Polk County news-gazette. (Benton, Tenn.) 190?-191?, 1914-06-25

bestowed upon Hooker and De Lancey
the task Of finding an honest Mexican
and keeping him honest until he made
/ the transfer
While the papers were being made
| cut there might be a great many
temptations placed before that Next
can-either to keep the property for
himself or to hold out for bigger re-
ward than had been specified. After
his experience with the aristocratic
Don Cipriano Aragon y Tres Palacios,
Kruger was in favor of taking chance
on the lower classes. He had therefore
recommended to them one Cruz Men
dez, a wood vender whom he had
known and befriended, as the man to
play the part
Cruz Mendez, according to Kruger,
was Woodworking, sober and honest
for a Mexican He was also simple
minded and easy to handle, and was
the particular man who had sent word
that the Eagle Tail had at last been
abandoned And also he was easy to
and going by the name of "El Tuerto."
4Eo, in pursuance of their policy of
>bi4eN2g a waiting game, Hfbper and
NDe Lancy hung around the hotel for
several days, listening to the gossip
of Don Juan de Digs and watching for
one-eyed men with prospects to sell.
III Sonora he is poor and unimag-
NATIVE man indeed who has not at
least one lost mine or "prospecto" to
sell; and prosperous-looking strangers,
riding through the country, are often |
beTkoned aside by half-naked paisanos
eager to show them the gold mines of
the Spanish padres for hundred dol
lars Mex.
1t was only a matter Of time, they
thought, until Cruz Mendez would hunt
them up and try to sell them the Eagle
Tail; and it was their intention re-
uctantly to close the bargain with
him, for a specified sum, and then
stake him to the announcement fees
md gain possession Of the mine.
As this was a commonplace in the
Mexican having capital
enough to work claim and no Ameri-
AN having the right to locate one-it
vas a very natural and inconspicuous
way of jumping Senior Aragon y Tres
'alacios' abandoned claim. If they
discovered the lead Immediately after
yard it would pass for case of FOOLS ,
lck, or at least so they hoped, and, ,
iding out little each day and sitting
n the hotel porch with Don Juan the I
est Of the time, they waited until pa ,
ence seemed no longer virtue. G
Don Juan" said De Lancey, taking 7
D the probe at last, 81 had a Mexican +
-orking for me when we were over in [
le Sierras-one of your real, old T
me workers that had never been I
boiled by an education-and he was a
ways talking about La Fortuna O
less this was the place he meant, but a
doesn't look like it-according to ii
I'M 1t was a Mexican town. Maybe g
IS around here now-his name was p
endez"
Jose Maria Mendez?" inquired Don 81
ian, who was living directory of W
@ place. Ricardo? Pancho? Cruz" al
"Cruz!" cried De Lancey; that was Il
I" nj
HE lives down the river couple of re
iles," said Don Juan; down at Old hi
al
"Old Fortuna" repeated Phil. Il th
int know there was such place." CO
why, my gracious!" exclaimed Don in
an de Dios, ecandalized by such ri
do you mean to say you m
We been here three days and never
ard. about Fortuna Vieja? Why,
s isn't Fortuna! This is an Ameri-
a mining camp-the old town Is
wn below. so
That's where this man Aragon, the to
Mexican OF the country, has his of
lch and store. Spanish? Him? No, sh
eed-mitad He is half Spanish and int
L Yaqui Indian, but his wife is a int
70 Spaniard--one of the few in the orr
lntry. Her father was from Madrid he
she is Villanueva-a very beau an