Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1901-01-25

mill. and the first lumber turned out
was wanted for the erection of a
church. Because the old man was ask
ed to make discount in price in favor
Of the Lord, as it were, he shut down
the mill, boarded up doors and win
dows, and the saws never turned again.
He bought two stores and five or six
bought every improvement for the ben
eft of the town. On the other hand,
be lent men money at a low rate of in
terest to make improvements, encour-
aged people to settle there and built
the first schoolhouse entirely at his
own expense.
While owning FIVE or six comforta-
Parker lived alone In a miserable shan
ty and cooked and washed and mend
ed for himself No one was ever per-
mitted to enter his house, and he never
entered the home Of any one else.
There were a few men with whom he
would converse, but he did not give
them bis confidence. There was no
known one morning that old Parker
had been found dead In his shanty.
The feeling was rather one of relief
and cougratulation- 1t was soon ascer-
tanned that his affairs were In a mud
die. He had left no will, and the pa
pers in the hands of his lawyers did
not represent the half of his posses
81 ho rdI IN rfr1f0 b
fore a brother and sister turned up,
each claiming the estate, and through
them it was learned that the old man
must have been possessed of at least
5000 In gold when he died. OF this
sum only about 5000 could be found.
The town was turned upside down
over the affair, and 1t had got into
court when we moved into the village.
That was in midwinter. AS boy,
could not understand or interest my
EeIt lp the legal complications of the
case, but the fact that old Parker had
hidden big lot of gold somewhere
appealed to me very strongly. The
Eawmill and all bis houses were search
ed but no trace could be found.
~ md6 6cASIdly DcLSNSu ludl ue
buried 1t, but until the snow melted no
Effort could be made to find the cache.
On the 18th day Of March. with six
Inches of snow still on the ground,
went with my father into the woods
after load Of wood. We had yoke
Of oxen and sled, and when the first
load was heaped up my father drove
of until nd lnf hah ~ oTrk
down q dead ash and clear q road
around bit of swamp
After he was out Of sight sat down
on log to watch a rabbit hopping
about may have spent five min
utes watching the animal when a
slight noise at my right startled me,
and looked around to find old John
Parker sitting within ten feet of me.
He had been described so often that
there could be no mistake. 1t was the
little old man with the stoop Shout
ders. the long hair, the seedy gar
Enents, the catskin cap be wore every
day ip the year. He had dry hacking
cough; he had bushy gray eyebrows;
be had missing teeth. He sat there
and rubbed his skinny hands together
and looked at the ground at his feet,
and I took in every detail as clearly
as you see this print before you.
Was frightened? Strangely enough,
vas not. Perhaps this was because
! had never seen the old man when
living. He looked so real before me
that ! never thought Of spooks or
ghosts 1 simply believed that his
dying had been a ,mistake-tha he had
gone away instead Of dying. I was no
more in fear of him than Of the trees
about me. I wondered bit how he
could haze apnroacheds me so closely