Book 70 Part 2

EVENING CHRONICLE VIRGINIA CITY, NEVADA. SATURDAY...NOVEMBER 24, 1894

BENNER TAKES WATER.

Hechinger Takes Beer -- The Fat Man Who Was to be Carried to the Top of Mount Davidson Backs Out.

Leo Hechinger, who became celebrated in this region a couple of years ago by carrying a keg of beer to the top of Mount Davidson and back on a wager, came to Virginia from Carson today to perform even a more wonderful feat. The feat in question was nothing less than the carrying of "Fatty" Benner, a man who weights 240 pounds, to the same place and back. Hechinger made a bet before election that Judge Rising would be elected. He agreed that in case Rising was defeated to perform this feat described. This event having happened, he came to Virginia today to pay the forfeit as stipulated.

A number of people hoped to witness the promised performance, but they were doomed to disappointment. When Hechinger drove down to the C. & C. dump this afternoon for the purpose of getting Benner for the trip up the mountain, the latter declined point blank to go.

He declined to trust his precious 240 pounds to the tender care of Hechinger, and authorized the latter to treat himself and his friends at his expense. Hechinger accordingly came to town and drank with his friends to his adversary's discomfiture, while the latter toiled away and filled up on water.

As there was no agreement as to the way Hechinger should hold or carry Benner, the latter was probably wise to throw up the sponge. It would have been anything but funny to have been slung over Hechinger's back by the heels and lugged even a short ways. It is doubtful that Hechinger could have carried the fat man all the way proposed, but he could probably have carried him far enough to make him very sick. Then, if he had wearied, he could have dropped him into a prospect hole.

DRIFTING AWAY.

Drifting away from each other, Silently drifting apart; Nothing between but the world's cold screen, Nothing to lose but a heart.

Only two lives dividing More and more day by day; Only one soul from another soul Steadily drifting away.

Only a man's heart striving Bitterly hard with its doom; Only a hand tender and bland Slipping away in the gloom.

Nothing of doubt or wrong; Nothing that either can cure; Nothing to shame; nothing to blame; Nothing to do, but endure.

The world cannot stand still, Tides ebb and women change; Nothing here that is worth a tear, One love less, nothing strange.

Drifting away from each other, Steadily drifting apart; No wrong to each that the world can reach, Nothing lost -- but a heart!

Barton Grey.

Santa Clara, Cal, Dec 1, 1894

Dear Papa,

I know you are thinking, whenever you think of me, what a thoughtless, neglectful girl I am not to answer your letter received just a few days after I came back this fall, but indeed I haven't meant to be neglectful, for I have thought of you often and lovingly, and am going to write a good long letter now to make up for loss time.

Thanksgiving came and went very pleasantly, and after the feast was over, and the guests departed, I read once more with a thrill of pride, about that first Thanksgiving of the Pilgrim fathers, "on the wild New England shore," and the bountiful autumn feast they shared there in the woods, in the hazy Indian summer weather. I think we may well feel proud of such ancestors, when we realize what that first Thanksgiving meant to them.

Our frosty weather is beginning and this morning is quite drafty and cold and everything is coated with white. The regular winter rains have not set in yet, but I guess they will before long, and farmers are beginning to hope they will. Aunt Eunice has not had the ploughing begun yet but she probably will before long because everyone around us is ploughing. Uncle Seth's death will not prevent her from carrying on the place just as well as when he was alive, for she always had far more business capability than he had.

She is anxious to sell as soon as possible and build on the lot in town which has been waiting so long, but there seems to be almost no sale for property now, and she is afraid it will not be long before she will have to sell the lot. There are so many bills to be met, for Uncle Seth's burial expenses, gravestone, etc. He is buried in a quiet corner of the cemetery out on the Santa Clara and Los Gatos road, and we go out every Sunday with flowers for his grave. It is so much pleasanter to think of him in peaceful rest, than to remember how he suffered all the last part of his life. He died very peacefully, just like one going to sleep and we couldn't help feeling relieved, when we realized that he was out of misery.

Mis Ella Morton from San Francisco is spending a few days with us, and we are only too glad to have her here for she is the pleasantest of company, always cheerful and gay. She says she remembers visiting Virginia a good many years ago, and being conducted through the mines by you, and wishes me to remember her to you.

I am getting along pleasantly in school, and I hope you will be pleased to know that I am working hard to reflect honor and credit on the illustrious name of Doten. This is my last year you know, and the end of June will find me blossomed out into a hopeful young teacher equipped for the duties of life as far as a roll of parchment and three years of hard work behind it can equip me. Then we shall see what grand things I will do, with a long life of usefulness before me, and opportunities on all sides. I have built lots of air-castles about you and Mamma and all the rest, but I shan't tell you what any of them are until I see them begin to take visible shape in substantial brick and mortar, or something else that is durable. I realize what a splendid opportunity Aunt Eunice is giving me and cannot be too grateful to her, or work hard enough to improve it.

