The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 26, 1897, Page 20

20 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, INDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1897. o7 ReT HARTE DON'T suppose that his progent- | tors ever gave him that name—or, | indeed, that it was a name at & but it was currently believed that—as pronounced “See Yup” —it meant that lifting of the outer angle of the eye, com- mon to the Mongolian. On the other hand I had been told that there was an old Chinese custom of affixing some motto or legend—or even & sen- | tence from Confuclus—as a sign above their shops, and that two or more | words which might be merely equiva- lent to “Virtue is its own reward,” or | “Riches are deceltfu -re belleved by the simple Californian miner to be the name of the occupant himself. How- | belt, “See Yup” accepted it with the smiling patience of his race, and never went by any other. If one of the tunnel men always addressed him as “Briga- dier-General,” “Judge” or ‘“Commo- dore,” it was understood to be only the | American fondness for ironic title, and | was never used except In personal con- versation. In appearance he looked like any other Chinaman, wore the or- dinary blue cotton blouse and white drawers of the Sampan coolie, and, 1n | spite of the apparent cleanliness and | freshness of these garments, always exhaled that singular medicated odor— half opium, half ginger—which we rec- ognized as the common “Chinese smell.” Z Our first interview was characteris- tic of his patient quality. He had done my washing for several months, but I had never yet seen him. ‘A meeting at last had become necessary to correct his impressions regarding ‘‘buttons”— which he had seemed to consider as mere excrescences, to be removed like superfluous dirt from soiled linen. I| had expected him to call at my lodg- ings, but he had not yet made his ap-~ pearance. One day, during the noon- tide recess of the little frontier school over which 1 presided, I returned rather earl Two or three of the smaller boys, who were loitering about the schoolyard, disappeared with a cer- tain guilty precipitation that I sus- pected for the moment, but which I presently dismissed from my mind. I passed through the empty schoolroom to my desk, sat down and began to prepare the coming lessons. Presently 1 heard a faint sigh. Looking up, to my intense concern, I discovered a solitary Chinaman whom I had over- looked sitting in a rigid attitude on a bench with his back to the window. He caught my eye and smiled, sadly, but without moving. “What are you doing here?” I asked sternly. “Me washee shilts; tons.” ” “Q, you're ‘See Yup,’ are you?” “Allee same, Joh “Well, come here.” 1 continued my work, but he did not move. “Come here, hang it! derstand?” “Me shabbee. ‘comme yea.” But me| no shabbee Mellikan boy, who catchee me, allee same. You ‘comme yea,’ you shabbee?” Indignant, but believing that the un- fortunate man was still in fear of per- secution from these mischievous urch- ins whom I had evidently just inter- rupted, I put down my pen and went over to him. Here I discovered to my surprise and mortification that his long pigtail was held hard and fast by the closed window behind him, which the young rascals had shut down upon it, | after having first noiselessly fished it outside with hook and line. I apolo- gized, opened the window and released him. He did not complain, although he must have been fixed in that uncom- fortable position for some minutes, but plunged at once into the business that brought him there. “But why didn't you come to my lodgings?” I asked. He smiled sadly, but intelligently. “Mishtel Bally (Mr. Barry, my land- lord), he owee me five dollee for washee, washee. He no payee me. He say he knockee hellee outee me allee timee I come for payee. So me no come | house, me come schoolee. Shabbee? | Mellikan boy no good, but not so big | as Melllkan man. No can hurtee Chi- naman so much. Shabbee?” Alas! I knew that this was mainly | true. Mr. James Barry was a gentle- man whose finer religious feelings re- volted against paying money to a heathen. I could not find it in my heart to say anything to See Yup about the buttons; indeed, I spoke in compli- mentary terms about the gloss of my shirts, and I think I meekly begged him to come again for my washing. When I went home I expostulated with Mr. Barry, but succeeded only in ex- tracting from him the conviction that 1 was one of “thim black Republican fellys that worshiped naygurs.” I had slmply made an enemy of him. But I| did not know that, at the same time, I me talkee ‘but- Don’t you un- later by the appearance on my desk of a small pot containing a specimen of Camellia Japonica in flower. I knew the school children were in the habit of making presents to me in this furtive fashion—leaving their own nosegays of wild flowers, or perhaps a cluster of roses from their parents’ gardens—but I also knew that this exotic was too rare to come from them. I remember that See Yup had a Chinese taste for gardening, and a