The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-12-08
RED MAN,s INeENUITY.
Choctaw Half-breed Rubs Rich Dirt
and Aceumulates Fortune.
IDenVRr Tines.


white man as a high grader" said
Roland Cheevers, manager Of the
Laughlin Gold Mining company in
southern Mexico at the Adams yes
terday, but no white man that
have come across in my mining ex-
perience can touch an Indian down
near me who would have been a mill
hOnaire but for the treachery of his
sQuaw.
Small Ankle belonged to the Choc-
taw nation but, having some white
blood in him, he had many Of the in
stincts Of the white man, one of which,
I presume, might be classed as high
grading when there is chance in
sight. He was taken to Mexico by a
druggist, who had a prospect near me.
about ten years ago, but this hole
turned out to be one Of the richest
mines in Mexico and is now controlled
by the stand Limited company Of Lon
don.
ct is not known when Small Angle
became a high grader but when the
slab was dug up in his cabin and a
subterranean vault discovered, it was
found that he had rich stuff that viii
probably run in the neighborhOod Of
$4,000. He was not in the habit Of
taking bulky stuff Evidently he would
just rub his hand over the face Of
a rich streak and in nearly every case
he came pretty near getting the pure
dust.
How did he get oct? Wen. Small
Ankle never allowed the barber to
touch his long raven locks. In his
native heath ne never thought they
would be anything more than personal
adOrnment, the charm of his race, but
he found when he began to mine for
his old friend. the druggist, and when
he learned some OF the tricks Of his
high grading white friends, that his
hair could be used to stow away all
the wealth he could steal in the mine.
Small Ankle thereupOn determined to
use his long tresses as a sort of q
bag to haul away his plumber.
while working in the mine and
when there was no one looking, Small
Ankle had a way of getting busy
around the rich stuff and then putting
his hand in his hair. 1t is such a
common thing for a man to put his
hand UP to his hair, especially when
it is long that no one paid any at
teniOn TO the Indian and he might
nave been carting the stuff of yet but
for the treachery of his squaw and bad
Mexican whisky.
About three months ago Small An
kle fell by the way. like so many
others of his and our race. He became
gloriously loaded on the lightning stuff
they sell in all mountain camps in
Mexico and was much to the bad. When
he went home to his cabin be wanted
to fight, not with knife, tomahawk or
gun, but with the weapons which are
most commonly used BY a white man
when carrying a large package. He
beat the poor squaw terribly. She, too,
had seen much of the white man and
the white woman, and learned a few
things. Small Ankle was never very
considerate about her and from vari-
Gus remarks she had heard him drop
day he would desert her and take away
the wealth which ne hid almost daily
Under the big slab in the center of the
cabin She had become convinced Of
this and, as the hard blows fell upon
her, she quickly made up her mind
that she would be revenged. As soon
as she could fee from the cabin she
hurried to the Office of the company,
where she told the whole story of the
populations Of her husband to the clerk
in the office; how he came home on va
rious occasions with his hair sagged by
lfthe weight of the gold which it car
ried, and how It had been frequently
her work to take the rich metal from
the strands of his dark, straight hair.
He had beaten her numerically. she
said, and knowing that he did not
care for her she wanted to tell the
company that ne was a thief.
"She did not go back to the cabin
that night. She might not have sur
vived the night if she had. No one
went up there. The next day the Mex
lean authorities were Informed by wire
that Small Angle was made a prisoner
IN his cabin until the arrival of the
( officers. The matter has rot yet come
up for trial. There IS a delicate point