,
oi. Ingersoll, Mark Twain
and the Bonanza Mine
’rnained on the battlefield until the
Another Chapter-pf Mr. Townsend's Remini‘mnfr the West :Tirstr.Was Wild-
EDWARD w. TOWNSEND.
. E,
“count-n told me to
“hang around" the editorial
M
rooms until l had decided
u: . ti ~ r i would go along further 'in
”Juror nr talcuup newspaper work.
and i." i decided .n favor of the latter
he would give me a letter which
would secure me employment on
. either of the then two prominent San
7,!‘rancisco papers. He found enough
“pork for me to do as a reporter to
Y : my conscience about taking a
odcst salary. and n8 1 was not yet
. Ilaposed to return to San Francisco
‘Iut wanted to see something rougher.
,v more of n Bret Harte mining camp
1‘ Its. the tompornryarrnngexrtnt suit-
me. As I shall presently relate.
. this plan gave me the chance to be-
‘ Come editor of not one. but two news-
papers; one in a new uni rough
(mp. Bodie. Cal—some reader
may recall song and stories about
the "Bad Man from Bodie"——the
the other in on old and once aban-
doned camp. then revived. Aurora.
Mention county. Nev.
In one thing I was of real use to
the Chrmilnlc, the writing of a .week-
fy summary of the Comotock mine:
development and prospects for my
familiarity with the jargon of mine
work enabled me to translate into
English understood by the many the
technical language used by mine lu-
riniendents with whom I talked.
in work made it easy for me to
obtain passes for visitors who wanted
to go down into deep mines which
, Vera then worldwide sensations al
#014 and lflm producers. and bad
chod.the Euli‘h 1.11MB with
‘ word Which found permanent lodg-
,2 float. thorium-l I take as evidence
" sou-rat interest in not: a wu-
diaco‘vary the fact chat I have
mod hundreds .of times to tail
.‘ and will briefly mi it hora
‘ told there.
Tho_GoH 8min.
. «the Northflndmup
. mines flan f0 "gar:
- m
g t «for EM
7 , Bot convenimt to verify. OM
mot depth in no? raga:
--storr).nnda I. am
‘. to a ledge) had bootharto‘d
run to develop the lodge further.
is drift run under the loan. that
back of the hanging wail. die un-
3' one of the two walls of all!
£1021 incloud tho quarts. Add m
. coed to be ”modicum.
tannin] Rid
the dump cm thaw
\' it. Ihstead llfln'fihdflfl
,-6 ‘gift wit ‘3
" . th.
.. king.” 82': a
at m mm mood ti
- rehthst ho thawed”. _
am not onlyst m M
but that b H
are at at. W
_ that it a: , lad:
impedintotho its imam,
t th- Iliitt. boa. focu-
tug of the meaning..and s stipen-
tendant, hastily an real-
more.
i A DistinMId Vichy".
The ledge had increased in width
beyond any calculatimll it Will
cmrmous kidney of smiling]? '
“Ch—El bonanza! Again on dd In“.
g” saying had been verified: ‘Wo
one can see further into a lodge
that. his pick goes." I m told that
the minors in that drift Md not leave
trn underground warksforaWoekor '
m‘ret' that they were fed "on tur-
lu, and champagne." and lodged in
a r . fling room. hold imommuuicado
from the insiders alone had exact
ini‘rmzltion upon which the! flirt-
c;-,;: bought stock. San Francisco,
0» who: Pacific coast. wont «id.
,Zii’ mine “as divided into two minds
and the shirt-s of each, doubled in
number wr the total shares of tho
oriuiral « :‘pvirntlcm, went to‘pricu
which, i:.
calmer and carrier daft
it “was SJi‘l a mid mt have been Jua-
tifiéfi i.’ ore had mill“ ’100 .
h ”l 1.23. a." Tht'u‘i‘prh to China. Thus
11» ~mrm was diacovered. and (130
s
y-Iw , {tones 01.1w.) ssiocnkieeperl
i :- Ernstel‘fi, Flood and O'Brien
‘ . and Fair. "were m:
: .3 that. balloon shaped db-
the more filled with rich
‘ P’ne street. Sax. Fru-
Sir-net
1} lnrerscil
lectured in
and when I inur-
Vf' 7w“ my paper he s:-
‘3‘,“ enter wish to visit on.
" “ta. mine: Lbs Inger-
:dl “‘ 30:» “#0 daughters were
1'“ A 3"" he W36 pleased when
tun-‘1‘“: 11:51 the two big mina-
Viz;c‘—V. ' dressing rooms for
«1‘ a . ““V‘i ‘58 for men visitors.
