Comstock Lode (Nev.) -- Fiction; Miners -- Fiction; Virginia City (Nev.) -- Fiction
"A miner, who had been working a placer claim in the hills all
summer--so the story ran--and who had been his own cook, barber,
chambermaid and tailor, came down to Salt Lake City to see the sights
and purchase supplies. He had dough in his whiskers, grease upon his
overalls, pine twigs in his hair, and altogether did not present the
appearance of a dancing master or a millionaire. Hardly had he reached
the city when he thought it necessary to take something in order to
'brace up.' One drink gave him courage to take another, and in forty
minutes he was dead drunk on the sidewalk.
"The police picked him up and tossed him into a cell in the jail,
disdaining to search him, so abject seemed his condition.
"Next morning he was brought before the Police Judge and the charge of
D. D. was preferred against him.
"'You are fined ten dollars, sir,' was the brief sentence of the Court.
The man unbuttoned two pairs of overalls and from some inner recess of
his garments produced a roll of greenbacks as big as a man's fist. It
was a trying moment for the Judge, but his presence of mind did not fail
him. He raised up from his seat, leaned one elbow on his desk and, as if
in continuation of what he had already said, thundered out: 'And one
hundred dollars for contempt of court.'
"The man paid the one hundred and ten dollars and hastily left the court
and the city."
Miller was the next to speak. Said he: "Once in Idaho I heard a specimen
of grim humor which entertained me immensely. There was a man up there
who owned a train of pack mules and made a living by packing in goods to
the traders and packing out ore to be sent away to the reduction works.
He was caught in a storm midway between Challis and Powder Flat. It was
mid-winter; the thermometer at Challis marked thirty-four degrees below
zero. He was out in the storm and cold two days and one night, and his
sufferings must have been indescribable. When safely housed and
ministered to at last a friend said to him: 'George, that was a tough
experience, was it not?'
"'Oh, regular business should never be called tough,' said he, 'but
since I began to get warm I have been thinking that, if I make money
enough, may be in three or four years I will get married, if I can
deceive some woman into making the arrangement. If I should succeed, and
if after a reasonable time a boy should be born to us, and if the
youngster should "stand off" the colic, teething, measles, whooping
cough, scarlet fever and falling down stairs, and grow to be ten or
twelve years old, and have some sense, if I ever tell him the story of
the past two days of my life and he don't cry his eyes out, I will beat
him to death, sure.'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account