friend, another Chi- naman, who kept a large nursery in the adjoining town. But my doubts were set at rest by the discovery of a small roll of red rice papet containing my washing bill, fastened to the camel- lia stalk. It was plain that this ming- ling of business and delicate gratitude was clearly See Yup's own idea. As the finest flower was the topmost one, I plucked it for wearing, when I found to my astonishment th_t it was simply red to the stalk. This led me to look t the others, which I found also wired! More than that, they seemed to be an inferior flower, and exhaled that cold, earthy odor peculiar to the ca- mellia, even, as I thought, to an ex- cess. A closer examination resulted in the discovery that, with the exception of the first flower I had plucked, they were one and all ingeniously construct- ed of thin slices of potato, marvelously cut to imitate the vegetable waxiness and formality of the real flower. The work showed an infinite and almost pathetic patience In detail, yet strange- ly incommensurate with the result, | admirable as it was. Nevertheless, this was also like See Yup. But whether he had tried to deceive me, or whether | he only wished me to admire his skill, | T could not say. And as his persecu- tion by my scholars had left a bal- | ance of consideration in his favor, I sent him a warm note of thanks and said nothing of my discovery. As our acquaintance progressed I became frequently the reciplent of other small presents from him; a pot of preserves of a quality I could not purchase in shops, and whose contents in their crafty, gingery dissimulation so defied definition that I never knew whether they were animal, vegetable or mineral; two or three hideous Chinese | 1dols, “for luckee,” and a diabolical firework with an irregular spasmodic activity that would sumetrmes be pro- longed until the next morning. In re- turn, I gave him some apparently | hopeless oral lessons in English, and | certain sentences to be copied, which | he did with marvelous precision. I re- member one instance when this pecu- liar faculty of imitation was disastrous in result. In setting him a copy, I had blurred a word, which I promptly eras- ed, and then traced the letters more distinctly over the scratched surface. To my surprise, See Yup triumphantly produced his copy with the erasion it- self carefully imitated and, in fact, much more neatly done than mine. In our confidential intercourse I never seemed to really get nearer to him. His sympathy and simplicity ap- peared like his flowers—to be a good humored imitation of my own. I am satisfied that his particularly soulless laugh was not derived from any amusement he actually felt, yet I could not say it was forced. In his ac- curate imitations I fancied he was only trying to evade any responsibility of his own. That devolved upon his taskmaster! In the attention he dis- played when new ideas were presented to him there was a slight condescen- sion as if he were looking down upon them from his 3000 years of history. “Don’t vou think the electrical tele- graph wonderful?” 1 asked one day. “Velly good for Mellican man,” he said, with his aimless laugh; ‘“plenty makee him jump!” 1 never could tell whether he had confounded it with electro-galvanism or was only satirizing our American haste and feverishness. He was capa- ble of either. For that matter, we knew that the Chinese themselves pos- sessed some means of secretly and quickly communicating with each oth- er. Any news of good or ill import to their race was quickly disseminated through the settlement before we knew anything about it. An innocent bas- ket of clothes from the wash, sent up from the river bank, became in some way a library of information; a single slip of rice paper aimlessly fluttering in the dust of the road had the myste- rious effect of diverging a whole gang of coolie tramps away from our settle- ment. When See Yup was not subject, to the persecutions of the more ignorant and brutal he was always a source of amusement to all, and I cannot recall an instance when he was ever taken seriously. The miners found diversions even in his alleged frauds and tricker- ies, whether innocent or retaliatory, and were fond of relating with great gusto his evasion of the “foreign min- bhad made a friend of See Yup! I hecame aware of this a few days) ers’ tax.” This was an oppressive measure, almed principally at the Chi- nese, who humbly worked the worn- out “tailings” of their Christian fel- low-miners. It was stated that See Yup, knowing the difficulty—already alluded to—of identifying any particu- lar Chinaman by name, conceived the additional idea of confusing recogni- tion by intensifying their monotonous fecial expressions. Having paid his tax himself to the collector, he at once passed the receipt to his fellows, so that the collector found himself con- fronted in different parts of the settle- ment with the receipt and the aimless laugh of, apparently, See Yup himself! Although we all knew that there were a dozen Chinamen or more at work at the mines, the collector