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NUSGETSOF GOLD
Some of the Largest Ever Struck
Were Found by Chance.
THE OLIVER MARTIN CHUNK.
It Was Turned Up fay a Miner Who
Was Digging a Grave For His
Drowned Comrade—A Starving Miner
Unearthed the “Welcome Stranger.”
Nowhere does fortune indulge her
love of the dramatic and the sensa¬
tional more fully than in the gold
fields.
Take, for instance, the story of
the discovery of the world famous
••Blanche Barkley” nugget in the early
days of Australian gold mining, which
sent a thrill around the world. Sam¬
uel Napier, a sailor, with his brother
Charles and one Robert Ambrose, their
cook and general handy man, had been
digging for gold for six months at
Kingower, about forty miles from Ben¬
digo, without discovering as much of
the precious metal as would pay their
living expenses, when one August day,
to tell the story in Napier's own words:
••We had dug down about fourteen
feet to the pipe clay stratum and were
shuffling around hi the bottom of the
shaft more dead than alive from the
heat. Old Ambrose lit his pipe and
leaned against the side of the hole to
rest. Just then I struck something
with my pick. I turned it up so the
light could strike it, and, by Jiminy,
it was a chunk of gold as big as a
hubbard squash!” The nugget sold for
$35,000.
Among the thousands who flocked to
the Victorian gold fields in the early
fifties were two Cornish miners, John
Deason and Richard Oates, who staked
a claim near the village of Mollaque.
They set to work with vigor, confident
that in a few months they would be
able to retire to their native Cornwall
rich men, but their expectations were
doomed to cruel disappointment Not
only months, but many years, passed
and found them still as far removed
from fortune as at the beginning, and
by 1869, fifteen years after they began
their search for gold, they were re¬
duced to the last straits. Starvation
stared them in the face.
In despair the miner seized his pick
and wandered away to the outskirts of
the gold field, and as he wandered,
downcast and heavy hearted, he no¬
ticed a gleam of yellow in a rut made
by a peddler’s cart Lifting his pick,
with a few frantic blows he brought to
light an enormous nugget which, with
Ml his strength, he could barely raise
aa inch from the ground. The nugget
which was soon known the world over
as the “Welcome Stranger,” actually
weighed two hundredweight and was
sold for nearly $50,000.
And these were but a few of the
many similar blocks of gold discovered
in Australia under equally dramatic
conditions. While a native shepherd
named Kerr was tending his sheep one
day his attention was arrested by a
yellow rock projecting a few inches
above the soil. In his excitement at
the discovery he ran to fetch his mas¬
ter. The rock was unearthed and
proved to be a nugget of two hundred¬
weight, from which 100 pounds of pure
gold were extracted.
A few years later another monster
nugget made its appearance at Balla¬
rat. A party of miners had worked a
claim to a depth of sixty yards when
one of them struck with bis pickax a
hard, irregularly shaped mass, which
on being unearthed proved to be a
block of almost pure gold twenty
Inches long, a foot wide and seven
Inches deep. Its weight was almost
one^ hundredweight and a quarter and
its value $46,625.
It was the periodical discovery at
Ballarat of these monster nuggets
which first fired the blood of the en¬
tire world in the faraway fifties. But
ocen Ballarat has no other romance to
rival that of the discovery of two huge
uuggets within a few days in the same
claim. The story runs that four miners
had worked their claim down to about
sixty feet when one of them brought
to light a nugget weighing nearly
one In hundredweight and worth $27,500.
their joy at such a rich treasure
trove the men abandoned the dig¬
gings and took their nugget with them
to England. They had scarcely left
Ballarat when their successors in the
claim, with almost the first stroke of a
Pick, turned over another nugget heav¬
ier than the first and valued at more
than $35,000.
Of all the romantic 6tories told of
gold discoveries in California not one
Is more remarkable than that of which
Oliver Martin was the hero. For
months Martin and a companion
uamed Flower had been prospecting
for gold to no purpose. Worn out by
hardships and half dead from starva¬
tion, they were on the point of aban
oning the quest in despair when fate
administered her last crushing blow.
J hey were overtaken by a terrible
*torm, in which Flower was drowned,
tartin, weak though he was* set to
^ork to dig his fellen comrade’s grave
the foot of a tree and had dug
•wn barely two feet when his spade
8 k a hard, unyielding substance,
w hieh, to his amazement and delight,
*" 'ed to be an enormous nugget, the
ir gest ever found on the American
continent The “Oliver Martin Chunk,”
hli t came to be known the whole
" jrid over, weighed 151 pounds 6
ounces and was the nucleus of a for¬
tune of a million dollars which Martin
^cumulated ^hirdaj Jovtnud. * yeftfia.—C mmATi
ALMON NEW8.
Rev. T. J. McWilliams preached a
Very Interesting .sermon here Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. D. T. Stone and at¬
tractive young daughter, Miss Bert,
of Oxford, spent Sunday afternoon
with Mr. and Mrs. George Dobbs.
Mrs. Alex. Ewings and little daugh¬
ter are visiting relatives at Jersey
this week.
Miss Mattie Lou Owens spent Sun¬
day with Miss Gertrude Hyatt.
Mr. W. S. Marbut spent Friday In
Atlanta.
Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Hawkins spent
Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. R. J. Win¬
gate.
Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Berry spent
Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. John Mc
Cart. !
Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Womack and
children of near Salem, visited Mr.
and Mrs. A. J. Wingate Sunday.
Miss Annie Dobbs spent Saturday
afternoon with Miss Mary Dobbs.
Miss Amber Coggin spent Sunday
with Miss Carrie Wingate.
Mrs. Woodie Ramey and children,
of Lithonia, spent Sunday with rela¬
tives here.
