The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-10-23
"A Miners
DIFFERENCE
tOriglnal.l

l-A
There were three women in the
coach, and when night came on one of
the passengers, a rough miner, insisted
on every man getting outside that each
woman might have a seat to herself on
which TO sleep. When we were seated
on the coach top, 1 offered the polite
miner a cigar and remarked:
"You treat women with great respect
out here"
"That's cause there's so few on 'e1n.
They'd oughter pass a law ag'in their
comm"
II suppose it was your admiration
for the sex that leads you to treat them
30 unselishly."
mot a bit. It's my advice, stranger,
for any man to let 'em alone. I never
had but one experience with any on
'em, and that was enough for me. 1t
was when we was workin' in Zigzag
gulch. There was h lot Of us there
washin' out considerable ore and all do
In well. One day a grizzly headed ole
Teller come along totin' a gal. She was
the fust specimen we'd any on us laid
eyes on for months. Stranger, d'y' re-
member when " was a boy and went
Into a store to buy a pocketknifc?
Among hundreds on 'em the knife "
bought didn't look especial fine. but
when y got it home away from the
rest on EN-, great Scott, how it did
shine! Well. that's the way it was
with the gal. There wasn't no more on
I'm to compare her with, and we was
only used to each others hairy faces.
"The ole man said he'd come out to
dig for gold, and his daughter was go
in to do his cookin' for him. 1t wasn't
long before | seer that the gal was Civ.
in me a preference to all the other
men in camp. and l felt just as if |
was bein' filled with laughin' gas. !
was as proud and happy as if I'd struck
q vein Of pure gold. Pauline-that was
her name, Pauline Maryweather-shr
was as dead stuck on me as l was on,
her. Only one thing troubled me. She
wouldn't take no notice on me except
when we was alone and no one to see
us. She said her father never would
consent to her marryin' no miner and
was hopin' to make a strike and marry
her to some big gun in the east. How
ever. at last she consented to let me
try what | could do with him, and |
did. -
"'Mr. Maryweather,' | said, 4 am in
love with yer daughter and want her
for my wife. | got $1,000 worth Of dust
In my shanty, and when 1 git double
the amount III so east, set up a store
somewhere and live respectable
"'You jist let my daughter alone he
said. or I'll put more lead into yer
vitals than v got gold in yer cabin
"When l tole Pauline about it, sh.'
| looked sad. but didn't say nothin', ana
I begun tryin' to persuade her to run
away with me. She vas dead set ag'in
1t at fust. but at last she come round
| and laid out the hull business herself.
! I was to go down to the fork of the
creek and wait there for her. One
thing she insisted on. She said if she
| once made the move her father d new
er forgive her. She trusted me-, but
| there might be some slip, so she would
| not stir unless I'd let her carry my
dust. This looked reasonable, and the
night before we was to dig out ] met
her in a lonely place up the creek and
turned the dust over. She seemed
| mighty disconsarted and chung to me
as if somepin awful was goin' to hap
lo,& rJ,1 l-;S~@l --1 -ooIL,,
maxim me promise one more that !
| wouldn't fail her. and then we sepa-
rated.
"Naal, we was to meet at 4 o'clock
the next afternoon. I was at the fork
by 3, and bout a quarter to 4 my
heart begun to beat like a drumstick.
beatin' faster and faster till my watch
stood i p. ~. Then it beat at the
same gait till a quarter past 4. and,
SEEM Pauline didn't show up, it begun
to slow down. l waited till 5, and then,
concludin' that the ole man had got
on to the deal. l went back to the gulch.
"Things was a-workin' as usual eN-
cept l missed seven of the most sue.
cessful miners there was among US. !
set down on; a stump to rest, and while
I was a-settin' there Dick Tut, one
Of the missin'' men. walked in lookin'
bout himself kind of suspicious. Then
from another direction come Phil
Thriggs. He 'peared mad at somepin
and makes straight for his cabin.
While be was there along comes Tom
Barnard. Triggs comes out OF his cab
In and yells. What's become of that ole
galute, Maryweather?
"He was tole by the miners that
Maryweather and his daughter had
left the place a leetle before 4 o'clock
with a big sack that 1t TUX the two on
'em to carry.
""Waal, the game was out. The gal
had made love to the seven of Zigzag
gulch's wealthiest citizens and got ev-
cry one on EN- to turn over his dust
eyreDt TrippS who susDected somenin