Gar-DZ; '~ ~. . ; nus with me ’ he de-
“Hum“: ‘ in? not without
141213 fi; * --,rm_- objection When
- i «no {or the Inger-oil
“ 1"" 9““ng lecfiu: Mr.
"“ it. hivh spirits over
” b it the ladies were in
mm. They had heard
A> It was Viry hot.
~. ”1 “A"; wet in places?
un“;"‘C"‘-“8 machinery run
[11880) or" ‘8“ h miners' inn-
Dom (in. .lfl‘,"?i4! or the sup-
- \ngi we “In,“
E
‘ht .1973?
them that the elevator-1m rim at~
reduced speed when mull-Ivan!
aboard. and emerienced was.
looked carefully after unsafety of ~
sightseers. As to excessive heat or
moisture. visitors were dressed to
meet those conditions
When the ladies came from‘their
dressing room they were similar out-
fits to ours, heavy shoes and stock-
dincrmcuilod.» The boa drew the
sin-.1: cord slowly four times.
i‘What's-Jh‘at for?! Mr: Ingersoll
"Signal. sir: visitors aboard; slow."
“My good friend." Mr. Ingersoli
said impressively. "if your signals
and other devices result in getting
us to the surface of the dear earth
I'll write you an obituary which will
was also some flswt maids the
m mu; gun and midi-play. and. .
had I not been there on duty, 1
would move quit long before m.
“81“!" w- 13.“ .1 “a!!! fine all
I could. hear all I could,‘{ go re-
la‘st were rcuiv to leave. The“
were the defeated Comlshman and
his sorry hackers and handle". in
the wagonctte. - _, .
But my ho-sc waszgone! There
was nothing for—me to do but to. take
the scat reserved for Davis. Which I
did, by the side of poor Jack Askew.
Both of his eyes were closed and the
ear of vvhich I had the most inti—
mate «vievv was amazingly Giuli-
flowered. I lmed‘ the sight qt it.
I
7.454? to my!“
Eh: fies-m lat info to the coadcrnned man's all and we were there when he was ‘
cold at! W in decided against him. )
M13 0“ ”fl ash. in“ flat [run with ut could not help looking at it.
a and W '1 I03 “mi ‘ geek was in a bad way—he died a
m m I“ ' mu 3'...” day or two later in a. hospitalaana
. but m” to our '3“. ‘0.“ . at times: i. 1 man on the other
honor (in, whim m "hm 9‘ side of mu- 0 keep him from
m m I” sun 01“ .0103!!! hoiucan'medn‘ tailing ot‘i' .' As We reached
it: man do dad “I.“ amber?“ m en“. 32.31::- H :rfacltleer and
“mu.“ ' visit. to the brewery.“ m m“ {a , 2k :23"
mm “mm“ m m “ a” mouth °‘ 8"” m" be Whicz‘ln' Lobe" unn
down' Which Gillian a}! Lbs mo of the deer: into a dying " “r fellow
Wet. man... whioh the Mn River sinks. utter “me d .. '
i M m pleased to hm ' mm“ “ “M ”V?" A 0: .1... 4:. of
d! minds m. M With had discovered hem 8' having rm 16
‘ Th” M“ It “1. mm m M he MIOM into a know 1113' )e
that m” m W a, shed cansidorabls water lupply—conaid- could rm- -ot
mt. “Oh. we Mia for that region—built a brew- have m :p “d roads.
" Col. “-qu WI. “w an acre or “m of ”8° and only .5 reach the of-
W M”. 50!. h.“ "Gib h Md‘ mated it 12:1“! may flce in Him “or! of n firvt edl-
Q am In the WWI“. mu“ ow e ‘ lion story. ’ Q .(‘h rt‘flicilons did
53
quasi-nod lb. raw-on,
ins it was awful hot. do'i '
summur boatl’
Now, if M‘toll My
bruised to. that it n't '
E
ti
5
g:
El
i3.
ll
room, for he
Colonel somlthlu."
along a blind drift. m which
no connection which would permit
a draft of relatively cool air to Cir.
35 E"
at’ a time and than I“ back to the
cooling room for ruli’f‘ mg:
staggering heat. The *
story: 80 Ind MW
walkodaloucchbmn enchant
' was
who asked. “Where at. you Icing.
friend?“
“Going to mu to cool 08," on
there.” , g A
guide. hastily suiting action to word.
Later. we mined him about the in-
cident. "Yes." admitted the Colorist;
“that was what the thin“ said. If
was a witty response if he recog-
nixed me: a good one if he did not."
