Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1921-04-28
CHAPTER XI-continued.
p


for the needs of a caliph without a
court. Why risk your precious life to
acquire more? Money isn't everything
in life"
mo, but the game is"
E. "What game? Mining?"
''The game of life"
But this is the game of DEATH"
(which makes life all the sweeter
If l can beat the game. Perhaps l can
better illustrate my point of view with
a story. Some years ago l was sent
to Arizona to examine a mining prop
erty and report upon it; if 1 advised
its purchase, my principals were pre-
pared to buy at my valuation. Well
when l arrived, found a miserable
shanty close to a shaft and dump, and
in the shanty found weather-beat-
en- couple. The woman was probably
forty but looked fifty. The man had
never been anything but handbook
miner-$4 day had been the limit of
his earnings in any one day until he
stumbled on some float, traced it up,
and located the claims I was there to
examine and try to buy.
"His wife had been miners daugh-
ter, knowing nothing but drudgery and
poverty and continuing that existence
after marriage. For 20 years she had
been darning her husbands socks,
washing his Clothes and cooking his
meals. Even after they uncovered the
ledge, it wasn't worth any more than
the country rock to them unless they
could sell it, because the man had
neither the money nor the ability to
develop it himself. He even lacked
the ability to sell it, because it re-
quires real ability to unload any kind
of a mine for $1,OOO,OOO, and real
nerve on the part of the man who
buys. I examined the mine, decided
it was cheap at 100000, and so re
ported to my principals. They wired
me to close, and so 1 took a 60-day
option in order to verify the title.
"Well, time passed, and one bright
day l rode up to that shanty with
deed and a certified check for $1,000
900 in my pocket; whereupOn l dis
covered the woman had had a change
of heart and bucked over the traces.
No, stree! She would not sign tibet
there deed-and inasmuch as the claim
was community property, her sigma
ture was vitality necessary. She asked
me so many questions, however, as to
the size of the stamp mill we would
install and how many miners would
be employed on the job, that finally l
saw the light and tried a shot in the
dark. "My dear Mrs. Skaggs," 1 said,
elf you'll sign, this deed and save us
all a lot of litigation over this option
you and your husband have given me,
I'll do something handsome. l will
on my word of honor-Tll give you the
exclusive boarding house privilege at
this mine"
"And what did she say, Caliph?"
"She said: Give me the pen, Mr..
Webster, and please excuse my hand
writing; I'm that nervous in business
Matters"
Dolores silvery laughter rippled
through the room. "But 1 don't see
the point" she protested.
1--WE will come to it presently. 1
was merely explaining one PERSONS
point of view. You would not, of
course, expect me to have the same
point of view as Mrs. Skaggs of Ari-
ZOna."
Certainly not"
"AIl right! Listen to this! In 1907,
, at the height of the boom times in
Goldfeld, New, was worth $1,0OOO 900.
On the first day of October l could
have cashed in my mining stocks for
OOO,OOO-and had a lot of cash in
bank, too. But I'd always worked so
hard and been poor so long that my
wealth didn't mean anything to me.
I wanted the exclusive privilege of
more slavery, and so staked copper
prospect, which later 1 discovered to
consist of uncounted acres of country
rock and about S25 worth of copper
stain. In order to save $500 did my
own assessment work, drove a pick
into my foot, developed blood poison,
went to the hospital, and was nice and
helpless when the panic came along
the middle of the month. The bank
went bust, and my ready cash went
with it: / couldn't give my mining
stocks away. Everybody knew 1 was
a pauper-everybody but the doctor.
He persisted in regarding me as mil
uonaire and sent me bill for $4,000"
GLOW perfectly outrageous! Why,
Caliph, I would have let him sue me-"
81 would have, too-but I didn't. /
induced him to settle for 100000
shares of stock in my copper prospect.
The par value was 81 a share, and l
was going to sell block at 10 cents,
but in view of his high professional
standing let him have it for a nickel
a share. 1 imagine he still has it. l
bought back later all the other stock
I sold, because the property was
worthless, and in order to be a sport
offered him $500 for his block, but
ne thought I was trying to swindle
him and asked $4,000"
"Oh, Caliph"