Evening star., 1937-01-10

Waco. And from then on my studying
was done in the school of experience"
THAT school" proved a diversified
one for Charles Evans. When a
young man he moved into the Black
Hills Of South Dakota, led thence by
the activity reported in the gold fields
Of that region. Here he mined for
gold with varying success. Gold will
always be yellow" he reminds one.
Gold is fixed and invariable. 1t is
gold wherever you find it-and it's
always yellow. You can depend on
gold-the kind that comes out of the
earth and other kinds of gold" adds
the philosopher in him.
The silver camps Of Tonopah, New,
lured him next and he made his way
back to the State of his boyhood.
From Tonopah to Goldfeld, then
Manhattan and Luning, where for
tune began to smile on him in big
way. He became president of the Wall
Street Copper Co. in Luning-a con-
cern that produced $l,000,000 in cop
| per metal last year. Most of the prof.
its were spent in improvement of the
property and for extended operations.
A four-nile spur of railroad was built
and the interests grew to include sill
yer, which was turning up in guam
titles Of seven ounces to a ton, or $50
| ounces to a 50-ton car.
But again the pendulum of fortune
swung downward and Evans lost this
profitable mine in a lawsuit that was
brought against him.
1T hasn't produced one pound Of
ore since. in 20 years time" he SAYS,
completely without malice, and adds,
well, such is fate"
Men were hardy in those days,
Evans points out. "Why, I've seen
an old teamster as much as rs years
old sitting behind his 18 or 20 mule
team. breathing borax dust all day
on the desert. and drinking stale
water from his little barrel, and when
he got back into town got shaved and
washed and dressed up. he wouldn't
look a day over so. How they loved
that life, too! I remember one old
fellow who was expecting to get S5O,-
600 for his mining claims, and when
| somebody asked him what he would
do with that much money, he reflected
a moment, and then said, without
hesitating, I'd buy me a nice long
team O. mules and good wagon and
plenty o canned goods and I'd strike
out again across the desert"
1T WAS about this time that Evans
was sent to Congress, at a time
when he was rated very wet" in a
State that had gone dry" by a large
| majority. However. since he was rep
resenting a CRY State he voted for the
Volstead act, which he never approved
personally. II could foresee, to some
extent" he says today, "the dangers
that lay in the details of that act,
but never foresaw the intemperance,
the disaster, the crime and murder
and lawlessness that it was actually
TO bring upon this country"
Evans remained four years in Wash
ington after his congressional defeat
in 1920, then he went to Miami, Fla,
where he leased an apartment house.
"In five days had every one Of its
80 apartments filed" he relates, "and
there were no two families from the
same State"
The first disastrous Florida hurri-
cane worked havoc with this venture
within II days after it was so auspi-
| ciouSly launched. Wind blowing with
increasing violence from north by
northeast met equally violent currents
blowing directly from the north.
Sometimes these currents met in the
very center of building and they
would twist it as a woman wrings a
wet cloth in strong hands. Steel
structures were turned completely
about, and as the wind rose during
the night all sorts of freakish cataS-
trophies occurred. Yachts were picked
up like feathers from the basin and
deposited in the middle Of parks,
blocks away. Roofs were blown off,
buildings fell before the blast, and the
water rose in the streets.
The roof was torn away from the
apartment house leased by Evans,
water streamed down the walls Of the
apartments, tiles fell Gathering on
every hand. An hour or two after
daylight the wind was stilled. and the
world became strangely quiet. But
in the next hour it started again, this
time south by southeast, and what II
had failed to destroy the night before
it finished during this second day OF
terror and destruction.
A FTER helping as best he could
with the wreckage Of this ven-
ture, Evans left for Chicago, and
thence on to Boulder Dam, with the
idea of starting in business in this
new community. But he found no op-
portunity for such a venture. Three
years ago he received a letter from
Mr.. Romney, sergeant at arms Of the
House side of the United States Con-
gress, in which he was notified that
this gentleman had appointed him as
a guide at the Capitol. And We ex-
pect you March /, 1884" the letter
continued. While not eager at first to
accept, Evans came on, and now, he
declares, he is very thankful he ac-
cepted.
There's no money in it, but ! find
1t delightful" he says with his friendly
smile. "and, as I say, I really get q
chance to speak now. get so en-
Unused sometimes that it takes me 90
minutes instead of the scheduled 40
to explain to groups who are especially