Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-16

/ mysterious CITY VI illlltSs bdiilb-
ling dens, saloons and gum
fighters. has boasted i'm its time of hav-
ing been the meeting place of many in
teresting and peculiar men, but prob
ably it can claim the reputation better
through it's founder, Ira II. Brown,
miner actor banjoist. singer, world
traveller and spcculator. than through
any other agency
Mr.. Brown is at present in Los An
gCles, the guest of Alexander b. DOWne,
SIS West Thrty-thrd street, and the
story of his life reads more like fiction
than truth.
This whitc-haired man was in Custer
City, S. D., I'm 1876 waiting for some
thing to turn up. one day miner.
Thomas Mallory, approached him and
asked him for a private interview.
That night the two talked together in a
far-off corner of a gambling saloon and
q contract was made.
The next night Mr.. Brown with three
companions. Charley Brown, Ike Lee
and Williams, set out at midnight.
They travelled until the next day, car
rying their baggage on the backs of
mules. They picked their way care
fully. The Indians were near and We're
not to be trusted.
How DeadWood Won Its Name
When they arrived at a gulch which
emptied into the Whitewood river they
unpacked their animals and camped.
Great quantities of dead timber was
laying about and from that they named
the place "Deadwood." The four sat
down on a log and wrote numbers up
on slips of paper These represented
the town lots. They placed them in
Mr.. Browns hat and each drew out a
certain number of slips.
At the time the lots were not worth a
great deal. for when one of the party
drew lot No % he declared it was too
far out of town and he would not have
it. Mr. Brown offered him IS and a
paddock for the lot and the man closed
the deal. Mr.. Brown built a cabin on
one of his lots and that started the
town. Shacks sprung up in a night
and the lots went like magic. Mr..
Brown sold his last piece of ground to
Mann & Manning for gambling saloon
and left with clean surplus of $650,000
in his pocket.
He has many hair-raising experiences
to tell of his life in these mining
camps.
He earned $40 to $50 per night PLAYING
his banjo in the gambling saloons and,
like the rest of the men, he rented his
gambling table by the month and then
used it for a bed at night,
One evening large stakes had been
won and lost and the loser vowed VEN
geance on the winner. The men slowly
dropped away from the tables and ev-
cry one in the place had fallen asleep.
An hour after a loud noise of shoot
ing woke Mr.. Brown. He slid quickly
from his table and struck a light On
the next table to him lay one of the
players, his blood forming a pool under
him and his head almost shot off. The
loser had taken his vengeance He was
never caught.
Mr.. Brown was born in Lock Haven,
Pa, in 1S47, and had one brother. His
parents were filled with the spirit of
unrest which drew men to the frontier
in those times and when Ira was still a
child they left for St Joseph Mo. From
there with long train of covered wag-
ons they started for California. Oxen
drew the wagons and it took six months
to get to their destination.
Fight Indians
Along the way the Indians were on
the alert and there We're many skirm-
ishes between the redskins and the
travellers. Twice Mr.. Brown was near
ly captured when he wandered too far
come up slyly and make sudden
swoop. Each time, however, some one
rescued him in the nick of time.
At night these brave travellers formed
a stockade with their wagons and with
sentries every twenty feet slept sound
ly around the campfire in the center.
During the trip there were several buff
falo killed a they passed by in great
herds.
They pitched their camp at Weaver
Creek, Cal, and Mr.. Brown, who was
or ha nj
hired out with the MeXicans to help
herd horses. The lad was cuffed and
kicked around by these rough and tum-
BILE men of the desert, but he earned his
living and he learned the Spanish lam
guage.
California was at that time in the
hands Of the forty-niners and the only
way to reach the little mining camps
was by wagon.
In 1854 the family moved again and
the town that sprang up around them
was named Elzabethtown, in honor of
his mother, Elizabeth Brown, who was
the first white woman to go through
that wilderness.
The surrounding country was thickly
populated with Digger Indians, who
had the greatest curiosity about Mr.,
Browns mother, as they had never be-
fore seen a white woman.
THESE INDIANS llNed IN nuts, Sixty
feet I'm diameter made on the stockade
ordcr and i'm those days the Indians
fandancOes or war dances were Of con-
stant occurrence. Mr.. Brown can speak
the Digger language flucntly
Settle in California
The gold fever kept the Browns NOV
ing and it was not many months before
they We're established at Iowa Hill,
Placer county Cal, where Mrs. Brown
became a part owner In the famous
Jinason's mines, deep diggings worked
by hydraulic processes.
Nj Brown learned his banjo playing
from a Charley Rhodes, whom he met
there i'm a saloon.
Children in those days had singular
way Of getting money to go to any
wandering circus or show that came to
town, Instead of helping to water the
horses or feed the elephants they would
take a gold pan and pan out" a couple
OF pans and have the dust cashed.
Nearly everything in those days was
paid for with the raw material, gold