The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-27
A TEXAS MONTE CRISTo
HE SPENT MONEY LIKE a PRINCE,
But NO ONE KNEW HIS HISTORY.
He Built u Marble Palace on His Great
Thousands of Dollars.

daring men come here to make fortunes,
others come to escape from the memory of
their misfortunes. and others in search of
adventure No one ever knew what brought
the man Carleen to the San Saba. He was
a mystery from the hour that he set his
brogan shoes into. the black mud of Men
ardville until one fine day ten years later,
when he bid his cowboys farewell, and they
said as the stage disappeared over the hills
toward San Antonio: There goes the
strangest characters that ever struck
Texas"
Mr.. Carleen was a Frenchman, betray-
ing his nationality in the pronunciation OIL
the score or more English words he had
picked up on the road from New Orleans
TO the prairies of the Lone Star State.
When he appeared for the first time in the
streets of the little frontier village where
he afterward became so well known he
was dressed as common laborer, smoked
a short pipe and carried a stout stick The
cowboys lounging about the Brindle Steer
saloon sized him up and rendered verdict
that good average job of sheep herding
would just about fit the degree of tender
footedness that was manifested in his Ian
guage, manner and carriage. After a few
moments conversation the winks that We're
the superior satisfaction that they expert
enced over the correctness of their Judg-
ment. but their organs of vision were sud
denly expanded beyond all capacity of clos
ing without an extraordinary effort when
the newcomer, with little ceremony and
few words, invited the whole crowd to re-
fresh themselves at the bar of the Brindle
Steer He did want a Job of herding sheep,
and he 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 handfut or loose
coins to pay for the drinks. something IKE
reSpectfulueSS on the part OF the crowd
toward the stranger. which had succeeded
the curiosity he had aroused. grew INTO al
miratiOn when Mr.. Carleen accidentally
dropped q sllVcr-mounted revolver from ms
coat pocket and careleSly picked II up WIN
the Indifference of an ola painsman All
were apparently eager to answer ms ques-
lions and grant him information upon every
subject with such pronptness ana pleas
ure as to please the trenchman immensely.
NOT A SLOW MAN.
CarIeen lounged about the hotel for sew
eral days, getting acquainted with the peo-
pie and making himself immensely popu-
lar by his liberality. People thought it
rather strange that such man would go
off into the mountains to herd sheep for $40
per month, but those who were most init
mate with the stranger said that they
thought he simply wanted to learn the bust
ness. There were others, however, who did
not hesitate to express the opinion that the
Frenchman was a stage robber, and that
he had come out into the mountains to
hide.
Mr. Carleen soon demonstrated that he
was not a SLOW man. He developed and
executed his plans with the raplully tndt
distinguished the greatest OF all of his cOun-
trymen. W lille everything about him APP
peared to be shrouded IN mystery, he acled
as If he had nothing TO conceal. he APP
peared to nVe for the purpose OF astounding
and mystifying those who were watching
him. In the course of eight or ten days the
news came to town that the mysterious
trenchman after a few days herulng. had
expressed himself as being tired of toIow-
ing mock Tor wages. he had purchased
10000 head of sheep and paid Tor them IN
good San Antonio paper, so the story ran.
Next he bought the famous Los tloreiaS
grant, containing one hundred sections of
grazing lands, and soon atterWard Mr. Car
leen came to town, confirming all these
stories and making arrangements to put
barbed-wlre fence around one of the largest
pastures in western Texas. Could 1t be
possible that the man was going TO actualiy
fence in $4,000 acres of land? This happened
ba6k IN the carry seventies, before the
cattle kings and big syndicates began to
The trenchman spent the night in Menard-
vile. and long before sunrise on the next
morning he was on his road to San Antonio.
accompanied by half dozen cowboys, driv-
ing herd of ponies in front of them.
Ten days afterward a traverer, reported
on the San Saba that an army was moving
across the prairies of western Texas. 1t
was an army, but an army OF labofers,
stonemasons, carpenters, painters, machln-
lists and teamsters. The Frenchman was
returning with 200 teams and more than 500
people. Menardville went on boom, and
the Los loritas ranch, only ten miles
away presented a scene of hustle and ac-
which made the natives
der and amazement. Mr.. Carleen had leased
hundreds and thousands of square miles of
grazing lands, and around all this vast
scope of country he began to erect a wire
fence. He instantly broke ground for the
purpose of establishing a home place on the
banks of the San Saba. Hundreds of labor
Crs were set to work qCarrying rock, while
other hundreds were engaged in digging for
the foundation of his house. 1t took him
two years to complete this immense struc-
ture. 1t covers at least half an acre of
ground, and is five stories high, and, alto
gether. one of the most beautiful and as
founding pieces of architecture IN America
to-day. The walls are of pure white mar
BILE while great columns of blush granite
support a magnificent porch extending
around two sides of the entire structure.
Artists came from Paris to exert their skill
on the ceiling and walls. During the time
that he was building this palace away out
here on the frontier of Texas Carleen never
said a word of his family or. for that mat
ter word of his own history. His tongue
ran like a bell clapper on all subjects but
one. and that one was Carleen. His agents
had purchased cattle all over eastern
Texas. and, as a consequence, at the end of
q year or more his immense estate we'll
stocked. AT that time he was regarded as
one of the greatest cattlemen on the from
tier.
COSTLY FENCES.
The strange man did not limit his eXtraor-
binary improvements 20 the palace that he
erected. He kept a large force in his quar-
ries, and a little army of masons were en-
ployed for several years in building long
lines of stone fences. These structures were
not erected after the manner of such old
tumble-down affairs as one often sees in
some of the older States. The walls were
of solid dressed stone and there were great
stone pillars around the entablature of
grapes and festoons of flowers, exhibiting
in the highest style of art the skill of the
sculptor. Between these pillars swung mas
sive iron gates. These are not vet ruins
but here on the wild hills of the San Saba
where wolves howl at night and deer sleep
beneath the shade of the oaks; miles and
miles of these magnificent walls may be
seen winding over the undulating prairies
and through the green valleys. while up
there on the mountain stands white against
the western sky that gigantic pile of stone
and mortar, of which no say
whether it is a monument to the genius or
folly of the Frenchman Carleen. He was
certainly of great advantage to this par
ticular part of Texas He brought an album
dance of money into the country. and he
gave thousands of people employment AS
long as he prosecuted his gigantic schemes
this was the most prosperous portion of
the state. AT one time more than one