The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-15
One of the Products of the
 West
NEXT TO GOLD AND SILVER
Where Bret Harte and Mark Twain Found Some of Their Best Ma terial-Some Views of
 Real Life.
From the New York Evening Post.

Since the days of the ArgonautS West ern mining camps have produced wit and humor almost as steadily as they have produced gold and silver. Bret Harte
 in the California gulches ana Mark Twain at Virginia City, Nev., were among the earliest prospectors for the veins of wit and lodes of humor that abounded in the
 new fields. and. while the seekers for precious metals were amassing fortunes
 and acquiring titles as bonanza kings. Harte and Twain were laying the founda- | tions of enduring fame humorists. Her Letter" with the reply thereto, and the Society Upon the Stanislaus." have long been classics of American humor, | and Buck Fanshaws Funeral and The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" will probably live as long as anything Twain has written.
 As the human types of the mining camps have changed under the influence
 of advancing civilization, there have been changes in the types of the wit and humor of mining camp life but many of the original characteristics remain, for the American gold digger at heart IS still more than half child; he still retains | his seriousness of purpose his contempt for conventionality, his reckless bravery, his tender sympathy and his reverence for the female of his species His senti- mental regard for womankind might lead him even at this late date to repeat the incident of Eugene Fields "Three-Fin-
 gered" Hoover who pulled his gun in the
 theatre and ordered Armand to desist in
 his struggle with Camille. search of
 lar daU mi
 more than one "Caseys Table d Hote.'
 There is less perhaps of the grim type
 of humor depicted in the story of the
 miners, who lynched the wrong man and
 apologized to his widow by saying, the
 laugh Is on us.' but 1t has not been many
 years since miner from Leadville, where
 Chinamen are not allowed, on trip to
 the Black Hills of South Dakota. shot a
 Chinaman to gratify his curiosity to see
 a Chinese funeral
 That there are few, if any, latter-day
 examples of mining camp humor worthy
 of comparison with the earlier work of
 Harte, Twain and Field may be due
 rather to a lack of humorists among
 Western writers than to a lack of ma
 terial. There was one mining camp in-
 cident of comparatively recent date that
 needed but the pen of a true humorist
 to produce another masterpiece. It hap
 pened on the night of the national cleo
 ton of 1896 in a little camp tucked away in the mountains of Southwestern Col orado, where the only means of quick communication with the world was a sin gle, uncertain telegraph wire and sin | gle, more uncertain telegraph operator. l Naturally, only the merest scraps of elec- 1 ton news reached the camp, but before the certain news of McKinleys election could have been got the uncertain oper- ator had fallen a victim to his favorite vice. and, further, had fallen beneath the table, with muttered cheer for Bryan.
 The only other person who knew any
 thing about telegraphy was the local wit
 and humorist who volunteered his serv-
 ices Political sentiment was ahame for
 Bryan. News of his election was not
 only sought, but demanded, for the aver
 age American miner is as sanguine con-
 corning the uncertainties of politics as
 he is concerning the uncertainties of min
 ing Moreover. there was a general be-
 lief that the triumph of the free coinage
 of silver would transform every mothers
 son of them into a capitalist The vol
 unteer telegrapher was noted for an obliging disposition. He was the genial
 of the camp. The boys had placed
 stores of giant powder at various points, they had cleaned and oiled their six shooters and reflled their cartridge belts,
 bonfres were ready to be lighted on the hillsides, and natural enthusiasm had
 been stimulated at The Metropole.' "The Trocadero," and less pretentiously named oases in the desert of mining camp existence; in fact, every prelim- mary to the grandest celebration the San Juan country every had known.
 Shorty was not the man to neglect an opportunity like that. The first bull letin he handed to the waiting crowd stated that New York and Indiana were in doubt, and it looked like close cleo ton, with the chances favoring Bryan. That whetted the crowds keen appetite for returns to razor edge. The second bulletin sent their spirits up with leap: Bryan has carried Kansas and the Democrats are claiming Iowa." "Whoopee" from the crowd. Shorty bent his ear to the clicking sounder and inscribed Bulletin No. 3: '.Ilinois joins the Bryan column with | 500OO majority: Indiana certain; New l York very close
 When the deafening chorus had died down a young member of the party asked the leader: Hadn't we better | begin to set off the giant
 | Before the leader could answer shorty reproved him by word and | look: Don't go off half-cocked,' said | he, its always best to walt until you are sure You can't be too conserva- tive in a case like this"
 l After a long pause in which the l crowd displayed much impatience, the | imperturable and conservative Shorty" 1 transcribed Bulletin No. f. but before | passing it out, said:
 l Now. boys, don't do anything rash; | waiit for the actual returns"
 l Bulletin No. read: Senator Jones I claim Ohio and Pennsylvania for | Bryan"
 | Under ordinary circumstances doubt | might have been expressed concerning ! the probability of such states reversing l their political records but the crowd | was convinced of an impending land ] slide for their favorite and yelled with l delight. "Now we are beginning to get | news" remarked Shorty" when the l cheering ceased, and he began to write l Bulletin No. 5, as follows:
 | "New York gives Bryan 100000 plural itv. Indiana 40 GOO. Returns from Wis consn and Minnesota indicate large 1 Democratic gains.
 | The crawd heard only the first sen 1 tence. shouting, cheering, yelling and | screaming, it broke for the street Hold on." called Shorty here's l another"
 | sylvania to Bryan"
 | Another fragment broke from the | crowd and ran down the street, shouting that news. The new operators pencil l was travelling rapidly over the paper 1 while his friends and fellow-citxens 1 crowded closely upon him and read as he l r,,ro+a p,,,iatip No T. Mark Hanna has