was never able to collect the tax from more than two great was their factal reremblance that the unfortunate official for a long time hugged himself with the convi tion that he had made “See Yup” pay twice and withheld the money from the Government! It Is very probable that the Californian’s recognition of the sanctity of the joke, and his belief that “cheating the Government was only cheating himself,” largely ac- of the miners. But these sympathies were not al- ways unanimous. One evening I strolled into the bar- room of the principal “saloon,” { went, was also the principal house in the settlement. The first rains had commenced; for the influence of the southwest trades penetrated even this far-off mountain mining settlement, but odd- ly enough there was a fire in the large central stove, around which the min- ers had .collected with their steaming boots elevated on a projecting iron railing that encircled it. They stove formed a social pivot for gossip, and suggested that mystic circle dear to the gregarious instinct. Yet they were decidedly a despondent group. For some moments the silence was only broken by a gasp, a sigh, a mut- tered oath or an impatient change of position. There was nothing in the fortunes of the settlement, nor in their own individual affairs, to suggest this gloom. The . singular truth was that they were, one and all, suffering from the pangs of dyspepsia. Incongruous as such a complaint might seem to their healthy environ- ment—their outdoor life, their daily exercise, the healing balsam of the mountain air, their enforced temper- ance in diet and the absence of all enervating pleasures—it was never- theless the incontestable fact. ‘Whether it was the result of the nerv- ous, excitable temperament which had brought them together in this fever- ish hunt for gold; whether it was the quality of the tinned meats or half- cooked provisions they hastily bolted, begrudging the time it took to prepare and to consume them; whether they too often supplanted their meals by tobacco or whisky, the singular physiological truth remained that —"See Yup” and one“See Yin"—and so | | symptoms of these grown-up bearded counted for the sympathies of the rest | were | not attracted by the warmth, but the | which, | as far as mere upholstery and comtort | feunns | his | nev The Miners Were Amazed at the Amoant of Gol the windows were open, | | were evidently struck with the fact. these young, finely selected adven- turers, living the lives of the natural aboriginal man, and looking the pic- ture of health and strength, actually suffered more from indigestion than the pampered dwellers of the cities! The quantity of “patent medicines,” “bitters,” “pills,” ‘“panaceas” and “lozenges” sold in the settlement al- most exceeded the amount of the regular provisions whoae eifects they wern supposed to correst. The suffer- ers eagerly scanned advertisements and placards. There were occasional “runs” on new “specifics,” and gen- eral conversation eventually turned into a discussion of their respective merits. A certain childlike faith and trust in each new remedy was not the least pathetic and distressing of the men. “Well, gentlemen,” sald Cyrus Parker, glancing around at his fellow- sufferers, ** ye kin talk of your patent medicines, and TI've tackled 'em all, but only the other day I struck suthin’ that I'm goin’ to hang on to, you bet!” Every eye was turned moodily to the speaker, but no one said anyshing And I didn’t get it outer advertise- ments nor off of circulars! I got it | outer my head, just by solid think- ing,” continued Parker. “What was it, Cy?” sophisticated and said one un- inexperienced suf- Instead of replying Parker, like a true artist, knowing he had the ‘ear of audience, dramatically flashed. a question upon them. “Did you ever hear of a Chinaman having dyspepsy?” ever heard he had sabe enough to anything,” said a scorner. “No, but did ye?" insisted Parker. “Well, no,” chorused the group. They Brought to Light. “Of course you didn’t,” said Parker, triumphantly. “Cos they ain't. Well, genl-mun, it didn’'t seem to me the square thing that a pesky lot o' yel- low-skinned heathens should be built different to a white man and never know the tortur that a Christian feels, and one day, arter dinner, when I was just a-lyin’ flat down on the bank, squirmin’ and clutchin’ the short grass to keep from yellin’, who should go by but that pizenous See Yup, with a grin on his face. “ ‘Mellican man plenty playee to him joss after ehtin’,’ sez he; ‘but China- man smellee punk, allee same, and no hab got." “I knew the slimy cuss was just pur- tendin’ he thought T was prayin’ to my Joss, but I was that weak I hadn't stren’th, boys, to heave a rock at him. Yet it gave me an idea.” “What was it?" they asked eagerly. “I went down to his shop the next day, when he was alone, and I was feeling mighty bad, and I got hold of his pigtail and I allowed I'd stuff it down his throat if he didn’t tell me what he meant. Then he took a piece of punk and lit it and put it under my nose, and