The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1910-02-08

paid me five doIiars ", to IN
hind the bargain. hes eo'ns nd
a,,t q on = stand in his hali' an"
when people seem to have any no zane
=: Atr;ca he can show them the eie-
.Th;s cannon here I believe " oe
.he Oldest in the country. 1t IS niaac
~ Ane bronze, ana the date on l. -
1881. We got it from Porto nloo'
After duly admiring the ola can.
non there was tour OF discovery NOV
extended all over the warehous ,,
where, heaped up from hoor 70 'e
ing, throughout the five stories wa"
what at first appeared to De 'ne ms r
amazing aggregation OF ruoD'SA
assembled under one roof. ~
This first impression was na'u,y
accurate, however. In spite Oh CIV
webs and dust and the presence % d
vast quantity of utterly useless
things. the place was full OF treas
ures. Bales and boxes ana packing
cases full of sea stores OF al Sol %
thathad never been opened were scat
tered all about.
"They don'+ know what they've go'
said the solitary salesman OF the es-
Establishment, who acted as GUIDE, re-
ferrinQ to the proprietors. "Ihey
throw these things in here any olu
vay and then forget about them
They're too busy downstairs making
heaps of money to think aoo"'
them"
Confusion was everywhere abso-
lutte. Not the least attempt at classl-
f,cation had been made. Here was
gun carriage in sections; pile OF ola
uniforms: a packing case three-quar-
tiers full of army caps; mass OF jap
anese lily bulbs that had spoiled;
quarter of ton of soap; great
quantity of shoe backing; box OF
white hats, such as are used IN the
navy: boxes of timed sausages, more
boxes Of jams and jellies; crates OF
fruit that had dried and widowed;
heaps of boots that had never been
worn and probably never would be
SO compactly had the spiders bound
them with their cobwebs. A mound
of books was on one of the floors,
mound of photographs on another
and in a little room by themselves
collection of paintings, some very
we'll framed and some not framed al
all. OF course, one of them was "ar
I old master" This collection was
spoken Of with awe by the salesman
They're all masterpieces" he said
"That big one there's Van Dyck.'
AS the exploration extended The
guide quite lost his bearings, and thu
discoveries were as real to him as tt
the reporter.
whats in this barrel?" he queried
striking match and peering down a
some shining black stuff.
"Oh. yes!" he exclaimed, suddenl,
recollecting. Its gunpowder-
enough to blow the whole place t.
kingdom come"
Heaps of loose ammunition wer'
encountered at various points, and a
there are several cats, to say moth
ing of rats, roaming about, an explo
sion would not be very surprising un
der the circumstances, the cartridge
being of the decorating variety.
"Why don't you establish some kim
of order here?' asked the writer, wiz
ing away a veil of cobwebs d -. ma
fallen about his face.
mo time" said the guide. "Ther
are only three of US in this bi
place"
I'D never rest till 1 found out wha
had and arranged 1t after fashion
the clothing in one pace and tn
provisions in another, and so on"
"Then you wouldn't make so muc
money as the boss" responded tn
guide.
But there's such deal here that
abs olutely going to waste"
There's plenty more where it cam
from"
where did 1t come from?"
Government auction sales. mostly
then sheriffs' sales and private aut
ton sales. There was a fire at tn
navy yard not long ago, and every
thing in the building was sold at aut
ton. Some of the goods were dan
aged and some were not injured a
all. The government doesn't stop t
look it over very closely, l reckon
1t cleans out and puts in new goods
Then, when a warship has been crui.
ing for five months or so, and arrive
in port, all the stores she has remair
ing are condemned and sold at aut
y ton.
"All sorts of things come to u
from the government. For instanc,
we bought $4,000 swords not lon
ago that had been stored at Govern
ors island ever since the civil wal
We had lively competition in buyin
them, too"
Where will they go?"
men belonging to secret societie
viii use them up. They're in fine O,
der, ana in spite of competition pu,
ting the price up We'll make a goo
thing out of them. IN. Y. Times.