The Washington bee., 1899-04-15

"Some mems luck never deserts
them" said A. ]. Hilton the other
| night. There's old Nate Vestal. who
went broke after making enough to
keep him in whiskey and cigars
thousand years and who struck it rich
again.
When / lived out in Montana we
pointed out old Yestal as shining ex-
ample of the ups and downs of life in
the mines. With Nestal it lad been
pretty much all down until he struck
Il rich lead near Helena. which he
named the PenobscOt. Up to that time
life had had little but hardship for
VeStal. for he was Il proSpeCtOr and
lived principally OIL hope AMI the none
too generous grub stakes he could
| squeeze out of the speculative Helena
merchants The old man occasionally
! would find a rich pocket, either i'll pla-
Ger ground or quartz. and while his
money lasted he would have good
time In those days the only bank
Vestal knew was the one kept by old
King Faro and when he made Il de-
poSit there it was for all time To come
with no interest.
Put em on the high carl, Nestal
would say when the dealer had raked
in all but his last stack of Elues. and
if he won his last bet he would begin
anew on this system. and If he lost he
would pack up his cayuse and start
for the mountains.
''Vestal was hard worker. and he
knew the hills. That makes little diff
ference however. for prospector's
success depends. they all say. on his
luck. Vestal worked for years about
the Belt mountains. near Helena, and
in the main range itself before be
struck it, Seventeen miles away from
Helena. and almost on top of the main
divide. he found Il promising lead.
which he followed down by Il few feet.
The vein widened- out. and there was
pOy ore almost from the grass roots.
"Vestal had been chasing rainbows
all his life before but he found the pot
of gold sure enough when he opened
up the PenObScOt. 1t WAS IL free mill
ing gold proposition. and so rich that
he put up Il little araStra and pounded
out enough gold i'm Il week Cr two to
put up Il small stamp mill.
After he put the stamp mill up
things came easy for NeStal. He had
money To burn. and he burned ii. One
night he came into HelenI on the
stage with S3O.000 worth of amalgam
from Il couple of clean-upS of his mill.
i The amalgam waS in Il sack. and when
the stage drew up to Paine'S hctel Yes
tai dumped it off into the rOid beside
| the curb Just then an old acQuaint-
| ance stepped UP. and Il drink at the
nearest bar was the natural result.
! Other drinks followed. and when Yes
! tai suddenly remembered his sack of
amalgam it was o'clock in the morn
| ing The gold was just where il had
been thrown early in the evening be
fore. aS no one who had seen the sack
suspected its value. 1t was put in the
hotel there weren't any safes in Hell
pna then-and Vestal continued his
celebration.
, When VeStal had taken our several
hundred thousand dollars from the
Ppnobscot he sold the mine 10 IN Eng
, liSh syndicate for SJOO.OO0 cash With
| $4,000 in his possession he was sud
denly seized with desire to see lit
tie of the world. He went to New
York. of course. Some one explained
| Wall street to him and Il week later
he dropped S200.O00 on the stock mar
ket. His plunging attracted some at
| tentiOn, and he was not lacking in ad
| viSerS. In trying to recover his money
Vestal lost 100000 more. Then he be-
| came interested i'm IL patent street car,
! which was To he tried first in SYRIA
cuse. That experiment. in the course
| of Il few months. cost him $4,000.
Some one sold him stock in a linseed
oil mill. and that. too. cost him money.
"Vestal was disappointed in New
York. He went to Philadelphia where
his extravagant mode ofliving brought
| him more notices in the newspapers.
| Finally he landed in Washington,
| where, through the influence of the
money he displayed, he was admitted
| To a pretty fast set. He undertook to
| show the Congressman how to play
| poker. and for a short time he made
| money. Then his luck changed and
| after few weeks of rare sport he
found he had but $4,000 of mis- origin
| al pile left
1.-The strangest thing about it is that
Vestal stopped gambling long enough
To count his S40.0ON but he did. He
wasn't satisfied with the sport he had
had and resolved to- go to Paris Yes
tai knew his failngs. and with a fore
sight born of experience he purchased
Il round trip ticket to Paris. and de-
posted enough money to insure his
return TO Montana. Then be went
abroad. Old Vestal didn't do things
by halves in gay Paree. He blew his
money and had wild. hilarious time
while the long green held out. When
he went broke he returned to New
York and left at once for Helena.
"Vestal had his taste of high life
twenty years ago. Since then he
worked for years as a commoT miner
at $3.50 day in the same mine he
sold for $500.O0O cash. Then he took
to placer mining, and work. d ground
few miles south of Helena. IF didn't
pay. and he went to Alaska. A Mon.
tana paper says that old yestaI slocat
ed claim 40 miles from St Wich
aers. and that the pay streak rms
$3.50 to the pan. 1t looks as tbonnh @
Nate Vestal might again visit Paris
He struck it rich again. and Won car
bet that blue chips. and blue 30 cbinS aa
only, go with him.