darn my skin, gentlemen, you migh'n’t believe me, but in a min- ute I felt bettér, and after a whiff or two I was all right.” “Was it pow'ful strong, Cy?” asked the inexperienced one. “No,” said Parker, “and that's just what’'s got me! It was a sort ‘o dreamy, spicy smell, like a hot night. But as I couldn’t go ‘round 'mong you boys with a lighted piece of punk in Fourth of July firecrackers, I asked him if he couldn't fix me up suthin’ in another shape that would be Han- dier to use when I was took bad, and I'd reckon to pay him for it like ez I'd pay for any other patent medicine. So he fixed me up this!" He put his hand in his pocket and drew out a small red paper, which, when opened, disclosed a pink powder. It was gravely passed around the group. “Why, it smells and tastes like gin- ger,” said one. “It is only ginger,” scornfully. “Mebbe it is and mebbe it isn’t,” re- turned Cy Parker stoutly. “Mebbe ut's only my fancy. But if it's the sort o’ stuff to bring on that fancy, and that fancy cures me, it's all the same! I've got about $2 worth of that fancy, or that ginger, and I'm going to stick to it. You hear me!” And he carefully put it back in his pocket. At which criticism and gibes broke forth. If he (Cy Parker), a white man, was going to “demean himself” by consulting a Chinese quack, he'dbetter buy up a lot o’ idols and stand 'em up around his cabin! If he had that sort o' confidence with See Yup he ought to go to work with him on his cheap taillngs and be fumigated all at the same time. If he’d been smoking an opium pipe instead of smelling punk, he ought to be man enough to confess it! Yet it was noticeable that they were all very anxious to examine the packet again, but Cy Parker was alike indifferent to demand or entreaty. A few days later 1 saw Abe Wyn- ford, one of the party, coming out of See Yup's washhouse. He muttered something in passing about the infa- mous delay in sending home his wash- ing, but did not linger long in conver- sation. The next day I met another miner at the washhouse, but he lin- gered so long on some trifiing details that I finally left him there alone with Bee Yup. When I called on Poker Jack-of Shasta, there was a singular smell of incense in his cabin, which he attributed to the very resinous qual- ity of the fir logs he was burning. I did not attempt to probe these mys- teries by any direct appeal to See Yup himself. I respected his reticence; in- deed, if I had not I was quite satisfied that he would have lied to me. Enough that his washhouse was well patron- ized, and he was decidedly ‘“getting said another, wards that Dr. Duchesne was setting a broken bone in the settlements, and after the operation was over, had strolled into the Palmetto saloon. He was an old army surgeon, much re- spected and loved in the district, al- though perhaps a little feared for the honest roughness and military preci- sion of his speech. After he had ex- changed salutations with the miners in his usual hearty fashion, and ac- cepted their invitation to drink, Cy Parker, with a certain affected care- lessness which did not, however, con- ceal a singular hesitation in his speech, began— “I've been wantin’ to ask ye a ques- tion, Doc—a sort o' darned rool ques- tion, ye know—nothing in the way of consultation, don’'t you see, tho' it's kinder in the way o' your purfes: L Beber ! v P hun. “Go on, Cy,” sald the doctor good- humoredly, “this is my dispensary hour.” “Oh, it ain’t anything about symp- toms, Doc, and there ain't anything the matter with me. It's only just to ask ye if ye happened to know any- thing 'about the medical practice of these yer Chinamen?" “1 don’t know,” said the doctor bluntly, “and I don’t know anybody who does.” There was a sudden silence in the bar, and the doctor, putting down his | glass, continued with slight profes- sional precision: “You see, the Chinese know nothing of anatomy from personal observation. Autopsies and dissection are against their superstitions, which declare the human body sacred, and are conse- quently never practiced.” There was a slight movement of in- quiring interest among the party and Cy Parker, after a meaning glance at the others, went on half aggressively, half apologetically: “In_course, they ain't surgeons like you, Doc, but that don’t keep them from having their own little medicines, just as dogs eat grass, you know! Now, I want to put it to you, as a fair- minded man, if you mean ter say that jest because these old women who sarve out yarbs and spring medicines in families don’t know anythin of anatomy, that they ain’t fit to giv us their simple and nat'ral medi- cines?” “But the Chinese medicines are not simple nor natural,” replied the doc- tor, coolly. “Not simple?” echoed the party, clos- ing round him. “I don't mean to sa: continued the doctor, glancing around at their eager, excited faces with an appearance of wonder, “that they are positively no: fous, unless taken in large quantitie: for they are not drugs at all, but I ce tainly should not call them ‘simp Do you know what they principally are?” Well, no,” said Parker, cautiously, “perhaps not exactly.” “Come a little closer and TI'll tell you.” Not only Parker’s head, but the oth- ers were bent over the counter. Dr. Duchesne uttered a few words in a| tone inaudible to the rest of the com- pany. There was a profound silence, broken at last by Abe Wynford's voice: “Ye kin pour me out about thrie fingers o’ whisky, Barkeep! I'll take it straight.” “Same to me,” said the others. The men gulped down their liquor; two of them quietly passed out. The doctor wiped his lips, buttoned his coat | and began to draw on his riding gloves. 