The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-13

their hands and ye- the frozen hunter:
decided TO struggle on no further.
One after another in that bitter Whit
er the members of the exploring party
Of which John R. Hite was one, lay down
in the snow to die.
Several of them persisted so-not all
Among the living was this same John r.
| Hite, today a multi millionaire.
| How long in his trance so near to death
he lay he never knew. 1.-THE earth was
| gone from him and time had nothing
more of night nor day"
! When timidlS and painfully at last he
returned to life. with aching pulses and
| tingling veins. he beheld through swim
ming eyes a maiden of dusky loveliness.
He had follen into terrible slumber in
the cold hard snow. He awoke TO find
himself in a wigwan draDed with robes
Of fur. strewn with a wealth of straw.
1t seemed to him then. in that long ago,
that this dear nurse was a queen and
this poor wigwan a palace. Such is the
power of contrasts. An hous before he
meath him the strawnowednd rao ?aoayh
had been stretched upon a bed of ice,
now beneath him the straw seemed like
feathers. He looked into eyes black as
night. Their glance was a caress. He
listened to a voice that had in it the thrill
of music recalling him thus to life.
In that moment he vowed to love the
woman who had been his rescuer. She
was Maresa. one of the dreamers. It was
meet and proper that TO the elder should
come first the Mecca of all joy. With
eyes that had in them the wonder Of ado
ration, the joy of unselfshness, the young
er, Lucy, watched. She only knew that
into the life Of her beloved sister had
come the perfect white man, he who had
never but one squaw at a time
At the end OF but a short year Maresa
died, leaving her husband, as many pie
face has left her dear one. to the care of
her sister. Thus, in a wigwam, wooed
back to life and the eternal search for
gold, John r. Hite began the romance
ended the other day in justice for the
Indian woman whom he had sought to re-
Dudiate
Lucy came to take her sisters place by
the banks Of the river MERGED
There she worked for the white man
whom she adored because he had only
one squaw at a time. She learned his
ways and his habits. She learned to be
satisfied to stay always in one place and
not to wander through the country in
search Of red berries for her hair and
wild roses for her belt. She studied all
the resources of her little black store so
that not even the pale faces in Mariposa
County could raise bread any finer than
hers
And she had besides that Earning
unknown to these women who seemed to
look down upon her because she had
come from a land of wigwams. She
knew the trails better than most men.
woman. She it was who discovered the
mine which has finally enabled John R.
Hite to pay her alimony and expenses.
'Hite's Cove" in Mariposa County, be-
came famous because of the great mine
that produced over 100000 in gold
1t was in 1873, according to the testi-
mony recently given in the San Francis
co Court by John R. Hite. that Lucy first
came to live with him.
Twenty-six years ago, with her mind
full of dreams, planted there by a loving
sister, she came to share fate with John
Hite. Under the giant trees in Mariposa
grove he had built his cabin and there
he installed his wife.
Wife? Yes, no one ever doubted it. |
There she came, a pretty, dusky creature |
with faith and love in her dark, doting |
eyes. There she lived till the weight of |
years and toll bowed her. figure and sill |
vered her hair
When she began life with John Hite, |
he had nothing but what he earned by |
the sweat of his brow. He had DO SER
vice but what she rendered him by the |
labor of her hands. She mended for him,
cooked for him. brewed for him, cleaned
for him, nursed him in days of Illness,
rejoiced with him in days of prosperity.
encouraged him when others discouraged,
hoped for him; yes, after her fashion,
sven prayed for him.
For all this she vowed proudly that he
made her payment. Was she not his on
Y squaw?
And after some years, with delightful
the gold kept pouring up
md up out of the mine they had discov-
red In those days no one sought to dis
,ute the fact that Lucy had been in
trumental in marking out the claim. Her
man, John, referred to it proudly. Lucy
vas still young and good looking in those
lays. She still carried herself erect and
attention when she walked
through the twon in her multi-colored
kirts and jacket.
During this time Hite liked to see her
ressed up. It was his pleasure to take
lis friends up to the Cove among the big
rees where his STRAIGHTFORWARD, dusky-
JARED wife would stand in the light Of
l
he worked during these days to keep
is little home looking as neat and clean
5 the white woman in town kept their
gigwams for their chiefs She was
raised far and near for it. But no praise
-as so dear to her as that Of her own
hief
How her heart thrilled with pride when
he heard him one day cry Justify: Il
-ouId not trade my wife Lucy for any
-hite woman in the United States"
The white woman She was always
fraid of her That Is. in her younger
ears. when she first came to share the
-ruggle with her chief. She has told her
aars in these latter days, when she hW
cen forced. after twenty-six years Of
ousewifeIy service. duty and love. % / I
-ruggla in open court 70 keep her honor !
Day after day. when her chief left her, ,
he would try TO evovle the from her liz
he would try 10 evolve from her little
1nscious. for. alas, poor soul she had T
Day after day when her chief left her. 2
he would Try 70 evolve from her inner b
7nsciousuezs. for. alas. poor soul. she :
al no female friends. little dishes new :.
les. 70 tempt his fancy. BY awoman's +,
sti7ct she had learned that the road 20 :
Pr chiefs heart was the same road that >.
ads to any mans She sought. there :