Evening star., 1903-11-07
THAT MEXICAN MINE

~ AAVt0H pAopAASNoh "-A~ ~AAe>-~SS
| frequent trips to Washington to shake off
the Bal'mor' lethargy. II didn't buy It,
took it for q, debt. southwestern man,
who drank a Great deal, lived high at my
caravansary for 1bout four months. He
| paid his bills for the first two months. But
| he was compelled to renege on paying for
his last two months of entertainment. He
said he was broke. had noticed that his
diamonds had been disappearing, piece oy
piece, for some time, and so there was no
| reason to doubt that he was telling the
truth. He hAd a fine wardrobe.
81 am going away he told me when
presented my bill for the two months for
which he hadn't settled, and can't pay
| you. I guess I'll have to leave my traps as
| security
He wasn't the sort OF man that felt
| like treating that way.
| You'll need your duds to make front,
! You'll get right again. When you do you
| can square my BILL
He seemed to- be rather grateful
WELL he said, I don't like to go away
| without leaving something in your hands
| that you'll be able to figure on. I've al
| ready sold the pawn tickets for my Kim
| berly rocks. Tell you what III do I've
| got a little package of worcestershire gold
| mine stock in a trunk. Forty shares. IT s
| a Mexican mine.- Don't know where 1t
| located. Never inquired. bought 1t from
| a San Francisco friend OF mine las. year. y:
] when I was fush to oblige him. Paid $5
| share for the stuff Par values nun
| dred I'll just leave it with you. It's a
| pretty long shot, but you can never Ten
! what's going to happen to Mexican mine;
| And it'll help me to leave II with you-l
| won't feel so much like blk
IT told him he could leave it II he wanted
| to. I added that didn't consider him a
blk only thought he drank more red
liquor than he really needed
| HE was quite intoxicated by the time
| he handed me the gold mine stock He was
so punctious about 1t that ne drew up
| paper-he was lawyer-legaily transfer-
| ring the gold mine stock to me, ana ne
| went out and had a notary put q seal on
| the transfer paper. Then he wrote let
| ter to the San Francisco office OF tine sold
mining company, notifying them Una. ne
| had transferred the forty non -assessabie
| shares to my name. Then he handed me
| the shares, shook hans and went away.
| I have never seen, him ce But three
| months after he left my hotei recelVeo q
| check from him for $21S. the amount OF
| his Indebtedness to me- together with
pleasant little note. dated New orleans.
which he wound up by saying that neeon I
return that gold mine stock 10 h1n-tna. hi.,a !
| could keep 1t as an asset against posslpie
| rainy day I deposited the check IN my
bank The check was as good as gold.
| ''Well that gold mine stock was a great
| joke in my family for long tlme: ~ was
| mighty ornamental-looking paper-so or
| nate in fact, that on dull afternoons Ia oc-
| casionally get it out of my desk ana look
| at the big gilt letters and figures ana ENJOY
a quiet little laugh. Fhe elaporat,oh OF me
| lettering and the curlycues or the ngures
struck me as being so ingeniously eXecuted
so we'll devised to captivate the ina enatlon
| of impressionabe investors-I couldn't nelp
| but laugh.
"My wife clever business woman, whose
| hobby is that I am too easy with profess
| sonal hotel dead heats, enjoved looking at
that gold mine stock and talking about IT,
| quite as much as I did. little of the
! wind was taken out of her sails. as the say
| ing runs when 7 received the check cover
| ing the indebtedness Of the man who had
left the gold mine stock with me as secu-
rity. But that didn't kill the fun which she
| exnerienced in the contamination of the
| gold mine stock. That I had received the
| check she maintained. was pure luck. moth
| ing else-the man had no doubt sent 1t to
me ina moment of drunken generosity But
| that had ever taken the-gold mine stock
| at all-that was the nub of the joke. as my
wife IT.. and. for that matter. as my
| grown daushters saw it. They. too guyed
i me about the matter for long time.
| Never mind. papa. my daughters would
say to me. with a. n'ischievous twinkle in
| their ewes when I'd emit some complaint
about the dullness of business, you have no
stock YOU own " ''''e e'AN '"'''e
| "Whenever I'd preach economy to my
| wife she'd laugh my prea ching down.
| "'Why should we pinch ourselves? she
|
| YOURS hegins to get busy, and. dear
| how shall all iust-er-lav back, and
then she'd go off into merriment in which
I couldn't helm but ioin The oftener I
| looked at those forty shares of Mexica
| gold mine stock the more absurd thew
| seemed. But at length the point of the Joke
| wore off. One dav I Dut the gold stock
| away on the ton shelf of an Office cunboa rd
| and during the past year or so I only had
| the gold mine cast into my teeth by my dis
| respectful family when I became unusually
| neevish over the size of the millinery bills
| or the extrava eance of the summer tours of
| nv wife and danehtars
| "a couple of weeks ago lid-lootng
| man from Denver registered at nv hotel
He had cordial letter of introduction to
| me from Denver friend of mine who runs
| a hotel. After presenting the letter on the
evening of. the day he arrived he invited
| me to have a s1p of chamn""-'a with him.
| When we had finished the hci.'e he pIshed
| his chair back. cleared his throat and gave
| A sort of governmental cough
| "1 understand Re said ten. that YOU
| have some shares in that Chinuita mine
| down in old Mexico?'-he bad the name of
the mine at his tongues end hut it wasn't
| the Chinuita- I leave Won to ina CINE how
| I nricked UP my ears at his mention of the
| mine.
| 'ves-fortv shares T replied
| Selling he as4.ed me-
| g" Think not said I. Rs Ter hold on
| "'Give lou par for the stuff said he.
| 'Ahsur IT, said l. I'm hanging on to
1
| else
| "'Gve YOU hundred and quarter said
| the Denver man.
| MY friend said T. solemnly don't YOU
| supnose I read the mining stock quota
| tions?'
"'Oh we'll if you dol didn't know
| thought you weren't on-husiness is hrsi-
ness. know he said SMILING sheerish-
| ". Swell thing you've rot in that stock
| though. It was 1877 when 7 left Denver
| and it won't stop short of 300 You got
| in the ground floor, didn't vou?'
=" oh. pretty easv I told him
"I did snrne tan old letter writing to
| western mining friends that night I've
| got thafr ren'ies now. A tremendous ledee
| of s3 N00- 0-tn-the-ton ore was struck at the
| Chinuita' three months ago and I never
| heard word about 1t, Chinuita's at 1a2
now-it'll he 200 before December the 1st
| I've sent my forty, shares out TO Denver to
| be nnIoaded at 200 when that figures
reached
INV wife and daughters aver that I've
ACQUIRED a ridiculous strut since that Den
yer man came along to my hotel I don't
denv it. PerhapsI have. Can you blame
me?' iiiI t.s-
Whv thenCzHr Sighted Rome