We went down the iodine. as the
shaft iscaflcd whcnitcaasutoba
vaticaLand dips at an angle undo!
malaise, to the lowest level; eon- '
vincuig the 'vuitm that in. water in
the sump. a rock basin at the bot-
tom of the incline, was hot enough
to boil eggs. and mention cousin
the girdle. ll tho ml! in them-
1»
gfflw ADO“ EL that
dusty, hot torture of that desert to.
appreciate the delight to the eye-—
4! 0th» organs—to come upon a
we cottage upon whose shaded
porch c001 beer. rye bread. cheese
mtg-ably pulled onions are at com-
it
One Show on made‘up a horse-
baok party and guided by our editor
Mo down the canyon. and after Q
a is mim- o‘er the desert.
{6 at to apprecialo thd
comic. to us.” McCarthy
”turned to the shady Dore]:
the good guise them set forth
My. “this was
an
and. "huh” in’ body and!
Ill. Mum to our fastidious friends
fit m pol-fumed)“; bum
5: is a M at sumptuiu-y from
"'vuhiclqandborumeuhuboanah
mmephcomhnym
andalipedost‘risnshadbscnlcnm
oflkhhthtlm otourandan
waning county agreed that they
dun": know in whose jurisdiction
”unlikelyiookingdtcforth‘oflng.‘
andthmtharingwaspitchodM’
roped. They were conscientious
aha-ifs. nodoubt, but that spot in
no man's land happened to be the
only one we had come upon suin-
cipnuy'm and level cox-’2» bud- U
minhand. Both charm rc-
mainedtossstheflght. Itwua
long and hideous alfair. out! there
9-;
not modify r.._\- wrath nor make less
miserable that xvi—ruched ride in the
wagonette. So I b‘iwi‘d out Davis
as a convicted horsc thief until he
soothed me by revealing that he had
got oi! 8 flow of the fight to a San
Francisco paper for which he would
0030c: C10. and under the glow of
Inspitootthatzodddinuerltenr
humiliated by my Man to tell
wt 1 had seen and b
‘ knew I ‘
. ag
“:53?"
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25
gig
is
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ii
a
a
fi
3
0
E,
‘E
mumbled, "I. ask forgiveness and I
forgivelw enemies.“ but than he
shouted, "When i'm [“00 tins world
won‘t be big enough to “'3 mo and
those who, tstificd 31.37 m.”
Again, and again he mu ‘ r-is
alter the priest, and u .. . . We
“with Maud an“: s. :' ~ .» p.
I 16“ no i‘éWlsion 'H’H!‘ v.r~ me
-— sight ,or. the unmatched? wen
at last the trapwss'sprimg. :This '
is mentioned as a fortunate temper;-
aneutal trait. because within» the
followingtwo or three years I was
punished to report six more execu— « '
tions by hanging each one'expected
to develop sensational featurlu,‘ an.
indeed. all but one did. I have often
wondered why. while yet a. cub re-
porter, I should have been assigned
to such stories in such numbers?
Truly. it is 'not comfortable to by
to worry out on answer to that
question. It invited self doubt‘in.
those early years to be selected to
cover stories which promised—es
city editors regard such things—to
Prov e especially frightful: scenes.
Did seem callous. cruel, ”gross? I
knew many fellow reporters who
seemed tougher. more hardened than
I. It maybe well that we do not see
“oursels as ithers see us.”
I shall refer now. so that-I need
not again. to two of those hanging
assignments, telling of some of the
uncruel incidents. M the only exec
cutton I reported in the San Fran-
dsco county Jail I made a desk for
my note paper on the back of the
reporter standing in front of me.
More than twenty. years later I was
one of the Representatives in Con-
trols appointed on a. committee to
meét Woodrow Wilson when he came
to Washington to be inaugurated
President. Senators. Representa-
tives. future Cabinet amour-s. Army
and Navy officers, two scone or so of
us stood inuhalf circle in the Union
Station special reception room. I
had noticed that a man next to no
had observed me with some interest,
and presently he asked: "Are you
hot Ned Townsend?" I said I was.
“I urn Wu Lane," he continued.
“I haven't seen you since we reported
a hanging together in SanFrancisco
And you wrote your copy on my
back." Mr. Lane was appointed 8co-
Mary of the Interior by President
.Wilson the next day.
I was sent to San Rafael. a suburb
of San Moo. to report the on.
cution of a man half Indian. half
Spaniard, who was suspected of hav-
ing murdered and robbed several
lone sportsmen fishing in a Marin
county trout stream. mid who had
been convicted of onoibuch murder.
