Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1914-02-04
An ingenious
Mark
By EDITH v. ROSS

Nathan Hartwell, fifty years ago a
prospector in the gold regions of Colo
RADIO, entered tavern one evening at
B. In very excited state. A couple
Of men standing at the bar noticed
him and heard him ask the landlord
| for writing materials. These he took to
a table and sat down to write letter.
"Do you know what's the matter
with himY' asked one Of his observers.
mo, I don't"
| "He's struck a bonanza. There's
nothin' else In this here country to
affect man like that. I've seen men
in that fix before and know the symp-
TOMS"
| "WellY
well. I think there's somepin in it
for u.s."
"HowY
"We can keep an eye on him, see
where his claim is located and jump
it."
| At that moment one of the conspira-
tors noticed man reading newspa-
per by window and put his finger on
his lip. The two empded their glasses
and went out. As soon as they had
done SO the man reading the newspa-
per arose and, going to Hartwell, said:
"My friend, I overheard those two
men talking about you, and / wish to
warn you" Then he told Hartwell
| what he had heard. Hartwell appear.
ed to be very much affected by the in
! formation. He thanked the stranger,
but said nothing about the truth or
falsity of the conspirators' surmise.
Hartwell had struck a rich vein of
| ore and was writing to his daughter
| Mabel, in the east to announce the
| fact.
One day Hartwell was found dead
near the hole he was pretending to
work. Not long after his death two
men laid claim to the place where he
| was supposed to be digging, but, find
ing nothing, they soon abandoned it.
| Mabel Hartwell had been posted by
| her father as to his fears Of losing
his property, and he had given her
some idea as to the location. But the
exact spot was unknown to her, her
| father not daring to state it, fearing
that his letter might be interrupted.
As soon as she had been informed of
| her fathers death she determined to
| 60 west with a view to claiming his
mine.
When she reached the scene Of her
fathers efforts she first made inquiries
for the conspirators, but they had left
and no one knew where they had
gone. Mabel had the good sense to
realize that it would be difficult to
| find and punish them, and even If she
| did it would not bring her father
| back to life. She knew that he had
been very DESTROYS that she should
| have the property he had discovered
and set about to find it.
Alone she visited the location that
he had given her She found it in a
| canyon shut in on either side by high
| mountains. There was a house at the
| mouth of the canyon, where she OBJ
tanned lodgings and set out to try
| to discover the mine But she had
little hope, for, knowing that her ia
lueE Dttl Wdttucu. SHc uIcllCt
| that he would not mark it. Neverthe-
| less not long before his death Hart
| we'll had written her that he was
| trying to find some mark by which in
case anything should happen to him
he might show her and her alone the
| exact spot under which lay the rich
| vein Of ore he had discovered, for he
had obliterated all trace of his mine.
| Mabel hoped that her father had hit
upon some mark that only she would
| understand, but had been stopped from
| communicating it to her by his sudden
| taking away. Her experience had
made her suspicious of every one, and
she dare not take any person with her.
| Fortunately it was summer, and the
weather was fine. She made daily
searches in the canyon, which, though
but a mile in length, was very rugged
| and hard to get over.
One day she came to rock on which
| she was much astonished to find her
own name, "Mabel," carved in rude
letters. Beneath was an arrow and
beneath the arrow date-July 10.
There was no year given. only the
month and day of the month. Nat
urally Mabel turned her glance in the
direction the arrow pointed. The first
object in line was perpendicular
rock, very thin, it's outline being like
a sugar loaf. Indeed, one side OF ii
! was an edge like an ak, some parts OF
which were not over foot thick.
Mabel fell to thinking on the prob
lem. The arrow appeared to be in
tended to direct her attention to the
| thin side of the rock, which was di-
rectly in line with 1t. What did the
date mean? The day Mabel found the
sign was the Goth of June. Her ia
Their had been dead nearly a year, hav-
ing been murdered on the 18th OF
T,Iu thraa DAVIS q ftar tha carved da te