Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-09-18
Daily Short Story
nv CHARLES McGuIRK

BY CHARLES McGUIRk
Guerra SADIE'S real name Is
- Sarah Bayles Truitt. but YOU
have 20 60 into the marriage rec
ords Of Tonopah. New, and DIG
back 80 years 10 prove II. There
YOU will find that in the year 1907
Sarah Bayles spinster, s.. married
Jethro Truitt. a miner, As
Five years later you will find il
again in mining records as the
owner Of The Nugget gold mine
ss co-partner with one Henry
Driddle. And n 1882, you will
find il still again as defendant in
a charge brought by the state Of
Nevada against her. alleging GRIM
inal assault against the body Of
one John Todd.
But II you stay away from dusty
records that are really none OF
your business. you'll know her only
as Sierra Sadie. aged 90, hut just
as good AS she was the day she
married Jethro Truitt.
IN HIGH PLACES
Sierra Sadie is an eagle whose
wings may have grown a little stiff
with age, hut whose heart is still
in the high places. In fact, she
lives and works in the high places,
halfway up a mountain called
Sharp's Tooth. II is 20 miles from
Tonopah, a town which, by the
way, is a mere shadow OF itself
today.
You reach her eyrie along Al
road so old that sometimes yeHt
cannot see il. 1t leads you through
deep canyons studded with pines
and I'D through desert meadows
where wild horses fee at your
approach. And finally. you find her
at the edge of little stream.
She looks like young woman
gazing at you through lacework
of wrinkles. Her black eyes are
much younger than yours, es-
pecially if you have been out late
the night before. The June day on
which this picture was drawn. she
wore a calico shirt, a pair of mans
pants thrust into Lewis and al
black felt hat.
Her hair was as white as the
snow-capped hills above her and
the wrinkles were there for you
to see. But she did look like a.
young woman and, may be She
was.
q PANNING FOR GOLD
Anyhow. there's many a youngl
woman who couldn't perform the
task which engaged her. She wasl
squatted on her hunkers and shel
held frying pan in her hand. The
frying pan Was full of sand and
water and she was turning the
pan in circular motions so that
the gravel fell over the edges OF it
q little at time.
Finally. there was no gravel
left but on the bottom and on the
sides of the pan there were tiny
yellow pieces. And those pieces
were gold.
VI you ask Sierra Sadie the most
dramatic moment of her life, /
she's liable 10 tell you II was the
time the San Francisco earth
quake shook the apartment she
had rented apart from under her;
o. the time after that when she
opened a restaurant in Rhyolite,
d mining town, and sold soup and
q sandwich and a glass Of beer
for 25 cents. cutting in half her
competition and making fortune
In a month: or she may recall it'll
was the moment that Harry Drid-
die. prospector whom she'd
grub-staked. came rushing TO her
with the news that he'd made a
strike and found a gold mine.
However, while any and all of
these might make a story, the
records of the year 1892 seem to
provide this one, which is here
with presented to you.
That gold mine that Harry Drid-
die found on her grub-stake was
never a big one, but IL made a
hying for her and Jethro Truitt,
her husband.
Her first reaction to the news
OF Harry's strike was:
81 own a gold mine. I'm n
millionaire" and she sat there,
breathing hard and thinking. 81
ram have diamonds and the best
saddle horse In this country. I
can live In n hotel and spend
money like water"
Her second reaction was 10 give
away her restaurant in Rhyolitel
and hike for the hills and the
mine.
AS soon as she arrived. she and