Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-06-23
DAILY SHORT STORY
AN AMATEUR AssAYER.

pSu lie IGlf INTO conversation WIFI
rough specimen OF the country.
''Minen' ingeneer. be ~ said the
westerner, with a slight tinge OF irony
Reckon we're n tribe late In these
parts. We bad minen' ingeneers and
sssayers here afore the stun was dis
covered, but they didn't hit nothen'."
who found the goId:' ssked the
stranger.
WAL, there's yarn about that,
replied the other. Il been IN this place
ever since we was a handful o. people
with no way to come and go except on
foot or by horse or mule. They were
linden gold all around us, 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. The telegraph
operators was a young Teller with a
wife and four children and was gitten'
more kids right along | don't know
what salary he got, but il wasn't
enough 10 keep his family out O rags
and from looken' hungry. The operator
didn't git much sympathy. for instead
o tryen' to do extra work TO 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.'
WAL, we all laughed at the telegraph
operator soften up in n trade at which
there wasn't nOthen' 10 do.
Zone evenen' see IL gang around Bill
~ Harris guyen' him, and went to
find out what they was given him. 1t
turned ont that they had put up "A job
on him by chippen' off Il piece Of his
own doorstep and give it to him to
assay. Billy had reported that ii as
sayed $3.50 To the ton. They was laugh
en- at him and pokPn' fun at him till
the poor Teller was ready To have the
ground open and swallcr him. Only
one on 'em didn't jrcr. and ne tOle him
that he had job % diggen' founda-
ton for cabin he'd give him which
he'd better take and make one decent
meal for his poor wife and children
Billy turned away crushed.
WAL, instead - gOen' to work Billy
went to his cabin, where his wife put
her arms around his neck and comfort
ed him.
"'How did you happen to make such
q bIunder. BillyT'' she asked.
Dunno says Billy.
"'WeIl, mebbe you'd better go over
your work and see
so Billy he goes to his telegraph Of
flee and works till late. then goes home
and tells his wife he 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 go TO sleep ana he'd
find his mistake the next mOrnen'.
1.-THE fuSt thing Billy does the next
day is tn 90 up to the elf up there.
where he knOwed all the stone used
here come from. and chips off piece
o. the rock. He takes il to his Office
and puts on the acids and things and
gifts the same result as afoTe. Then he
goes home and tells his wife that be
hain't made no mistake at all. and the
second assay was better'n the fust,
Sence il give $500 to the ton.
WAL, without sayen' nOthen' TO no
body Billy took the pieces o stone to
assayers and without telIen' 'em where
they come from toIe 'em TO assay 'em.
They all give him the same results he
ulIl6ttI- DIZZY went nOIlt dINi-
shetten' himself up with his wife, tOle
her that the elf was gold mine and
they was the only people on the earth
that knowed 1t.
while this WAS goen' on we was a
guyen' Billy fer all we was wO'th.
Billy didn't say nothPn'; 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. Il sleek looken' chap with
store clothes on him. He cavorts
around maken trips up TO 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
II hadn't never clicked before. The
next thing we knOwed was that the
brother in law had bought the cliff. or
n certain part of it, 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' a feIier |
4 fool 10 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 HarEis people buyen' the cliff |
When | met Billy ag'in, l says to him, |
says |, Billy. what'll y take fer yer
dOorstep| He didn't make no an
5 wer, but do v know, stranger. that
night the doorstep disappeared. and
the next day surveyor staked out
Billy's claim and he and his brother
in-law stood guard over il with guns.
THE next step was the organiza ton
II the Doorstep mine. and it leaked
put that the company had given Billy
70 per cent OF the stock fer the prop
erty.
When Billy got older and richer,
he elected himself president He's
oesp runner it ever sence, and IT'S
been payen' better and better One
II his girls the raggedest one Of the
OF in them times hes lately married
| British duke and another's gocn' to