Show the prospector and his burro by will C higgins in our last conversation said the prospector to his burro 1 I told you about the unearned piece of good luck that befell scar face charley a mining camp roughneck when he started out to jump the queen isabel group about the first of a certain year and how when he realized because of a chance discovery that he was a man of property he became so inflated with his own importance that he took on at once as aspect of respectability and from that time on oil led an honest and useful life my tory story going to show that it is not always inherent with a man to be low lived and ornery and that such a condition very often comes with suffering poverty ignorance and oppression since we last had our campfire camp fire chat it has occurred to me how certain circumstances and conditions led to the conversion of an outlaw you say continued the prospector that such conversions must be rare as you know of an old outlaw jack down in piute diute county that no amount of civilizing influences could ever redeem from his evil ways and that I 1 will have to tell you a most convincing story to make you believe that any outlaw whether burro or man was ever induced to leave his crooked trail and walk in the straight path of the law this instance came under my iny own personal observation however and I 1 can vouch for its truthfulness it is now nearly twenty years since jared Os came to america all his life he had been kicked about and abused he was rebellious in spirit his hand was against every man and lie he hated and scorned every law and all order he had worked in the metal mines of the old country and lie soon secured employment in a big gold producer in california he had heard that america was a land of liberty but lie he did not know the true meaning of the word and confounded liberty with license at heart lie he was an anarchist and he held all law at defiance and lie he was restive under all restraint in course of time lie he became intimate with miners of his own stripe and beliefs men who defied all authority when they could and who felt hitter bitter against all who owned property or who occupied positions above them jared and his associates at every opportunity destroyed or injured whatever they could of company property as long as they could do so undiscovered and they soldiered on their jobs and gave in labor as little as they could during their hours of employment and for their pay little caring whether or not their services and labor were of use and benefit to their employer one day the foreman found them loafing on the job and cautioned them against a repetition of the offe nse the next night while on shift they caused an explosion in the mine that wrecked three levels and caused a shutdown for two months in this explosion three innocent miners were killed jared who was not suspected of the crime asked for his time and soon found employment in a mine in another county here he had trouble with the superintendent and one afternoon took a shot at him with a rifle as he was cohig from his office to the mine jared then took to the hills and for months was a fugitive from justice under an assumed name and disguise he later on 7 was given a oab in a producer in montana here he was as sullen and restive as a man could well be and there is no telling what act of cowardly violence he might have committees commit teed had it not been that one day he drove his drill in a missed hole and would have lost his life had it not been for heroic action on the part of the superintendent in who notwithstanding the deadly fumes risked his life in order to bring jared out from the wreck and into daylight jared was considerably mussed up as a result of the blast and with his broken bones and bruised flesh presented a pitiable sight he was nursed back to life however and for two months was in the miners hospital when he was able to get around again he was more of a human being than a wild beast and he really felt a spark of gratitude towards his benefactors and less resentment against the law instead of living in dives and vile joints he rented a room in the home of a respectable and worthy american miner and he began to save his wages A year later he met and married a domn of his own country and together they began the building of a home and the acquisition of property in due time children came to them and these at school age enjoyed educational advantages denied to jared and his wife when they were vere young As the years went by jared steadily advanced in the estimation and esteem of his employers hi his associates and of the residents of his camp his children made rapid advances in their studies much to the pride and satisfaction of their parents and the day came when jared was elected to membership in the city council and when one day there was an outbreak and riot among the outlaw miners of the district lie he was among the first to take a firm stand against such violations of the law for iby this time he had become thor hughly converted and was a firm advocate of law and order and a better american citizen it would be hard to find in any state or county 1 I want to tell you old long ears concluded the prospector prospect orp it is my belief that there is some good in every man it is sometimes the case that conditions tend to confirm an anarchist or an outlaw in his course and many such go to their graves with a misconception of what law and order really meant to them while every now and then the outlaw is converted and sees the error of his ways when this happens the redeemed outcast becomes a splendid citizen a staunch defender of law and order and an example to point to with pride and there you are and then some |