The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-02-03
HOBO MATT KELLY FINDS FORTUNE
IN THE ABANDONED BODIE MINE


From out of the snowburied camp
of Bodie, that famous mining camp
which has made and unmade million
aires, comes a story which is true.
withal strange. Hobo Matt" Kelly
has secured lease on the old Bodie
mine, once the richest mine in the
world, and has uncovered a ledge Of
gold bearing ore which will place in
his hands 100000 of good clean. yell
low money before his lease is done.
There is scarcely a mining camp in
all the west which is not known by
Hobo Matt and which does not know
him. He has slept In every Jail
throughout the west and when his time
was served has shouldered his roll of
blankets and moved on again. Booze
has been his downfall, robbed him of
wife. of home, good name, and Oft
times mind and reason.
When "Old Bruin" Kelly was win
ming his name and fame on the Com
stock famed in the Lady Bryant days
and later in Bodie, as the superintend-
ent of the Bodie mine and the Lent
shaft, Matt Kelly was a boy and the
trusted messenger of his uncle, the
Bear.
Grew Up in the Mines.
Matt grew up in the mines and as
pick boy, messenger boy and later
miner, knew every turn and twist of
the underground city Of the mining
camp. When the famous Beehive was
turning out its millions in the Bodie
mine, Matt was here and there and
everywhere. He knew the richest
portions of the honeycombed level Of
that glorious winze which ran from
the bottom of the Bodie shaft.
The Bodie stocks scared and scared
buyers to grow frantic. Matt dab
bled little in the game and spent his
money royalty and freely Matt was
man among men of the day. He
could sport with them, could drink
with them and gamble with them. 1t |
was riotous life and Matt could not |
stand the strain. John Barleycorn
won the game.
The time came when the Beehive |
was worked out. II was gone forever,
so the miners said, but Matt knew
better. He knew of one little section
OF that famous ore zone which had /
been covered over. Perhaps there
were others who also knew but they
have passed away. The years rolled |
on but there was never chance given
for Matt to secure lease on that
portion of the ground and even in his
cups he was FAR too wise to tell of
what he knew.
The years rolled on and Matt be-
came a common miner of the camp
toiling in the mines day after day .
and waiting for the hour to come
when he could reap his harvest He
still walked hand in hand with his old
friend J. Barleycorn and lower and
ower in the scale of humanity he !
dropped. In his better days he had
won a wife, woman faithful and
rue one who knew his better side J
md throughout all these long years
# sorrow, pain and disgrace, has been c
rue to him. There came a time in !
he long ago, however, when the good !
woman had to abandon him. he had +
ropped too low, and he became a f
upon the face of the west q
IN map, became Hobo Matt"
They threatened him with death at
'odie once, because he threw his wife
ut into the snow on a stormy night, =
lille in a drunken frenzy, and then N
cross the snowy range at Jimtown, y
nee, the rope was thrown across the
NIB of an old oak tree and Hobo
Iatt was told to pray, The wife, suf-
ring from many cuts, from her hus- ~
and's fists, begged for his life. and OF
sgged not in vain. 81
Wandered to Many Camps. ~ ~
Then Hobo Matt became a wander or
upon his way. Kicked from camp
camp Working and working we'll
r few short days, then spending a. a.
e wage for drink and then on his way Ar
ain. No matter what his rags no Br
litter what his condition, he was Br
lite. Courteous to the womenkind. ~.
lder and kindly to the children, he Da
mt his way His mood had chang Da
Liquor made him sorrowful and "a "a
quarrelsome and always In his M,
sast pocket he carried the photo of Eli
woman, the true wife he had fr
onged. ~,
n the fall of 1915 Hobo Matt land MI
at Bodie once again. After a big MI
ouse at Gardnerville, he had pack ne
his little roll of blankets along the D.
d to Bodie. Hobo Matt realized Shs
I the time had come to reap his Ste
vest and he planned rightly and SoI
l. Son
Back to Bodie. Son
he mining camp of Bodie was at Son
lowest ebb. Where 10000 people WI WI
e made their home and the doings Vol
The camp of Bodie were telegraph A
over the wide world, scarcely 200 sna
aimed. The mines were closed. i;o a."
days of the 70 mining whistles pan
e forgotten, and not one whistle kan