Evening journal., 1905-09-04
An Amateur Assayer


west. and a gentleman in clothes Of an
eastern cut got out After having sup
ped he fell into conversation with a
rough specimen Of the country.
'Minen' ingeneer, be y'g7 said the
westerner, with slight tinge Of irony. I
Reckon ye're tride late in these
parts. We had minen' ingeneers and /
assayers here aforc the stuff was dis /
covered, but they didn't hit nothen'"
"Who found the goldfr asked the
stranger
WAL, there's a yarn about that"
replied the other u been in this place
ever since we was a handful o. people I
with no way to come and 20 except ON
foot or by horse or mule They were
linden gold all around MS. but nary
find right here Finally there was
stage line run through for the benefit
Of the mines beyond, and In time the
telegraph was put on. Tho telegraph
operator was a young fcller with a
wife and four children and was gitten
more kids right along I don't know
what salary he got. but it wasn't
enough TO keep his family ont o. rags
and from looken' hungry The operator
didn't Git much sympathy, for instead
O. tryen 10 do extra work 10 help
along he was foolen his time away
with glass bottles and acids and sich
things. The next thing we knowed
there was a sign stuck up on the tele-
graph Office William Harris, Assayer.'
Waal, we al laughed at the telegraph
operator setten' up IN n trade at which
there wasn't nOthen TO do.
"One evenen' ! see a gang around Bill
" Harris a-guyen him. and / went to
find ont what they was given him. II
turned ont that they had put up a job
on him by chippen' Off piece of his
own doorstep and give it TO him 10
assay. Billy had reported that it as
sayed $3.50 to the ton. They was laugh
en- at him and polen' fun at him till
the poor feller was ready to have the
ground open and swaller him. Only
one on 'em didn't jeer and he tolc him
that he had a job o. diggen' a founda-
tion for a cabin hc'd give him which
he'd better take and make one decent
meal for his poor wife and children.
Billy turned away crushed
"Waal, instead o. goen' to work Billy
went to his cabin, whore his wife put
her arms around his neck ard comfort
ed him.
"'How did You happen to make such
a blunder. BiilyT' she asked
Dunno says Billy
"'Well. mebbe you'd better go over
your work and see
so Billy he goes to his telegraph Of
fee and works till late, then goes home
and tells his wife be can't find no mis-
take; that the devil must ha' got into
his bottles and done all the mischief
The woman didn't say nothen' then
only FER Billy TO 90 to sleep and he'd
find his mistake the next mornen'.
The fust thing Billy does the next
day Is TO go up TO the cliff up there,
where he knowed all the stone used
here come from. and chips off a piece
o. the rock. He takes Il to his Office
and puts on the acids and things and
gifts the same result as afore Then he
goes home and tells his wife that he
hain't made no mistake at all, and the
second assay was bettern the fusr,
sence it give $500 10 the ton.
"Waal. without sayen nothen' to no
body Billy took the pieces o. stone to
assayers and without tellen' 'em where
they come from tole 'em to assay 'em.
They all give him the same results he
got himself. Billy went home and,
shetten' himself up with his wife, tole
her that the cliff was gold mine and
they was the only people on the earth
that knowed it.
while this was goen' on we was a.
guyen' Billy fer all we was wo'th.
Billy didn't say n0then'; he KEEP look
en- sorrowful-like and hung his head.
Then one day his wife she went away.
and when she come back she brought
her brother, a sleek looken' chap with
store clothes on him. He cavorts
around mazen' trips up 70 the cliff and
loaden his pocket with Clipped pieces.
At the same time Billy's telegraph ma
chine was a-clicken' and a-clicken' as
it hadn't never clicked before. The
next thing we knowed was that the
brother-ln-law had bought the cliff, or
a certain part Of IL, and Billy and his
wife was part owners. Then we be
gan to look at each other and scratch
our heads. There amt no meaner feel
| en-, stranger, than after callen' feller
fool to find he's got the drop on y.
we talked the matter over, and some
one Of US hit on the fact that Billy's
doorstep and the cliff was one and the
same thing. Then we seen the reason
fer the Harris people buyen' the cliff
When 1 met Billy agin, l says to him
says 1, Billy, what'll v take fer yer
doorstepg He didn't make no an
swer, but do v know. stranger, that
night the doorstep disappeared, and
the next day a surveyor staked out
Billy's claim and he and his brother
in-law stood guard over it with guns
''The next step was the organization
Of the Doorstep mine and it leaked
out that the company had given Billy
55 per cent of the stock fer the prop
erty.
when Billy got older and richer
he elected himself president. Hes
been runnen' It ever sence, and its
been payen' better and better. One
I Of his girls-the raggedest one Of th'
lot in them times-hes lately married
British duke and another's goen' Il
marry a prince"