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Show H THE RETIREMENT OF LEE DON Hj "I wish to remark, H And my language is plain, H That for ways that are dark, H And for tricks that are vain H The heathen Chinee is peculiar; H Which the same I would rise to explain." H When Bret Harte penned the above, he had H in mind of course his experience with some of H the celestials of early California, hut the verse H has been applicable to most of tho race ever H since, especially in the dealings of the American- H ized Chinaman in western mining camps. To H show how cute they are and to what extent their H trickery is sometimes carried when they take it H into their heads to put one over is exemplified in H the following plain tale of the hills, an actual oc- H currence which happened here a week ago. H On Thursday last at the Alta Con boarding H house in Alta, the miners at the dinner hour came H in showing signs of suprcssed excitement which H finally got the better of them, and they began H to freely discuss the strike made in the property H during the day. All the time the Chinese cook H was shuffling about, bringing in food and taking H out dishes in a sleepy sort of way, but very much H awake as was subsequently proven. H With the meal over and work finished, the H cook quietly slipped out and hunted up another H representative of the flowery kingdom, one Lee H Don, in whose noodle everybody is home, whether it is at a quiet little card game or turning a trick of any kind that might mean financial guin. It was not thirty minutes until Lee Don was bundled up and on his way down through the heavy snow of Little Cottonwood in the night. In some mysterious way it was impossible to get Alta on the telephone, and those who tried to call Salt Lake could not hear anything from this end of the line. In the meantime Lee Don was trudging on and after a long hard fight, reached Sandy. It was but a short trip to the city on the Midvale car and one Chinaman after another was seen or telephoned to. No sooner had the brokerage offices opened Friday morning than the Chinamen began giving their orders for tho stock, and when the call opened the rail was lined with stolid faced celestials celes-tials watching the market. They gobbled all the cheap stock in sight and then awaited developments. develop-ments. In the meantime, the mine management was trying to get some news from the property and a representative was hurried up the canyon. Likewise he hurried back with rich samples and news of the strike, which was rumored during the entire day, and the stock steadily advanced until Saturday morning when the strike was confirmed and everyone began to buy at high price, Lee Don and his entourage unloaded and took the proceeds. It was one of the cutest coups ever negotiated in the mining speculative history of the state, and as a net result, there are a number of Chinamen who will not worry if the cold weather keeps up for six months. Needless to say, Lee Don and his friends of the Alta Con. are ready to retire. |