"I was born in I856 in Kalamakee, Mich., of honest and reputable parents, one of whom
Heaven has mercifully spared to comfort me in my later years. In I867 the family came to
California and settled near Nigger Head, where my father opened a road agency and prospered
beyond the dreams of avarice. He was a reticent, saturnine man then, though his increasing
years have now somewhat relaxed the austerity of his disposition, and I believe that
nothing but his memory of the sad event for which I am now on trial prevents him from
manifesting a genuine hilarity.
"Four years after we had set up the road agency an itinerant preacher came along, and
having no other way
wow power leveling to pay for the
night's lodging that we gave him, favored us with an exhortation of such power that, praise
God, we were all converted to religion. My father at once sent for his brother the Hon.
William Ridley of Stockton, and on his arrival turned over the agency to him, charging him
nothing for the franchise nor plant - the latter consisting of a Winchester rifle, a sawed
-off shotgun, and an assortment of masks made out of flour sacks. The family then moved to
Ghost Rock and opened a dance house. It was called 'The Saints' Rest Hurdy-Gurdy,' and the
proceedings each night began with prayer. It was there that my now sainted mother, by her
grace in the dance, acquired the sobriquet of 'The Bucking Walrus.'
"In the fall of '75 I had occasion to visit Coyote, on the road to Mahala, and took the
stage at Ghost Rock. There were four other passengers. About three miles beyond Nigger
Head, persons whom I identified as my Uncle William and his two sons held up the stage.
Finding nothing in the express box, they went through the passengers. I acted a most
honorable part in the affair,
world of warcraft
power leveling placing myself in line with the others, holding up my hands and
permitting myself to be deprived of forty dollars and a gold watch. From my behavior no one
could have suspected that I knew the gentlemen who gave the entertainment. A few days
later, when I went to Nigger Head and asked for the return of my money and watch my uncle
and cousins swore they knew nothing of the matter, and they affected a belief that my
father and I had done the job ourselves in dishonest violation of commercial good faith.
Uncle William even threatened to retaliate by starting an opposition dance house at Ghost
Rock. As 'The Saints' Rest' had become rather unpopular, I saw that this would assuredly
ruin it and prove a paying enterprise, so I told my uncle that I was willing to overlook
the past if he would take me into the scheme and keep the partnership a secret from my
father. This fair offer he rejected, and I then perceived that it would be better and more
satisfactory if he were dead.
Topic: Vriendschap,teamwork en liefde (gelezen 1114 keer)