On the day before the hanging.
after making my arrangements to
sit up all night with the condemned
niacin hisceleyinvariablepl-ao—
tine on those augments. I called
on Ambrose Bioros. than the most
conspicuous literary figure in (hil-
fornia. Bierce and I chatted on the
veranda of his San Rafael. cottage
for a time, and after he learned the
nature of my asslénmcnt he invited
. mainto his library. There he told
me thatvhe was a friend of the Sher-
iif; through him had me ac-
quainted with tho‘jlnuxie'rer" . ““06
1b return to Virginia (my. 0nd
~day'in‘ths‘m‘ rum nulls-
Carthy ma a letter. smiling and
thrcw‘it on his desk with a laugh. » ' '
pan/v asp .4 _ ‘
Mr. Ingcrsoll asked "Where are you goihg?”
hell to cool off.” the miner answer .
on him. often carrying him cigar-
ethos: gained his confidence. “and
here is the result," Blorce concluded.
He handed me a. bunch of copy pa-
per. on which he had written the
murderer‘s story. which bore this
caption: A Go-as-You-Piease Mur-
derer. '
It was the confession of either live
or six murders, all cold blooded. al.
ways done to rob lone wanderers by
stream or forest. "You may copy
this—I shall not use it-—and you
need not tell how you came by it ex~
cept to your dty editor if he demands
.7 your source." Bierce said. I ran the
story with my report and was
promptly accused of having imper-
counted a priest to obtain it. I think
I have never written this fact be‘
fore. and do so now in the hope that
it will be read by some of the old
time reporters. who, in their Bore-
ness in being "called" for not turn-
m in the confession with their re-
ports of the execution. had accused
me of masquerading as a. priest.
Well, nearly all newspaper scoops
\fall in by accident.
fl
“ToJ
editor for two papers he has started:‘
one in Aurora. one in Bodie." The
others in the office received this in-
formation with a like laugh. the
cause of which I did not know. But
I was excited by the remark. As
soon as I could speak with Mr. Mc-
Carthy alone I asked him? if I could
not take the position his letter had
teferred to. He discouraged me at
first. Aurora was an old mining
camp revived; Bodie, a new camp.
already had the reputation of being
"bad." "Kenyon. Mr. McCarthy
laughed, makes his living by start-
ing papers in new mining camps to
print the advertisements of mine lo-
cations fllcd in the United State
Land Offices. You would find the lib
rough, the work hard." But I per-
suaded my editor that I was eager
for just the conditions he described.
He wrote Kenyon about me. re-
ceived an answer to send me along
and the following afternoon I took
stage in Carson City for my trip up
the Sierra Nevada Mountains to edit
and wholly to write two mining
camp weekly newspapers.
Birds That
By EILEEN O'CONNOR.
B IRDB are more like human be-
ings than are any other mem-
kingdom. Miss
bers of the Iii-called“ lower
into. Pope, the
bird specialist ~ l “s that; this
is true and she is an authority on
bird life. who, in discussing Darwin.
maintains thst of all the forms 9!
Wittethobinlisnmtm
the human being“ his belt.
m tweniy-m years was rape
hulivedamong birds. ambula-
commutation for 800 1:1er or mammal
'0: m “‘w how “6 “mm -. DWI“ his feathered head against
on With street near Linco
Squat-a She has boarded than an
healed than and oduoam them. 8116
has set {hair broken ten and mended
their bmdcic hearts. She has
taught dam to sing in tune and.“
spa-J: in the accents of culture. She
“no! than In table manners
d Monti“ their characters. 810
' probably know: as much about the
habiuandchmterotbirc. in cap-a
iivltyasuiyouoolsoin the world.
' M An Vain a‘s Humans.
farm-a Pomona mum birds
an like hm; that they are vain.
him or unhappy. according to their
par-anal appearance They have the
housekeeping and house-caring tn-
ltinct. they sufler from neglect and
loneliness. they think, they learn
quickly. they are sensitive mid have
tindarstandiug. they have keen sym-
pathies. They have the some mal-
manhumanbaingsundarccured
by the some means. They are ten-
don man its ‘
,Tho habits of human beings are
quickly adopted by them One. of
hot- parrots makes his own bed; sev-
eral saw: they evince mane sorrow
when they have done wrong and,ars
willing to Inform: they imitate each
0th»; they have an Intense love of
tpprobation. - ,
’ ‘ Coco the Cock-too.