4 heerd.” id Poker Jack of Shasta, with a faint smile on his white | face, as he toyed with the last drops of | ® Hquor in his g “that the darned fools someti mell punk as a medi- cine, en?” “Yes, that's comparatively decent,” | sald the doctor, reflectively. “It's only | sawdust mixed with a little gum and formic acid.” ruder times and more reckless camps raids were often made by ruffians on their cabins or their traveling gangs, but never with any pecuniary result. This condition, however, it seemed was destined to change. One Saturday See Yup walked into Wells, Fargo & Co.'s express office with a package of gold dust, which, when duly weighed, was valued at $500. It was consigned to a Chinese company in San Francisco. When the clerk handed See Yup a receipt he remarked casually: “Washing seems to pay, See Yup.” “Washee velly good pay. You wantee washee, John?” said See Yup, eagerly. “No, no,” sald the clerk with a “I was only thinking $500 present the washing of a good o lepiesent washee shirts at all! Catchee gold dust when washee tail- ings. Shabbee?” The clerk did ‘“shabbee,” and lifted his eyebrows. The next Saturday See Yup appeared with another package worth about $400, directed to the same consignee. “Didn’t pan out quite so rich this week, eh?” said the clerk, engagingly. “No,” returned See Yup, impassive- 1y; “next time he payee more.” When the third Saturday came with the appearance of See Yup and $450 worth of gold dust the clerk felt he was no longer bound to keep the se- cret. He communicated it to others, ‘and in twenty-four hours the whole settlement knew that See Yup's coolie company were taking out an average of $400 per week from the refuse and tailings of the old abandoned Palmet- to claim! The nishment of the settlement was profound. In earlier days jeal- and indignation at the success of e degraded heathen might have taken a more active and aggressive shape, and it would have fared ill wit See Yup and his companions. settlement h ous and law-abiding. There were one or two Eastern families and some for- eign capital already there,and its jeal- ousy and indignationwere restricted to severe investigation and legal ecriti- cism. Fortunately for See Yup, it was an old-established mining law that an abandoned claim and its tailings be- came the property of whoever chose to work it. But it was alleged that the See Yup Company had in reality “struck a lead”—discovered a hitherto unknown vein or original deposit of Wot's that?” peculiar acid secreted by is supposed to be used by | \ly in warfare—just as the skunk, eh? But Poker Jack of Shasta had hur- riedly declared that he wanted to speak to a man who was passing and had disappeared. The doctor walked to the door, mounted nts horse and rode away. I noticed, however, that | there was a slight smile on his bronzed, | impassive face. This led me to won- der if he was entirely ignorant of the | purpose for which he had been que tioned and the effect of the Informa I was confirmed in the belief by the remarkable circumstances that | nothing more was said of it; the inci- | “Formic acid? “A very It i | dent seemed to have terminated there, | and the victims made no attempt to revenge themselves on See Yup. That | they had one and all, secretly and un- Known to each other, patronized him, | there was no doubt, but, at the same time, as they evidently were not sure that Dr. Duchesne had not hoaxed | them in regard to the quality of See Yup's medicines, they knew that an attack on the unfortunate ‘Chinaman | would in either case reveal their se- cret and expose them to the ridicule | of their brother miners. So the matter | dropped, and See Yup remained master | of the situation. | Meantime he was prospering. 