The second William Penn : $b a true account of incidents that happened along the old Sante Fe trail in the sixtiesRyus, W. H. (William Henry)
History
The second William Penn : $b a true account of incidents that happened along the old Sante Fe trail in the sixties
Ryus, W. H. (William Henry)
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); Indians of North America -- West (U.S.); Santa Fe National Historic Trail
A few weeks after Maxwell and Kit Carson were robbed on the Old Oregon
Trail they got together two other herds of sheep and went again to
California, taking every precaution against the attack of robbers. This
time Kit Carson went the northern route and Lucien Maxwell took the
southern route, arriving in California about seven days apart. They
decided to be strangers during their sojourn in the California town.
Putting up at different camps they disposed of their sheep and made an
appointment to come together again something like a hundred miles
distant, going west toward the Pacific ocean. By these means they hoped
to elude the vigilant eye of robbers and did get home without trouble.
Mr. Maxwell was one of the most generous men I ever knew. His table was
daily set for at least thirty guests. Sometimes his guests were invited,
but usually they were those whose presence was forced upon him by reason
of his palatial residence, rightfully called the "Manor House," which
stood upon the plateau at the foot of the Rocky mountains. Our stage
coaches were frequently water bound at Maxwell's, and our passengers
were treated like old and valued friends of the host, who, by the way,
was fond of cards. Poker and seven-up were his favorite. However, he
seldom ever played cards with other than personal friends. He often
loaned money to his friends to "stake" with $500 or $1000 if needed.
Some of the rooms in Maxwell's house were furnished as lavishly as were
the homes of English noblemen, while other rooms were devoid of
everything except a table for card playing, chairs and pipe racks.
There was one room in Maxwell's house which might be called his "den,"
however not very applicable. This room had two fireplaces built
diagonally across opposite corners and contained a couple of tables,
chairs and an old bureau where Maxwell kept several thousand dollars in
an unlocked drawer. The doors of this room were never locked and most
every one who came to this house knew that Maxwell kept large sums of
money in the "bureau drawer," but no one ever thought of molesting it,
or if they did, never did it. A man once asked Mr. Maxwell if he
considered his unique depository very secure. His answer was, "God help
the man who attempted to rob me and I knew him!" In this room Maxwell
received his friends, transacted business, allowed the Indian chiefs to
sit by the fire or to sleep wrapped in blankets on the hard wood floor
or to interchange ideas in their sign language with his visitors who
would sit up all night through, fascinated by the Indian guests. If Kit
Carson happened to be at the Maxwell ranch his bed was always on the
floor of this very room and invariably had several Indian chiefs in the
room with him. The Indians loved Kit Carson and liked to see him victor
over the games at the card table.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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