The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1911-09-28
TWO
FORTUNES
Both Came Suddenly 10 the Same
Person and One Was Many
Millions
By DAVID WALTER cHIJRcH
By DAVID WALTER CHURCH
Copyright by American Press Asso-
ciation. 1871.

Tfts-T-.-i-s-t-5- -t-l-s-t-s-s-t-s-t-t-s-t-5-t
Why should We read fairy stories
with marvellous happenings when there
are such occurring in real life? The
Imagination is not capable of creating
the possibilities that occasionally occur
among persons who are made Of flesh
and blood and have souls. What imag-
ination a century ago In a long strip
ling lllinoisian could detect the lead
er Of the greatest political crisis the
world has ever known? And I'm the
acquisition Of wealth. what more won
derful development in fancy than the
story of a real Mexican peon who came
into an income of Sl0,OOO, 600 a year?
In a town OF northern Mexico,
In an adobe house lived an old man,
Pedro Alyarado by name, peon. who
with his Indian wife, worked and
saved till he had accumulated $1OO
With the money the couple bought a
piece OF land on the top of a rocky
hill near by the town In which they
lived.
Why they put their hard earned saw
ings in this barren and not very ac-
cessible summit and continued to save
and to pay $40 year taxes on 1t when
they needed the very necessaries OF
life is not known. 1t is possible that
the wife, having been an Indian, had
heard a tradition handed down from
her forefathers that there was treas
ure buried there.
Be this as 1t may, there must have
been some reason for the old couple
putting all their money in a barren
rock, and this view is borne out by the
fact that old Alvarado, having willed
his purchase to his son and three neph-
ews, called upon the former to swear
that he would never part with his in
terest In 1t. When we remember that
this legacy bequeathed to young Pc
dro was supposed TO be worth but
$25 we cannot but assume that his
father must have had an inkling that
its value was much greater.
After the old couple died the summit
of the barren rock was not divided
among the heirs, but kept as one prop
erty. Then came men who believed
that there might be silver under the
rock They had plenty of money and
were ready to risk 1t In an investiga-
ton. They offered the heirs a large
sum for the property, and Pedro's cous-
ins were willing and anxious to sell.
But Pedro, true to his oath, refused to
part with his share. In vain the 9TH
ers begged him not to stand in their
way of taking advantage of the offer.
Pedro stood firm. But after awhile a
friend loaned him the money to buy
out his cousins interest and make the
investigation as to what the property
contained.
One day men began to work on the
top of the hill with pick and shovel.
A month passed and nothing but ordi-
nary earth and rock was displaced.
The cousins came to see and jeered at
Pedro for fool. But Pedro had been
loaned sufficient money to pursue his
investigations to the end and worked
on. Another month passed and yet an
other with the same result Then one
day in twinkling all was changed
A vein was struck indicating that the
Palmilla mine, as 1t was called, was
the richest silver mine that had ever
been opened.
And now this story takes on a won
derful change Pedro Alvarado, son
Of Mexican peon father and an In
dian mother, heir to beggarly estate
supposed to be worth but $25, sudden
ly springs into an income of $4,000 a /.
day. The fairy waves her wand and
the adobe hut in which Pedro was
born is changed into a sumptuous pal
ace furnished from the manufactures
of the old world. Money without linn
1t is given away, thrown away. What
ever the silver king fancies he buys.
Those In his employ are loaded with
luxuries.
1t seems to be the desire of all men
to live in a palace, for all men who ac-
quire immense fortunes build such
structures to live in. Nevertheless
their abodes are typical of their orr
gin. Pedro built his palace. and when
he got 1t finished and furnished 1t was
wonderful to behold, especially in the
latter respect. The furniture all came
from abroad. The most costly bed
steads, chairs and cabinets were ship
ped from Paris; rugs came from the
orient, and Pedro, instead of walking
on the wooden foor-or, more likely,
the dirt fioor-to which he had been
accustomed, sank in the soft sub
stances manufactured by Persian
workmen.
But the most curious freak of this
suddenly enriched man was a mania
for pianos His palace was filed with
them. They, too, came from those fac
tories where the most skilled work
men were employed In their building,
and their mechanism was encased in
the most costly woods, often beauti-
fully inlaid. They were in his par
lorS, IN MS living rooms, bedrooms
anywhere, everywhere where there
was room for them, and room in Pc
dro's palace was abundant
Slngularly enough but one selfish
motive guides this suddenly enriched
man. The rest are all altruistic. He
Is besieged by persons eager to buy
bis mine, or IL they cannot do that at.
least a part of 1t. By selling and
permitting educated business men to
work 1t the income could be greatly
increased. But no argument, no