The San Francisco call., 1897-12-26

lLSlI CdUIuS VI lIlStI IIdN0IlnS SduSSg
but never with any pecuniary result.
This condition, however, it seemed
was destined to change.
One Saturday See Yup walked into
Wells, Fargo & Co.'S express office
with a package of gold dust, which,
when duly weighed, was valued at
$500. 1t was consigned to a Chinese
company in San Francisco. When
the clerk handed See Yup receipt he
remarked casually:
washing seems to pay, See Yup."
''Washee velly good pay. You
wantee washee. John?' said See Yup,
| eagerly.
laugh. II was only thinking $500
would represent the washing of good
many shirts"
mo leplesent washee shirts at all!
| Catchee gold dust when Washee tall
| ings Shabbee?"
The clerk did "shabbee" and lifted
his eyebrows The next Saturday See
| Yup appeared with another package
worth about $40O, directed to the same
consignee.
Didn't pan out quite so rich this
week. eh?" said the clerk, engagingly.
NO" returned See Yup, impassive-
Iy; next time he payee more"
When the third Saturday came with
! the appearance of See Yup and $3.50
worth of gold dust the clerk felt he
was no longer bound to keep the Sc
| cret. He communicated it to others,
and in twenty-four hours the Who!e
! settlement knew that See Yup's coolle
company were taking out an average
of $4O0 per week from the refuse and
| tailings of the old abandoned Palmet-
! to claimi
The astonishment of the settlement
| was profound. In earlier days 1eal-
ousy and Indignation at the success Of
| - 4, 1,6 hoe MIC haVa
| taken a more active and aggressive
shape, and it would have Jared i'll With
! See Yup and his companions. But thA
| settlement had become more proSperA
| Gus and law-abiding. There were one
| or two Eastern families and some for
eign capital already there, and its jeal-
ousy and Indignation were restrictedto
severe investigation and legal criti-
cism Fortunately for See Yup it was
an d-established mining law that an
| abandoned claim and it's tailings be-
came the property of whoever chose to
| work it. But it was alleged that the
See Yup Company had in reaHty
| struck lead''-discovered a hltnerto
| unknown vein or original deposit or
| gold not worked by the previous com
pany-and, having failed legally to de-
! clare it by pre-emption and puplc
registry in their foolish desire for Sc
! crecy, had thus forfeited their right TO
the property A surveillance of their
work. however, did not establish this
theory. The gold that See Yup had
sent away was of the kind that might
have been found in the tailings over
looked by the late Palmetto owners.
Yet it was very large yield for mere
| refuse.
Them Palmetto boys were mighty
keerless after they'd made their big
| strike and got to work on the vein,
| and [ reckon they threw lot of sold
| away" said Cy Parker, who remem-
bered their large-handed recklessness
in the flush days" "On'y that we
| didn't think it was white mans work
to rake over another mans leavin's,
we might hev had what them derned
| Cinnamon hev dropped into. Tell ye
what, boys, we've been little too
high and mighty and Wen hev to
climb down."
At last the excitement reached its
climax, and diplomacy was employed
to effect what neither intimidation
nor espionage could secure. Under the
pretense of desiring to buy out See
Yup's company, a select COMMITTEES Of
the miners was permitted to examine
the property and it's workings. TIL Il
| found the great bank of stones a
gravel representing the cast-out debl -
| of theold claim occupied by See VI
and four or five plodding automatic
| coolies At the end Of two hours the
| committee returned to the saloon,
| bursting with excitement They spoke
| under their breath, but enough was
| gathered to satisfy the curious crowd
| that See Yup's pile of tailings was rich
| beyond their expectations. The com
| mittee had seen with their own eyes
| gold taken out of the sand and gravel
| to the amount of $40 in the short hours
| of their examination And the work
had been performed in the stupidest,
| clurnsiest, yet patient Chinese way
What might not white men do with
better appointed machinery! A syn
! dicate was at once formed See fup
was offered 900 if he would sell out
and put the syndicate in possession OF
| the claim in tWenty-four hours. Ine
Chinaman received the offer stolidly.
AS he seemed inclined to hesitate,
am grieved to say that it was intimat-
ed to him that if he declined he might
be subject to embarrassing and eX-
pensive legal prosecutions to prove his
property and that companies would
be formed to prospect" the ground on
either side of his head of tailings. See
| Yup at last consented, with the proV1so
that the money should be paid in gold
into the hands of a Chinese agent in
San Francisco on the day Of the de-
livery of the claim. The syndicate
made no opposition to this character
istic precaution of the Chinaman. 1t
was like them not to travel with
money, and the implied uncompliment-
ary suspicion of danger from the COM
munity was overlooked. See Yup de-
parted the day that the syndicate took
possession. He came to see me before
he went. congratulated him upon his
good fortune; at the same time L was
embarrassed by the conviction that he
was unfairly forced into sale of his
property at a figure far below its real
value.
I think differently now.
At the end of the week it was said
that the new company cleared up about
$500. This was not as much as the
company had expected. but the syndi-
cate was apparently satisfied, and the
new machinery was put up. At the
end of the next week the syndicate was
silent as to returns. One of it's members
made a hurried visit to San Francisco.
1t was said that he was unable to see
either See Yup or the agent to whom
the money was paid. 1t was also no