Coco-a $1.000 manna cocks. too:
has vain Isa motion picture actor
in his first starring season. When
'visitors appear he calls loudly to at-
tract attention. Then he spreads his
wide white wings. shakes his larga,_
heavil'ybeaked headahdloo‘ssns an.
pink feathers of his ruff train their
‘ neighbors, Every one whosoes his:
show thatrhugo pink-drelct of
feathers lays whatever-yous also
‘ hausaidsndCooo. msmucbjshak-,
in: or his ruff, malts fox-that ra-_
mark, “Mata mourning?”
.1... u, 1i. ohhchiealowundatopa his
Are Vain
He has heard and understood Miss
Pope's remark: "Coco is a linguist."
He proves it. Be speaks in a voice
curiously low and soft, the reverse of
what one expects from a parrot.
"How are you?" he inquires in Span-
isli, then French, and the same in-
quiry comes in English with the
anguorous politeness of an Ethel
Barrymore.
" C000 is a desperate flirt. He
perches on the shoulder or a woman
Malta! . who is well gowncd. Ho
revels in the silk or velvet response
of her fuhionablyvclad shoulder. He
her check and murmurs "Darling."
211691 Pope or one of her 'assistants
cries “Pickle Coco.” he laughs as
heartily as his breeding will permit.
Birds, Miss Pope regrets to say.
Ir! a! much inclined to gossip as
are hurfian beings. One at, her
patrons brought a bird to stay for
the summer at: the sanitarium. The
patron complained of her husband.
"Bob's drunk min,” she dmfided
in a tone of disgust to the head of
the bird hotel. The woman sailed
for Europe. she returned in the au-
tumn. Miss Pope returned the star-
ling to his home and remained to
lunch with his mistress and five of
her friends. ’
"How is Bob?" asked one of the
friends
Said the starting in a tone or‘pro-
found contempt: "Bob's drunk
again!“ V '
The Moteualfllnstlucl.’
Female blnla exhibit their matcr- ,
‘4
mi instinct not hex-elf in a bird
fashion but in I. startlingly human
way. In the cage or a yellow head
parrot was placed a doll and Hrs.
Yellowhead “awaited unlimited joy.
She attended to its toilet by plung-
ing it into her bathtub. That ting
uhcdahewenttothodoorofhcr
can and called loudly, “Miss Pops.
9h. Vim!” Hill Pope arrived.
saw the predicament, handed Julia a
square or cheesecloth and the bird
thatwaaafoster momcmvolyand
thoroughly wiped the" dropl of water
from m doll‘s body. m night she
desalted her perch‘Shc'layon her
back, in the cage :with the doll
clutched in the ambit-ace of an cute
' ”Ni 0W: m 3’3““- it.
éfiemu
. can humans can remember.
as Humans
would Miss Gray, the cuckatoo that
lives in the big gilded cage beside the
south window, always ring the bell in
her cage exactly at half-past twelve,
the feeding time? Not. twelve. 11
she rang the ball when the clock
struck the feat would not be so re-
markable. Half-past twelve is feed-
ing time. Miss Gray proclaims it to
all by ringing the dinner bell.
Clutching the hen in her right claw
she vigorously operates it. The sum-
mons is understood and is answered
by a rush to the doors and a clamor
in many keys by the other guests.
Molly 0's domestic instinct ex-
presses itself by sewing. She threads
a needle and sews seed into regularly
spaced and connected bags. Not con-
tent with this accomplishment she
braids strips of cloth in an effort to
convert a Clothespin into the sem-
blance of a doll. Give her enough
cloth and she would dress that
clothespin in imitation of a June
bride. She was discovered trying to
attach a long strip of cloth to the
head of a pin in the same majestic
way in which a veil begins its volu-
minous sweep.
Coco is not alone, though supreme,
among the bird 800 in his vanity. In
another room in the club is a blue
Autumn parrot that perches on a flat
pm of looking glass, preens and
struts and admires himself for a
1 quarter of an hour of intense enjoy-
ment. If he Weal‘ies of his Narcissus
like contemplation he merely rests
from his task by a. drink or a peck-
ing at his seed cup. and returns to
his pleasant avocation. Like Coco.
the blue Amazon, waltzcs in excellent
time. but like that white bird bache-
lor ho values alone.
' Jacob the Huge Black Crow.
Jacob is a huge black crow. Al-
though he came from Germany ho
sings Yankee Doodle with gusto. Bo
Blitz- the fits: Spangled Banner. at
least as much of it’s: most Ameri-
He at-
rived at the sanitarium amuch dis-
abled Tuition. Both of his legs had
been broken. ~Whilo the legs were
mandhigintheir eadng ofsptints ho
hadbolhlnbed. Hews: provided
with a tee mainla— and with tiny
sheets: While-hem recovering it:
Norwalk Chronicler