'The | coolie gang he worked on the river, | when not engaged in washing clothes, | were “picking over” the “tailings” or refuse of gravel left on abandoned claims by successful miners. As there | was no more expense attending this than in stone-breaking or rag-pick- ing and the feeding of the coolies, | which was ridiculously cheap, there | was no doubt that See Yup was reap- ing a fair weekly return from it, but | as he sent his receipts to San Fran- | cisco through a coolie manager after the Chinese custom and did not use the regular express company, there was no way of ascertaining the amount. Again, nelther See Yup nor his fellow-countrymen ever appeared to have any money about them. In | of their examination. | property, gold not worked by the previous cor pany—and, having failed legally to de- clare it by pre-emption and public stry in their foolish desire for se- 4 had thus forfeited their right to the property. A surveillance of their work, however, did not establish this theor; The gold that See Yup had away was of the kind that might have been found in the tailings over- looked by the late Palmetto owners. Yet it was a very large yield for mere refuse. “Them Palmetto boys were mighty keerless after they'd made their big ‘strike’ and got to work on the vein, and I reckon they threw a lot of gold away,” said Cy Parker, who remem- bered their large-handed recklessness in the “flush days.” “On’y that we didn’t think it was white man’s work to rake over another man’s leavin's, we might hev had what them derned Chinamen hev dropped into. Tell y= hat, boys, we've been a little too ‘high and mighty,’ and we’ll hev to climb down.” At last the excitement reached its climax, and diplomacy was employed to effect what neither intimidation nor espionage could secure. Under the pretense of desiring to buy out See Yup’s company, a select committea of the miners was permitted to examine the property and its workings. Th found the great bank aof stomes a gravel represnting the cast-out debi, of theold claim occupied by See Yu and four or five plodding automatic coolies. At the end of two hours the committee returned to the saioon, bursting with excitement. They spoke under thcir breath, but enough was gathered to satisfy the curious crowd that See Yup's pile of tailings was rich beyond their expectations. The com- mittee had seen with their own eyes gold taken out of the sand and gravel to the amount of $20 in the short hours And the work had been performed in the stupidest, clumsiest, yet patient Chinese way. What might not white men do with better appointed machinery! A syn- dicate was at once formed. See Yup was offered $20,000 if he would sell out and put the syndicate in possessicn of the elaim in twenty-four hours. The Chinaman received the offer stolidly. As he seemed inclined to hesitate, I am grieved to say that it was intimat- ed to him that if he declined he might be subject to embarrassing and ex- pensive legal prosecutions to prove his and that companies would ed to ‘prospect” the ground on de of his head of tailings. See Yup at last consented, with the proviso that the money should be paid in gold into the hands of a Chinese agent in San Frdancisco on the day of the de- livery of the claim. The syndicate made no opposition to this character- istic precaution of the Chinaman. It was like them not to travel with be form | money, and the implied uncompliment- ary suspicion of danger from the com- munity was overlooked. See Yup de- | parted the day that the syndicate took possession. He came to see me before < he went. I congratulated him upon his good fortune; at the same time I was embarrassed by the conviction that he was unfairly forced into a sale of his property at a figure far below its real value. I think differently now. At the end of the week it was said that the new company cleared up about $300. This was not as much as the company had expected, but the syndi- cate was apparently satisfied, and the machinery was put up. At the end of the next week the syndicate was silent as to returns. One of its members | made a hurried visit to San Francisco. It was said that he was unable to see either See Yup or the agent to whom the money was paid. It was also no- ticed that there was no Chinaman re- maining in the settlement. Then the fatal secret was out. The heap of tailings had probably never ylelded the See Yup company more than §20 a week, the ordinary wage of such a company. See Yup had conceived the brilliant idea of ‘“‘boom- ing” it on a borrowed capital of $500 in gold dust, which he openly tr: mit- ted by express to his confederate and creditor in San Francisco, who in turn secretly sent it back to See Yup by coolie messengers, to be again openly transmitted to San Francisco. The package of gold dust was thus passed backward and forward between debtor o grave edification of and creditor, to t the express company and the fatal cu- riosity of the settlement. When the svndicate had gorged the bait thus thrown out, See Yup, on the day the | self-invited committee inspected the claim, promptly “salted” the tailings by conscientiously distributing the gold dust over it =o deftly that it appeared to be its natural composition and vielk I have © hid farewell to Sgee Yup. ose this reminiscence of a misunderstood man, by adding fthe opinion of an eminent jurist in San Francisco, to whom the facts were sub- mitted Qo clever was this alleged fraud, that it Is extremety doubtful if an sction would lie against See Yup in the pre there being no legal evi- dence of ever of his act goid dust was the ordin tailings, that implication resting en- girely with the committee who exam- fned it under falee pretense, and who subsequently forced the sale by in- eld of the | timidation.™ ) h But th ad become more prosper