Miss Mattie Lou Owen®, of Fair
view, spent Saturdey afternoon with
Miss Rosalie Marbut. >
Mr. Leslie Hill, of Conyers, visited
a very dear friend here Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Otis Ray visited iMiss
Vashti Wingate Sunday afternoon.
We are sorry to note that Master
Pleasant Hyatt still continues very
ill. We wish (for him a speedy re¬
covery.
Dr. and Mrs. R. D. Archer, of Cov¬
ington, visited their parents here on
Sunday. '
Mrs. Leonard Sudduth and baby, of
Atlanta, are visiting Mr. and (Mrs.
Rice.
The wedding bells have begun to
ring. On last Sunday morning at
the home of Rev. M. iB. Sams, at
Salem, Miss Annie Dobbs and Mr.
Otis Ray were happily married, Rev.
Sams performing the ceremony. Miss
Dobbs is a young lady of elegant
character and has many friends here
while Mr. Ray is a prosperous young
fanner. We wish for them much
happiness and success.
JUst received 18000 yartfsl ef boat
quality ginghams, regular 7 and Be
quality, our price Is only 4 3-4c.
Louis Stein’s Bargain 6tone.
A Card cf Thanks,
We wish to thanlk our friends and
neighbors for their kindness shown
us during our sickness. 1 also wish
to thank my Mason, Odd Fellow and
Union Brothers for their brotherly
love shown us. And we thank our
physician for his faithful attendance
and kindness. Knowing I can never
reward them for their kindness.,may
God, who is able and ever willing to
reward every good deed, bless each
and every one of them.
A. WILSON AND FAMILY.
Before you send that next order of
printing out of town, allow us a bid.
————-— RIIIN80N8————
BLAGK IITTEIIS
The Breat Stomach Tunic
And Blood Purifier
———-———For Sale Everywhere——
THE COVINGTON NEWS, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1910.
FEWER FIRMS BANK¬
RUPT THAN IN 1909
ONLY 123 FIRMS TAKE PROCEED¬
INGS IN THE NORTHERN CIR¬
CUIT THIS YEAR. LARGE
PER CENT IN DECREASE. |
The number of individuals and
firms in the Northern district of
Georgia that filed petitions for bank¬
ruptcy during the government’s fis¬
cal year for 1910 was 123 less than
the petitions in 1909. The fiscal year
of the government ended June 30. A
compilation has just been made of
figures from the bankruptcy courts
for the Northern, district of Georgia.
These courts are at Atlanta, Athens,
Rome and Columbus.
The number of .petitions filed dur¬
ing 1910 was 317. The number filed
during 1909 was 440.
The total amount of the debts that
the petitioners, in 1910 said that they
owed was $2,588,419. The assets as
realized from this amount was $396,-
167.02. ‘
The records of the courts show
that in most of the larger bankruptcy
^ases the bankrupt paid at least a
part of his debts.
Yfhat about 12 cents outing at
• 1-2 cents? Lo(uis Stein’s Bargain
6tore, Home of Low Prices.
oeaxen xo a mummy.
Until pretty late in the eighteenth
century mummies entered into a great
variety of drugs, balms aud other
medlcamants. As the genuine mummy
was than expensive, recipes were giv¬
en by many ancient writers for con¬
verting human flesh into mummy.
Usually only certain portions of the
body were used, and these were beat¬
en, dried, macerated and spiced out of
•11 likenews to thHr natural condition,
hexre "beaten to • mummy." Numer¬
ous aDusloiia are made to the prac¬
tice ta aarteBt literature, and in an
oM p*ay, “Btrvl In a Cage,” are the
•treettons, “Make mummy of my flesh
•ad aeD m« to the apothecaries.”
Not So Green.
“Toon city chaps think yeou are
pretty smart don’t yeou?” drawled the
farm lad. "Ever been to one of our
spelling here?”
"Never had the pleasure,” responded
the city hoarder.
"Waal, by heck, yeou’ve missed a lot.
Now our favorite catchword is ice.”
"Why. that only has three letters.
Why should the word ice be so popu¬
lar?’
“Because it is easy to slip on. Ha,
ha, ha!”—Chicago News.
It’s Nature.
“I noticed in the store we visited to¬
day everybody was crowded around
the perfumery counter.”
“That’s not surprising."
“Why not?”
“Oughtn’t perfume naturally to be
a scenter of attraction?”—Baltimore
American.
The most completely lost of all days
is the one on which we have not
laughed.— Chamfort
Land For Sale.
I have 1 70 acres of land, about 125 acres of which is new
ground and balance in timber. A good dwelling, good barn and
two tenant bouses. On railroad and public road leading to At¬
lanta from Covington. This place is close to schools and will
make 60 bales of cotton, 200 bushels of corn and plenty of oats
and hay. Train stops in 100 yards of house twice a day and two
daily accommodations. Write me for prices.
C. H. HUNT, Covington, Ga,, Route No. 2.
xx Covington Made Wagons!
I am located in this city and am building all kinds X
of wagons, both farm and delivery, exactly like you
want them. My place is in same building with J. W.
Wright, in rear of Bank of Covington. I also do re
XK pair work on all kinds of vehicles. Give call. I
£ jg me a
X guarantee my work. Horse Shoeing a Specialty.
1H. F. Sanders, Prop. Covington, •
m
Notice* Odd Fellows.
Regular meetings held every second
and fourth Thursday night of each
month. All member® in good stand¬
ing cordially invited to meet with us.
J. J. CORLEY, N. G.
J. W. PEEK, Sect’y.—1 yr.
PAGE FIVE
The News , Printing plant begins the year 1910
better equipped than ever to turn out your
commercial printing. Give us your next order.
