Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-08-18
shipment to England of

hlOnulke nugget valued at SDO,OUO
recalls the famous Napier nugget
found in the Australian diggings forty
years ago. The front end of Mr..
Napier's name is Samuel ii. He re-
sided in Bathurst, n. Il. nearly all his
life and was once elected to the Legis-
laturc. but his chief fame rests on the
fact that he once upon a time picked
up the biggest chunk of gold that ever
gladdencd the heart of man.
1T was in 1SJ4" said Mr.. Napier,
that | left this country for Australia
on the bark Marco Polo, which. when
condemned was believed to be the
oldest sailing craft ah, at She was 10
chicken. even in the mites. | sailed
four voyages from L,V,iroui 10 Mel
bourne, chiefly us purstr and second
mate, before | caught the mining
fever. IL ieJI | >t.,,.i Tor the Dig
gings and remained IA r. 1t year and
a half. went 10 I,nd,|U first ard
then staked Il claim at KingOwer.
about forty miles from the bpnGi-o
diggirgs, On an arm Of the Murlm-
bedgic called the i.cG1 l.. rad been
at kinoowcr about S.X months when
| found the celebrated napier or
Blanche Barkely nugget. Ny brother,
Charles ii. Napier, was in partnership
with me, and our cook and general
handy man about camp was an Eng
lshman. - years of age, Robert Am
brose. He is dead now, or if he isn't,
it's plenty time he was.
The Kingower diggings was a small
one compared with the Bendigo. and
didn't pan out much at first. 1t was
on August. IA, at 10 o'clock in the
forenoon. that we ma lie the big strike.
We had dug down about fourteen feet
to the pipe-clay stratum and were
shutling around in the bottom of the
shaft more dead than alive from the
heat. Old Ambrose lit his pipe and
leaned against the side of the hole for
a rest. Just then | struck something
with my pick. | turned it Up 50 the
light could strike it. and by jimminy
frost. it was a hunk of gold as big
as hubbard squash.
well, that minute | knew our fort
une was made. Old Ambrose got eX
cited, and jumped around till thought
he'd have the whole diggings down
upon us. Charley and | Kept cool and
covered the nugget up in the earth
and didn't go nigh it for the rest of
the day. After night we logged the
beauty to our tent and covered it up
in the bedding.
About midnight We set to work as
quiet as possible with our picks and
sunk a shaft down about six feet
underneath the table in the tent and
buried the nugget out of sight. For
three long months it stayed there. with
us eating over 1t, walking over IT,
sleeping on it and dreaming on it. and
not soul at the diggingS any the
wiser. Ambrose used TO talk in his
sleep but we found that Il good dose
OF Gin would settle that, and he
generally got all he could cleVcrly
stow away. Sometimes we lay awake
all night with our guns handy i'll case
we were mole sued. for there We're
pleGty of tough sui jects 1T the dig
gings that would have made short
work of u if they had guessed our secret.
We'll, about the miudle OF NOvem-
Der we bought Il horse and cart and
lit out for Melbourne. having in the
meantime dug OFT our claim and piled
UP enough of the yellow stuff to carry
us to London. 1t took us four days
and four nights to reach Melbourne,
and | hardly slept wink on the way.
The nugget was packed up in a rough
box with some old clothes. and we
told every one we met that we were
going to New " aland. We carried no
arms with us for fear of being suspect
ed. When we reached Melbourne we
took private lodgings. and the next
morning logged her ladyship down to
the Bank of Victoria and made all the
necessary arrangements for shiupi :
her. and we never saw her again unjll
| produced the necessary docul4lcIit ;
at the Bank of England in LUnd n.
I OF course by this time the thing had
leaked out and in no time III" city or
Melbourne was crazy with excitement.
We sold our beauty TO the Bank OF
England for ElU,UOO sterling, my
brother and | dividing the profits
equally and pooling in handsomely foI
old Ambrose. How much did it
weigh? The heft OF that nugget was
| just 146 pounds / ounces and > penny
weights. and when it was smeltcd it
was found to be ~, carats line, con
tanning only 10 ounces ui drusS.F ol
some time it was exhibited in the
| British Museum 10y permission of the
| bank. and there is IA east of it there
now as we'll as ole at Kingston Col
! lege, Ontario.
| while in London we were presented
! to the Queen. She sent her carryall
! and IA battalion of mounted police tC
take the nugget and us to the palace
| We stopped with her for lunch. and
| must say she made herself general
| ~ agreeable. | tcetercd the Prince ol
| Wales on my knee, for ne was only &
| kid then, and he promised to come Il
Canada TO see me. which he did about
eight years al,erward. Then | wenl
to Liverpool and got married. and
went into the ship chandlery and sail
making business, and pretty soor
| every ounce of that nugget was gon,
TO kingdom come. Mind you. | got NJ
fault TO find with marriage in general
but | didn't seem to strike pay
| streak. So then | came back TO my
old home, and when l got here The
| boys took hold in earnest and elected
| mo M tho hand Of tho nol1 nv 1 A