The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-07
HAS BEEN LUCKY
FRIENDS or NEBRAsKA sENA-
 TOR WONDER
If Indictment Has Ended His Good
 Fortune-His Career Re- mRrkahl- One,

Friends of Senator Dietrich are won- dertng if the remarkable good fortune which has followed him through life will desert him in hts present trouble
 with the Federal Grand Jury, says a
 Hastings. Neb., dispatch to The New York Herald.
 Forced to depend upon his own re-
 Sources since he was eight years old,
 roughing it with frontiersmen for the
 nucleus of his fortune. wrestling his first property from competitors who sought
 to destroy him with bombs; looking calm " into the gun barrels of his enemies,
 luck at all times backed him and he
 won every time. The same luck that started him toward wealth and made him banker attended him when he forced his way Into political prominence at pre- eisely the time when a compromise can didate was needed to break a deadlock In senatorial election.
 When Senator Dietrich was eight years oid, just after he came from Aurora, Ill,
 ne went to work for a living. He did chores, weeded fields and performed al most mans work. snatchlng a few weeks schooling in midwinter. His hardy physique suggested blacksmithing, as men of that trade were in demand. He worked over the anvil till he had accumulated SEQ, and fin 1875 paid his way to Cheyenne The discovery of gold In the Black Hills had opened a rich field for fortune hunters. He had too little money to pay his way by stage. so he hired the transportation Of his pro- visions. loaded blankets and clothing on his back. and trudged beside the provis- ion wagon to peadwood. It was winter. and many dangers awaited him. but he walked, unprotected. four hundred miles.
 Before and after his trip few whites had come out of Red Canon alive, but Dietrich went through untouched.
 He had no money, and it took money to prospect. So he opened the first store In DeadwoOd. the Pioneer. and stocked 1t with his provisions His goods brought ht&h prices. Dietrich disregarded the eau
 tons Of his friends and peddled food through the DeadWood country on foot.
 That winter he was one of a party that helped to lay out the town of Spear l fish in an unsettled country claimed by the Indians.
 Dietrich soon had sufficient capital to
 open a mine, and with two partners To- cated the Aurora.
 There was no law at that time in the hills, and no system of establishing prop erty rights. All men were trespassers. | and title meant possession. Dietrich and
 his partners had seen enough. of the | hills life to know the price they must pay, so they fortified themselves on their
 claim and sent out word that any un- [ welcome visitors would not be given the
 privilege of leaving. The rest knew what
 this meant and did not attempt open att | tack.
 | One of the three guarded the Aurora sod houses all the time. One night the | guards attention was attracted by the | falling of pebble from above. Look | ing up he discovered a skulking figure. | A challenege brought no answer, but precipitate flight giant powder bomb had been dropped by the visitor. It was t learned afterWard that it was the mans intention to light the bomb. drop it oti tho sod house. and next morning take possession of what was left. | Dietrich was offered <10so0O for -fhe
 mine. it being understood that refusal
 meant resumption of hostilities. Diet
 rich refused the ofegs