The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1903-03-13
Tb e Lost
Wagon Train
forigInal.l

caravan and shook his head ominously.
Two days later Indian hunters saw ii.
After that it was seen by no man, or If
any man saw it he did not live to tell
of it. Searching parties were sent out
/ which followed the trail into the heart
of the mountains, but all finally lost it,
1 Mary Deane was a baby when her
4 father organized and went with this
/ expedition. AS the years passed and
| nothing was ever heard of Roger Deane
4 Mary's mother came to consider him
dead and married again. Other chill.
dren were born. Mary grew to woman
/ hood and went out from her home,
made unpleasant to her by her step
father and her half brothers and sis
1 ters. Roger Deane's estate had been
4 administered upon under the intestate
\ law, and the stepfather and his chill
dren managed to get all there was of it.
/ After they had used it--and there were
many mouths to fill Mary saw that
I they were anxious to get rid of her 1t
| was then that she went to work to earn
a living Those who knew her father
4 said, What pity that he didn't leave
q will bequeathing to Mary her full
share of his property!
/ One morning a hunter in the noun
tains becoming separated from his
companions, sat down on rock to
rest On the one hand was a narrow
trail, on the other a sudden rise. 1t
4 occurred to the man that the face of
I the country was not as nature made it.
The position of the powders, the small
size of the trees on the rise compared
with those on either side of it, the con-
/ figuration of the slopes, all told him
that there had been some change with
in perhaps a century. Climbing higher,
he turned and looked again. Then he
saw that the ground beneath him had
1 been valley. Turning, he cast his eye
to a point 1000 feet above. A noun
tain side was wanting He saw it all.
At some time there had been land
slide, breaking the continuity of the
valley.
Gradually the rains had undermined
\ the mountain side till millions of tons
of earth and rock hung poised, waiting
for some disturbance to shake them
loose and send them pouring down
into the valley. Perhaps it would be
clap of thunder, a mighty wind. Per
haps it would be some slighter cause
the tread of a wild animal, the crack
of rifle, the shout of a man. What
ever the CRUISE, once the delicate bal
ance was destroyed the great mass tot
tered and fell with a roar of thou
sand cannon.
The man descended to the trail at
the point where it began to mount the
avalanche of earth. Kneeling at a
spring to drink, he saw something
brown protruding from the wet earth.
1t was not branch. 1t was something
made with hands. He seized it and
found it cold 1t was iron. Pulling it
out, he saw gun barrel from which
the stock had been rotted. In the hole
from which he took it was a horse
shoe. He tried to take it out, but
found that ii was fixed to n horses
foot. Then his party came up, and,
digging, they found the skeletons of a
horse and man and the ironwork of
a wagon.
Mary Deane had come in from her
work tired and, throwing herself on a
lounge, was resting and thinking.
John Herrick wanted her to marry
him. She loved him, but John had lit
tie or nothing on which to support a
family, and Mary. who was level head
ed, foresaw only accumulated burdens
in becoming his wife. Martin Hughes,
an uncultured storekeeper who had a
competency, also wanted her, and she
was now celebrating whether to ac'
cept the continued evil of poverty and
work too hard for her delicate ply
sique or a husband she would rather
live without.
"John HeIrick wants to see you"
said the woman with whom she board
ed. Hes in the sittin' room"
What could John have to say to her
tudl leu illl ~ Gull At lhdl houi "A
week before she had told him that
their marriage would be folly Never
theless she went downstairs to see
him.
Mary" he said, 81 wish you had
married me before this. Now it is
impossible"
"Why more so than beforew
Because you are rich and | am
poor"
II rich? John. have you gone daft?'
81 said you are rich, and it is true"
"Of what do my riches consistT
"Of the Gold Hill, originally named
the Mary Deane mine"
John took from his pocket a yellow
folded paper and handed it to her. 1t
was her fathers will, leaving all his
property to her mother in trust for
her. Among the assets was a claim
he had bought the day before the will
was made, which he designated as the
Mary Deane mine. For years it had
since been worked as the Gold Hill
mine and had produced and was pro
ducing millions of gold.
John Herrick was the hunter who
discovered the landslide, and after dig
ging for several days he unearthed
many bodies, among them that of Rog
er Deane, and small safe containing
the valuables of the party, including
the will.
Mary through her attorney compro