Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-03-16
A CAPITALIST.

A CAPITALIST.
In that time when q big force of work
men was busy tearing down the old gov
ernment building, it will be remembered,
something happened to stop work on the
southwest corne All the rest of the
building had melted away, crumbled be-
meath the picks of the men, but the SEQ
ton at Clark and jackson streets still
stood a good two stories high, though
teams were hauling foundation stones
from the opposite angle.
John Dawson, a laborer, 80 years old,
husband Of one wife and father of chill
dren, came down daily from his home at
Eighteenth street, walking every step Of
the way and carrying his pick and shovel.
He had been busy until the work was
stopped. Then he was told day after day
to "come back in the morning" And he
did come back in the morning. But the
work of demolition was ~unaccountably de-
layed and he was destitute. No use look
ing elsewhere for employment. Work was
here In plenty as soon as this mysterious
delay was ended. No one seemed to know
why the>pioks had stopped on this corner.
But John Dawson and his waiting COM
panions, each with pick and shovel care
fully guarded from purloining, saw men
in good clothes hunting about in tho dis
mantled rooms of the remaining corner
saw them through the grated windows, a
dozen of them-and wondered.
Looking at them SO one day, John Daw-
son, conscious Of absolute restitution, re-
membered the slender brcaki.st he left
untouched at Eighteenth street on pre-
tense that he had eaten heartily and need
ed no more; had left untouched that the
wife and the children might have some
thing, conscious Of the long walk with
the shovel and pick, which grew heavier
daily-oonscious of many things-fell
a.dreaming, and 1t seemed to him the men
in the dismantled rooms there, passing
and repassing before the iron bound win.
dows of what had once been the subtreas-
ury, were looking for money. And he
wished he might find it instead Of they.
What would he do with 1t?
First he would spend 3 cents for a loaf
Of bread. The other laborers had each a
brown crusted, long, round loaf, and they
broke off bits now and then and ate of it.
Over In the dismantled rooms the search
ers were giving 1t up and the contractors
foreman at the door was. stirring himself
into q profane heat, SO that work might
presently and properly begin.
When the subtreasury was running,
Caleb Browning, being a bonded vault
clerk, had lost II package containing
$40, 900 in various miscellaneous bills
silver certificates and national bank notes.
He really had lost 1t. He had not stolen
1t. And when he could not account for
it his father, Jabez Browning, had paid
the loss In full without a word, and Caleb,
with 10 stain upon him, had resigned and
accepted a situation with a railway COM
pany.
There was a shout, a rush. a clamoring
from men with picks and shovels. The
contractors foreman, swearing now very
easily, was sending laborers here and there
on the delayed southwest section, and the
we'll dressed men who had been searching
went over to their La Sale street Offices
and wondered where Caleb Browning's
&c. 900 package Of bills had gone.
John Dawson, sitting ON a block Of
stone, knew Of the shout, of the clamoring,
Of the rush to the work, knew even Of the
easy, satisfying profanity Of the contract
or's foreman. But he could not rise. That
added to his troubles. He was apparently
unconscious. He was really helpless. Yet
he knew all the horror of chat final re-
sumption Of work and his inability to go
forward.
Presently the contractors foreman
shook him, swearing cordially, and he
gasped, smiled weakly and gripped the
pick and shovel protectingly.
you've been wanting work" said the
foreman. why don't you git at IL"
And John Dawson tried to rise, but
really he could not. So the foreman,
knowing much, a. u foreman must, mo-
toned q lounger, and the two carried John
Dawson and his pick and his shovel to a
Clark street restaurant south Of jackson,
and the very immoral but sympathetic
proprietor placed food before him In un-
known abundance.
How hard he worked when he did come
back! How much be wished the wife and
the little ones might have had such a meal
% that! How resolutely be promised him
self they should have such a meal! And
how amazed he wal when, working away
there at tho inner angle Of the mighty
wall, his pick pulled up a wad Of paper
with the brick and cement! At first he
brushed 1t aside with the refuse, but 1t
rolled back toward him. Then he pushed
1t urgently with his foot, and the dust fell
away from its tissues, and its greens and
whites, its letters and Its figures, peered
up at him. He worked away at the inner
angle Of the great wall for a few moments,
for be was grateful to the contractor & fore
man, and then he almost tainted, for the
consciousness came to him that this was
money.
There were other men near him, heap.
Ing rubbish on the same pile with him.
They might see II. They certainly would
II he Owed down and picked II up. So he
hammered with his pick blindly, not zee.
ing the wall, and then he took on bis hat
and laid 1t on the money.
After ten minutes he pulled the hat
from the cement and brick dust, carefully
bringing up the package Of bills with Ii,
and tucked hat and all within the bosom
Of bis shirt and worked bareheaded and
leverishly until night. He went home,
stolidly secure. He had found money. II
be said nothing, he would not have to give
II back.
"Where did you get this money!" asked
William Brown, reputable lawyer, eying
800 bill which a laboring man. very
dusty and pronounced laboring man
placed 10 hia hand.
II found IT."
"You stole It."
you're . liar" said John Dawson.