The herald., 1897-04-24

father was besieged by parties who
wished to rent claims from him.
"You can see the old ditch and the
broken sluices down yonder where they
washed quantities of gold out of the
sands. The remains of their rude shan
ties may be seen in that little grove on
the slope of the hill. White Path rivaled
the region around Dahlonega, and the
gold was SO easily obtained that the
miners gathered a rich harvest. The
rentals added to the wealth Of my father,
and he became the richest man in all this
part of the country. Still he never con-
tracted lawful marriage, but continued
to live with my mother, who kept house
for him.
"Then came the excitement over the
discovery of gold in California, and in
1885, when / was but Is years old, he
sent me and my sisters to California to
be educated and raised up where the
slavery prejudice was not 60 strong. He
furnished us with plenty of money. and
I was given the benefit of the best schools
to be found in that new country and
acquired a good business education. My
sisters continued in school until they be-
came highly educated, and both married
we'll because of the fact that they had
ample dowries and showed little more
trace of negro blood than the creole
beauties of the Mexican border.
II caught the infection from the gold
hunters and spent number of years
mining and was in California during the
civil war. Shortly after the war re-
ceived letter from my father urging me
to come home, as his health had failed,
l1fc clpUa had a III
been freed and he had no one to look
after him and his affairs. l had done
we'll mining and had eaved up some
money and owned an interest in valu-
able mining property, but disposed Of
it and came back to Georgia in answer
to the summons from my father. re-
mained with him and nursed him during
his last days, and 1t was his intention to
leave all his property to me and my
sisters.
AFTER his death his will was produced
and 1t was found that he had done as he
intended and had left all his landed eS-
tate to the three of us, prescribing in
what manner it should be divided. l was
in charge Of the property and wrote to
my sisters and proposed to purchase
their shares, and a satisfactory ar
rangement was made between us. 1t
never occurred to me that my claim was
not valid as the heir of my father, as he
had no near relatives that l knew of in
this part of the country. But was griev-
ously mistaken, as 1t turned out after
ward. A distant kinsman heard of his
death and began an investigation. The
investigation developed into lawsuit
The fact of my illegitimacy was brought
out and 1 was literally kicked out of my
inheritance by a man whom my father
never knew.
'"The lawsuit was long drawn out and
the property suffered from the litigation,
until now it is worth one-fourth of what
it was when he died. The new heir sold
it to a northern syndicate, and it passed
from hand to hand until 1t now belongs
to firm somewhere in the north. The
agent at Ellijay pays the taxes and
keeps off trespassers. The new owners.
knowing something of the sad romance
of my life. have never molested me, and
I live in my little cabin over the hill and
manage to keep body and soul together
by doing odd jobs, assisting in the har-
vest and digging gold when I have no
more profitable work to do.
w uy uO L lOl 6O Oil SuiieWucie dtlu
start anew? Well, 1 don't know why.
My life has been such a dismal failure
and my disappointments have been so
bitter that I have lost heart. 1 prefer
to remain in and around the old place
as long as live. 1t is endeared to me
by many hallowed associations. My
mother lies buried down yonder in the
valley, and the man who would have
T.
lain in his power lies buried under the
great oaks near the old homestead.
Some day they will lay me away in some
secluded spot also, and then the cares
of life of unmerited sorrows will be
at an end" d."-Montgomery NJ Folsom
in Chicago Times Herald.