The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1909-08-27

a fighter through and through. The
younger man might be quicker to
grasp a situation than his brother had
been but Floyd could see that the bull
dog tenacity that would make him
hang on after he once had taken hold
was lacking. There was, however, a
certain frankness and stamp of hon
esty on the countenance of young
jackson that made him likeable.
well, I've been out of the railroad
game for a few months now" said
Jackson with forced smile. 81 quit
a good job because 1 wanted to get
rich all at once"
"And 1 can tell by the way you
speak that the scheme didn't pan out.
Tell us about it. Don't mind Cleland.
He's in with everything I know and
do" returned Floyd as he noticed the
young man glancing toward his part
ner.
"Well, that wasn't what I came to
see you about" said young Jackson,
hesitatingly 81 wanted to see you be-
cause you are the only old friend of
my brother l have seen since 1 came
west. l was in the hotel on business
this morning and CHANGED to see your
ask you about debt George Stewart,
who was one time a partner of my
brother, owed him when he died. 1t
was a thousand dollars and I know
he owes it because l have a letter he
wrote Howard while he was ill in
the hospital saying that he was sorry
not to be able to square the debt
then but was broke himself. He
promised to pay up just as soon as he
got on his feet I've since learned
that he has made a lot of money and
have written him twice and never
got an answer. The last letter
wrote was returned by the hotel where
sent it, marked: Present address
unknown"
well, my boy, it's no wonder you
haven't had an answer. Stewart has
been in South America for nearly a
year. l heard from him a few weeks
ago. He's almost in the millionaire
class through a railroad deal that
some rich friend put him into down
there. He'll make good, and just to
show you that 1 have faith in him, I'm
willing to advance you any part Of
the thousand dollars he owes your
brothers estate and I'll give you his
present address so you can write to
him. He said he wouldn't be back in
this country for six months"
well, that's the first good news I've
had in months. l wasn't going to tell
you about my other hard luck, but
will, now that you have given me q
piece of good news. To tell you the
truth, I'm up against it hard. It's
a tough thing to say but haven't had
anything but hard luck since 1 got
married, year ago this spring."
"And you are married, are your"
I'm glad to hear that It's a good thing
for you, but I'm sorry if you're hay
ing run of tough luck. But I want
y11 to tell me about what happened
in the deal you were going to make
your fortune in"
well, that won't take long to tell"
replied the young man. 81 was the
easy mark for cid Maj. Skinner, one
of the slickest mining promoters that
ever got money for pieces of paper.
Everybody around this town had the
gold fever here year or so ago and
when l got married my wife and I
took a trip up to the wild country
just for a change. I had months
vacation coming to me and was crazy
to see the town of Goldfield that I'd
heard so much about. We went up
there and that was where we first met
Maj. Skinner. The major was a man
OF affairs and pretended to take a
great interest in us as young mar
ried couple.
81 don't know how 1t ever happened,
but the major talked me into his net
just as easy as catching trout in the
Truckee. We had $4,000, most of
which was my wife's money. The
major had the Shawlneck mining
claim which he had capitalized at a
million dollars, with a million shares
with par value of 81 each. He pro-
fessed to be little short of ready
to either promote the stock or
go ahead with the development on the
property. My $4,000 looked good to
him and he hypnotized me so that his
proposition looked like a quick way
of getting hold of a fortune to me.
The property really did seem to have
some value. 1t lay between two big
producers and looked as If it was out
to produce ore for the digging. I paid
over my money and took $4,000 shares
of stock in the Shawlneck and was
made secretary of the company. The
major pocketed my money and we un-
dertook to sell another block of 25.-
900 shares at so cents a share to in
vestors. A few scattering lots Of this
stock was sold and with a part of this
money the major sunk shaft 100 feet
deep without striking a sign of paying
ore. The strike came and then the
financial panic. The Shawlneck was
given up as a bad proposition and
was broke. Maj. Skinner still had my
$4,000, and when the panic came he
picked up another piece of property
in the new camp of Rawhide that is
making him one of the richest men in
the state of Nevada. I had given up
my job to make fortune in Goldfield
and when ! was cleaned out and came
back here and tried to get back in
the railroad Office was informed that
they didn't care to have a man who
had been mixed up in a wildcat min
ing proposition. You see some of the
people had bought stock in the Shawl.
neck on my recommendation and I
couldn't blame them for being sore
when it petered out. And that's about
all, guess"
"And you say Maj. Skinner has
struck it rich?" inquired Floyd when
young Jackson had finished his story.