Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1898-10-04

for a good many years afterward-
youseer SIT around the town here and
get 1t off to himself. Went somethin
like this:
f" Changed all the trees in the Rat.
tlesnake- moved 'em and mixed 'em all
up. Might "a been dream, but 1 don t
think so. Ask Bill-he knows. Put a
shot in her. Seen rock in my time. but
no rock like that. Bill, id old fool.
gifts scared, and we kivered her up to
come back to. Didn't blaze no tree, but
my old knife's stiekin ON the moss side
o. that tree. Might "a been a dream.
Ask Bill
Course you can bet your life that
old canyon was prospected pretty we'll
after that, but nothin was found. The
specimen was sold and the money divid-
ed between Bill Wilkins and Nuggets
daughter, who had to take care o. him.
Wilkins went over into Calaveras soon
after that and fell down shaft about
500 feet deep.
''Well, time went by, and the law
stopped hydrauleeking, and purity much
every one left the town that could git
out o. it, and it ain t been worth a d-n
sence.
Nuggets daughter she married Bob
Hittel, who was teamster and didn't
have much o. it to do either They was
pore, but they managed to make liv-
in and keep old Nuggets besides
Course you know the old man co1ldn t
do nothin but sit around and talk those
words told you of
Every one was kind to him, except,
perhaps, Jake Openheimer, who kept
the principal store then. He youster rile
him good deal and josh him and ask
him when he was goin to open her up,
but reckon he didn't mean great
deal o. harm
Every now and then Nuggets 'ud
wander over into Rattlesnake canyon
and spend nigh ON to a day there. When
he'd come back, he'd be worse TUX than
ever and go moonin around and sayin
those words: Changed all the trees in
the Rattlesnake-moved 'em and mixed
'em all up. Might a-been a dream, but
1 don't think so.
Bout this time his little gran son
was CROWN up, and Nuggets began for
to take him along with him in his trips
to the canyon. Mrs. Hittel, she objected
at first, but when she seen the boy liked
to go and her father was dead set ON
havin him with him she didn It make no
more objections The boy used to say
that while they was in the canyon Mug
gets spent most o. his time huntin for
something he couldn't find.
lone evenin in the summer time,
bout ten years ago-I was here then
myself-Nuggets and the boy KEN into
town and gave it n surprise that it ain t
got over sence. You can believe it or
not as you want to, but he'd got back
his mind all right and talked as sensibly
as I'm talkin now. DON'T believe he
ever was crazy myself-just think he'd
got his mind set on one thing and
couldn't get it off.
But he was purity near crazy with
happiness. He'd an old rusty knife in
his hand, and he kept sayin to us all
the time, 'Twarn't no dream after all,
'twarn't no dream Seems when they
was in the canyon the boy got to playin
around and crawled under big tree
that 'ad been blown down and found
the knife stickin in it underneath.
Course you know what that meant.
We'll, Nuggets is all right now. So
was his claim. He sold it for a purity
nice sum to couple o. big mining men
down below. See those smokestacks in
the trees over in the canyon? Well,
there's ID stamp mill ON the spot
where that knife was found.
Bob Hittel runs this store we're
a-sittin in front of, and Bob's wife owns
her own house. Nuggets has a mort
gage on about everything Jake Open
heimer's got left, and the boy-the