Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1909-02-05
REAL HEART STORY
ABOUT CHILDREN
OF NEVADA miner

Number Before You Came to Ne
vada,' is now branching out on the
San Francisco Bulletin and has the
: following to say regarding the death
of julie Shettle, who passed away
some time ago at Sodaville. Bessie
is all right in her way, but she fails
to understand certain things around
mining camp. There is no danger
of the little tots mentioned in the
story, starving to death while Mayor
Bob Stewart of Sodayille roams the
plains in that vicinity. And it would
be safe bet to wager that the tots
are under the protection of Bob
right now and all their wants are
cared for.
Following is the article as it APP
peared in the Bulletin:
Tales of fortunes made in a night
and glorious pots of gold at the end
of the rainbow come frequently from
the mining camps of Nevada and
other countries where men seek the
yellow metal.
'The whispering of the winds as
they sweep over the bleak desert
could tell some sadder tales, could
you read their language, and the
coyotes that come down from the
hills in the early morning might re-
veal many desert tragedy.
Here is a story of a man who
spent lifetime in search of the end
of the rainbow. 1t has to do with
years of hardship and suffering, and
also it has to do with three children
left motherless and fatherless, with
out food or money, in desert min
ing camp.
"a mining engineer called it to
my attention. He knew the man and
he knows the children.
The once upon time is the
present and julie Shettle the hero. A
few days ago they dug a hole for
him ont in the desert sand and two
little girls and boy are mourning
him.
THE boy wrote down to San
Francisco man who held/a bill of
sale on his fathers assay outfit, ask
ing him to release it that they might
sell it for money to live.
That is the way the mining engi-
neer came to know of the fate of an.
old pal. This is the story as he tells
it:
Il knew julie Shettle for many
years in Nevada. He was not
clever man, though good assayer.
He was old-fashioned and woman
ish in his ways, but he was an hon
est man, and that is the best you
can say of any man. | have often
laughed at him and called him an
old fool time and again, but all the
same, right down in my heart / adj
mired him more than I can say.
About seven years ago julie lost
all his money in mining deal and
soon after his wife died, leaving him
with three little children to care for
Two of them were girls, one about
Years of age and the other s. The
third was boy of Z. julie had no
relations and no money to send them
to home, but he couldn't have
parted with them if he had, nor they
from him.
julie wandered from one mining
camp to another with these little
tanned waits of the desert with him.
He nursed them, washed and groom
ed them night and morning, and
sang them to sleep as their mother
did. He made and mended their
clothes and taught them to write. He
taught them manners and taught
them honesty Cad! as the picture
of him and the kiddies is recalled to
my mind as l saw them sitting
around the fire in his lone cabin out
in the hills, with him reading stories,
out of the Bible to them, and their
little faces upturned in wonder as
this picture comes back to me | feel
all broken up; not that l have much
religious sentiment, but-well, I
don't know what. l can't analyze
my feelings, for / am simply poor
miner with limited powers of ex-
preston.
Sometimes the children's father
would have to leave them for three
or four days to get supplies from the
nearest mining camp. On one occa-
sion | was prospecting in their
neighborhood, and of an evening 4
used to go over to their shack to tell
them stories and keep them company
till their bedtime came, and then I
would leave them with the remark
that l would sit outside and smoke
i for two mr. throo h0,,re i,,.4 A. ,s