The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-10
TURNED TO SOME PURPOSE.
Patient Man Laid the Foundation to
Fortune by Novel Means.

From the Kansas City Journal.
THE most original joke ever heard
Of" said an old timer yesterday. was
that of a saloonkeeper at Kit Carson
i'm the very early days. Carson was
typical frontier settlement. 1t had
drawn within it's boundaries a mixed
population of hunters, gamblers, sol
diers, MeXicans, frail women, and loaf
ers. with occasionally an industrious
man who was willing to work for his
living. In the summer of 1871 the town
grew frightfully dull and the boys had
plenty of time In which to practice
the favorite Western amusement of
practical joking. One day old Sam
Tate, who kept the Alhambra saloon
and dance hall. was accosted by a man
ing employment.
want work, d'ye?' said Sam.
Well, you don't look like man that
wanted it very bad
" But 1 do persisted the man, and
l am willing to do anything
Kin you turn grindstone?' quer-
led Sam, as the bright idea struck
him.
az certainly kim responded the
stranger, whereupon Sam closed con-
tract with him to stand in front of the
Alhambra for thirty days turning a
grindstone, his pay to be at the rate
of $3.50 a day.
THE next morning all of Carson
drifted around to witness the curious
spectacle of a man turning a grind
stone. Sam sent out word that any
body who had axes. knives, or tools of
any sort to sharpen could have it done
free at the Alhambra. The news quick
~ spread and soon the salon and the
sidewalk in front of 1t were crowded
with a miscellaneous crowd of people
with miscellaneous collection of dull
implements. The humor of the situa-
tion went home to everybody and a
period of conviviality was inaugurated
such as the town had never known
before. Day after day the patient man
at the grindstone toiled at his task
and day after day the bar of the AL
hambra did a whopping business The
first day more than enough was maze
to pay for the whole thirty days of
grindstone turning. The other saloon
keepers commenced to grumble. but
still the circus at the Alhambra con-
tinued 80 go on.
When the news had spread up and
down the road visitors from abroad
commenced to pour in-~New life was
infused into the waning spirits of the
population. There was a great squirt
in horseracing, gambling, and other
sports of the border. A new store or
two came along, and a lot of new
buildings went up. The ridiculous cir
cumstance of a man turning a grind
stone had given the town a boom. Old
Sam Tate simply coined money and
his dance hall was crowded all the
time. The patient and taciturn man
who ground away with that grindstone
became something of a popular hero.
One night lot of jewellers emptied the
water out of the little box which kept
the stone moist and filled 1t with silver
dollars-100 of them. At other times
he was given presents, and when his
thirty days had expired he found him
self richer by several hundred dollars.
His logged persistency at that grind
stone laid the foundation for quite a
fortune made later in the cattle bust
ness. But the grindstone man and Sam
Tate were the only ones who really
prof1ted for Kit Carson was a doomed
community, the word having gone out
that her railroad branch to Las Ami
mas must be abandoned and taken
up"