The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-05-17

el
many ly people who predicted that he
would end III ditch without a cent to
bless. .himself. Throughout his career,
one i1s { sc the most romantic il the whole
history Of the wonderful wealth-pro-
duo;ng west, he consistently disap-
pointed phopheey, whether Of good or
seviii, SO Sit: is not to be wondered at
that his death should have been under
.unexpected circumstances. This man
a who III at first dug ditches, then was q
smil llionaire many times over, then
WENT back to digging bitches as e
s. means e to earn his bread, and who,
threesyears ago, hadn't cent Of all
Shissgreat forsune left, and lived liter
ally lbys the sweat Of his brow, found
himself at So years Of age postmaster
ZOE Denver, with an income that put
him, beyond dang Of want once more.
SAS short time before his death he said
that his days Of money king were ere
soyaer, We and that hs9Was quite content to
have enough to live decently upon.
ii 500 Tabor appeared in Califor-
mia Gulch, Colo, where men we're
finding nuggets that were the wonder
| soff tie s. world. He was then about 80
years Old and had been q stoneoutter
sin Is Massach its, a farmer in Kansas,
! and a,;,membe of the Legislature there,
and 6nally ly 8 sort Of superior tramp
until, he struck the diggings. Then,
having come too late, to locate a claim
for himself, he Meal to work for an an
Iothler ma ID ats a day. Before long
she had enough saved up to start a lit
stle store, and when he was ready to
move to: al new field hes owned about
Isl, 0OOsinshard earned cash. He start
ED for Orc, Colo., against the advice
sof his; friends, who warned him that
shles & would lose all his little capital in
that then little known locality This
was Is the 6rsss prophecy to 60 wrong,
Tor Tabor didn't start cit as 9 pros
pector Settling at; Orc, which was
then beginning its boom, he opened q
J, general 4 store, selling food, imple-
sments, tobacco, lothing and nosions.
] aOros grew. to be q town Of I, 900 inhabi-
] h tan Is. AS Eabor accumu ulatea money
M twas pred dlcted that he would soon
ssa ssauiccumlb / c to- tie mining fever and go
into Che busine ess on his own hook.
But he stuck to The store; stuck to it
even after Oro7 began to decline and
its best friends saw thatit was. a burst
II those hard. years the
sstorekeeper lost most of what he had
made, ma and his wife, hard-worAng,
faithful Irish g:5;; took in boarders to
help him along. FOR more than ten
years the Tabors pluciily stood BY the
81 store M and SAN, the town ,dwindle from
4, 900 to 7O people. Then the hus-
band made mp his mind that twas
time Is move, soiwhat remained Of the
stock vas packed a mile or tao up the
sguloh, where there we're rumors Of
good strikes, and business was resum-
ed at the new place.
This new place was subsequently
Leadville, by Tabor's naming. tits
said that the name was given in this
way Several old. timers were talking
.off q name for the place when it had
become certain that there was to be a
permanent settlement there, and sew
eral suggestions were made. One
hopeful spirit suggested Goldtown,
after The metal that's common around
here. It so happened that the night
before there had been q general shoot
ing ing at the saloon and bullets had flown
IN all directions, with fatal results TO
three of the men concerned. Having
this in mind, Tabor spoke up:
eff you've going to call the place
after the metal that's plenty, what's S
the matter with Leadville2' he said.
And Leadyille it became.
Soon he began to grub-stake needy
prospectors, l.,r who, with the outfit furn-
ished by him, would go back into the
hills and hunt for precious metal,
which they usually didn't find. Ia
bor' s friends said it was bad business,
and predicted his ultimate ruin, but
he kept adding to his business, and,
despite the items charged to profits
and loss ON account Of his grub-stake
business, he prospered. It was gen.
erally supposed that his aid to the
prospecto1s was not regarded by him
as an Investment, but as charity
which he could afford to dispense
where it was most needed; and it is
certain that he saved many men from
.ond HUNGER in this Way. Every