Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1911-02-10
FREDERICK FERMOR.

ilUk(4fZHMyll at Vueehe.oH'
Ilol=-ololl land. the other day In
- tweeds from his turned
up trousers to his fore and aft cap,
twirling a cane on his fingers and
whistling a regimental ditty. The
next day he was lost to the world. He
disappeared the way shadow van
ishes when the sun hides behind
cloud, leaving no answer to the ques-
ton where. They pressed Official but
tons In the British war once and
Scotland Yard. and an alarm for the
missing officer went to all parts OF the
world. At the end of 80 days the mys-
terry mark was placed opposite his
name In the army records.
Thus, in 1910, another tragedy is
linked with the name of Sharon. or, as
they phrase II out in the Pacific coast.
with the long-dead argonaut's money
World Stretching wide the list to
take in all who had a part In the de-
veloping situations of the Sharon
drama, there are disclosed no less than
four murders. three suicides and two
disappearance. Lieutenant Hesketh.
In the latter classification, was Sha-
ron's grandson.
William Sharon was one of the Gold
Hills pioneers. In mere money get
ting ne lived under the star called
Luck. which. by the bye, is not chart
ed by astronomers, but shines in the
financial heavens for the few with the
brilliency of a harvest moon. Sharon
stepped out of cowhide boots into pat
emit feathers; from a mountain shack
TO city mansion, His few mean two
bit coins in greasy bag grew into a
fortune which clogged bank vaults.
Having munched the dry leaf of grub
stake poverty. he put millions into a
hotel which he called Palace, as a
monument to full stomachs and riches.
His overnight fortune came from the
Crown Point and Belcher mines in Ne.
vada- He became a senator from that
state. And then. having lived a life
made up of healthy, hard knocks In its
earlier stages and the overease Of op-
ulence in the gray-bearded half, he was
borne to the waiting mausoleum. The
wealth he left behind made a pyramid
OF millions, and likewise a pyramid OF
trouble There were outstretched
hands for every dollar In the pile-and
the money-bag tragedies began.
Rstston's Pathetic Death.
William c. Ralston, who had often
shared the output of HIS battered cot
fee-pot with Sharon in his roughshod
days and later sat with him on sofa
cushions in the directors room of the
Bank Of California. had already start
ed the list. When the financial pinch
caught the bank and frightened Fris
co didn't know whether its money was
good, bad or indifferent, Ralston &C
, cused Sharon, and then took his OWL
life. It was polite tragedy. While
the crowd was pounding at the closed
iron doors Of the bank. Ralston, at hi.
mansion In Belmont. across the bay
slipped into his carriage and drove L
the swimming beach. as was his Gus
tom. The coachman, sitting will
loose reins in hand. saw the banker
wade out waist, shoulder, neck deep
and then disappear. The Afternoon
tide rolled the dead body through the
spume upon the sand with the sea
drift. Forty days thereafter the Banl
OF California opened its doors again
but Forty.niners did not forget tina
the man who had shared his coffee-po
with Sharon had also accused him.
Ralston's son Samuel went to 81
IBERIA. where he believed there was an
other FL Dorado. He failed to find II
returned and killed hirnself Two O
his friends in the Improbable ventur
were murdered; another died with
point of steel between his ribs on tn
heart side in what they called duel.
Getting back to Sharon, the Forty
miner. II should be said here that hi
life was not always an open book. H
had his failings. Some time after tn
death of Mrs. Sharon, who had live
TO see him discard the cowhide boot
forever, Senator Sharon was sued b
a plump. round-faced woman known I
contemporary divorce litigation a
Sarah Althea Hill She entered int
the contest for Sharon's money wit
energy and zeal For reasons whic
the distinguished senator very we
knew. she said. he had refrained fror
acknowledging her as his wife. He
counsel was David s. Terry.