Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1897-08-07
The DAILY OPTIC,
East Las Vegas, New Mexico,
SAN MIGUEL MURY.
LUcKiEsr MAN ALIVE.
How a Poor Muie-skinncr DISCOVERED
a Rich GOLD Mine.


"The luckiest man l eyer knew In
any digglngs. tells an old prospector,
was b II Hawkins, who came cut To
Nsw Mexico from vhicngo iaiong nbou,
1880 as poor as Jobs turkey. Any
man without his luck would havs been
kicked plumb into Kingdom Q mo In
stead OF the latest dlggings down In
the Territories IL was liks th!s: Bill
was hauling freight from Soeorro over
10 the little silver and g1ld camps In
The Black range. ana no considered
himself mighty lucky TO have few lay
offs by his b iss At Socorro. He was
about hs clumsy as they make a man
and never made q trip without being
kicked, bitten or trcdden on by his
team. But be was 30 blamed poor
that he had TO stanu. all that or die OF
starvation.
''Oae mule ia tie string, old Sam.
was a regular devil; the brute knew
tina, Tom was afraid of him, and never
missed y chance TO bite or kick at him
One day bill started from Sucorro wiLn
a heavy bad, bound for camp thirty
miles bey nd a.er canon Part OF
tae way the road was hardly more than
atrial along tho side Of the mountains.
Halt a a. z:n good teams,ers had r.
fused the contract, but Bill took It be-
cause the price offered was more than
double what be could obtain on any
other route. Bets were made that the
outfit would go over the grade, but
Bill succeed in getting nearly over the
road without a single hitch. Then he
was at the Porcupine, q narrow ridge
along which The road ran, and on each
side IA II deep canon. At no place
IS the road more than a couple OF feet
wider than a wagon, and the grade is
very heavy. Half way across some
thing started Old Sam, the mule, and
he began to kick.
.'Blil whipped and swore, but Sam
only made his heels fly faster, and at
last managed to get outside of the
traces. Then, as il satisfied with the
iun he had, the brute lay down ia the
middle OF the road and defied Bills
every IF ,rt to get him up. Two Mex
leans happened along, and at Bills
invitation they took a hand. Que of
them gathered q lot of dry grass and
piled it close to the mule's headquarters
and set it on lire. IL took Sam about
Two seconds to change his position and
land his heels on Biil's stomach with
a force whica sent him over the edge
of the road and down the bank. He
dropped twenty. five or thirty feet
down the side OF the mountain. Where
did he laDdP Why, on thu edge of the
Daylight, Of course. The Mexictns
in pulling away the grass, had torn
away some earth that revealed pay ore
beneatn it.
.sBiil had sense enough to keep his
find a secret, and wrote to his brother
in Denver to gather up ell the cash he
could aud oat,to New Mexico as soon
as possible. The 1rst Thing we knew
in Socorro a gang OF men was at woIk
developing the "Daylight' mine. The
property paid Sl.C0O a month almost
from the start, aud along about 1882,
when the shaft WAS down 800 feet, II
paid So .000 o month. Bill died in
Europe ten years ago, where he mar
ried Il French woman, aud he had dead
loads OF money. What became OF the
muleP Why, you can bet Bill never
forgot that beast. He bought the fiuest
ten. acre pasture land he could find in
the Back range near a M%exlcan's house,
built a stable for the mule to sleep in
at night, and paid the Mexican q
to see tnat Old Sam never
wanted a mules comforts of life. The
last | knew the mule was living yet.