all the way across the
plains from the Missouri river to the
front range of the Rocky Mountains the
season before. but it must be confessed
hat there was great lack of style
ibcut the turnout.
1t is a curious coincidence shat in
making this journey more than thirty
tx years ago Tabor must have passed
irectly over the rich gold fields of
Cripple Creek, ignorant Of their pres
ence, where to-day he is beginning life
over again in search of gold. The ditli-
culties of that journey were ma
o en- he grade was so steep that IL
wagon had to be held back from u
;umbling descent by fastening b y
pine log behind it to serve as brake
often after days toilsome march
camp was made in sight of the smoke
from the fires of the previous night.
Filled with experience of this kind it
took just six weeks to make the jour
ney from Denver to California Gulch,
The party arriving at their destination
in April. The snow was from three to
five feet deep and there wasn't more
than fifty men in the camp. 1t did not
take very long, however, to change
these conditions, and by the middle Of
July there were 10000 men at work
prospecting and washing gold. In
recalling those early days in
California Gulch, Mr.. Tabor said
The everyday life of a miner is not