Cousin Mabel, I see, has finished her course at the normal school at Bridgewater, and is already teaching in a good position, where I am sure she will do well, and I guess the assistance she is able to give will be very welcome, for I don't believe the Memorial pays very well, amd know it has been a hard struggle to get Mabel through school.

I have not heard from home since Thanksgiving, but I hope it was a pleasant day there and that there was something to be thankful for. I longed very much to be there, and was there in spirit, as I am sure you were. How I do hope you can be with them Christmas day. I am not sure you would know me any more, it is so long since we have seen each other, I shouldn't wonder if you would pass me on the street, dimly wondering why that good looking young lady bowed to you. I just wish I could drop in on you some day suddenly and startle you by playing "On the Road to Boston," on the old violin which gives me untold pleasure.

Well this letter is quite long already, and I might make it a good deal longer, but guess I won't or you won't be in any hurry to get another. I hope you will be pleased to get this and that it won't find you too busy to write to me when you can. Goodbye now with ever and ever so much love,

Your loving daughter, Bessie Doten.

Aunt Eunice says she was glad to get your letter, that it was very welcome at the time, coming as it did. She sends her dear love and says she will write soon.

Aunt Cordelia writes that Uncle Sam is getting quite old and rather feeble, that he is quite dried up and seems to her eyes to shrink more every day. His health has been rather poor for a long time.

B. T. D.

NEVADA STATE JOURNAL. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1894.

Lecture at the High School.

Mrs. M. S. Doten will deliver the second lecture of her course at the High School room, brick building at 2:30 this afternoon. The subject will be "Mohammed." Mrs. Doten is an interesting speaker and doubtless will deliver an instructive lecture. The public is cordially invited to attend.

RENO EVENING GAZETTE December 8, 1894

WOMAN SUFFRAGE.

Very Interesting Article from the Pen of Mrs. Doten.

EDITOR GAZETTE: As you have kindly asked me to give an expression of my opinions on the great question of the day, "Woman Suffrage," I will endeavor to do so; though when expressed they may remind the reader of the criticism made on Ruskin, that while he would strenuously advocate one measure or line of conduct on one day, he would as strenuously argue for its opposite on the next. For this he defended himself on the ground that it was a man's duty to view a subject from all sides, and a mark of honesty to own publicly when he saw reason for changing his mind.

With this introduction as a sort of explanation, I will state that I am emphatically in favor of the ballot for woman, and that I am as emphatically opposed to it.

From the standpoint of the injustice of the legal disability of woman; from the standpoint that all men -- which term I take to include women -- are created free and equal; from the standpoint that equal and exact justice is the inalienable right of all; that "taxation without representation is tyranny;" from the standpoint that for man to degrade his sister, wife and mother to the level of the Indian, the pauper, the lunatic and the idiot, is far more degrading to himself than to her, I claim that the right to vote and to hold office should be given to woman on equal terms with man.

But to grant suffrage to woman as indiscriminately as it is allowed to man, with the idea that by thus doing reforms can be brought about, crying wrongs to be righted, the condition of woman as a class be bettered, is, to my mind, an Utopian idea -- one that can be fulfilled only under certain and, I fear, almost impossible conditions.

That there is throughout our land a large and rapidly increasing class of earnest, honest, thoughtful, intelligent women, whose influence in political matters, as in anything else to which they may turn their attention, would be to refine, purify and elevate, is a fact which all should be proud to acknowledge. If by giving suffrage to women, only the members of this class would be allowed to vote, I should say earnestly, let them vote, urge them to do so. But, unfortuntately, if one woman be allowed to vote, all must be allowed to do so, under the same conditions as those by which the male voter is governed. That men manifestly unfit -- for anything -- are voters is only too true; that "to every Jack there is a Jill" is also too true; and while modest, sensitive women might naturally hesitate to avail themselves of their privileges as voters, those of the lower, depraved, wicked and ignorant classes would be only too eager to do so.

Could we hope that corruption in politics would cease, were the women of the land allowed to have a voice in those matters formerly thought to belong exclusively to men; could we believe that all womankind would be too scrupulous, too high-minded to sell her vote to the highest bidder; could we trust her to make a careful study of the merits of rival causes and candidates -- as, of course, all men do -- and then choose honestly those that she thought best for the welfare of the country; could we know that, pure and upright herself, she would refuse to countenance the candidate who strove to obtain office by dishonorable means; could we believe that the girl just attaining the legal age would weigh impartially the man, and not throw her influence and her vote in favor of the young man who is a pretty fellow, wears a delightful mustache, and waltzes divinely, no matter how empty his head may be; could we trust woman to be true to herself in all things; then would I say let a woman vote.

When that time comes that the "filthy pool" of politics shall be cleansed from its impurities, so that woman may enter in and be undefiled, then let her do so.

Here I shall be met with the argument that "that time will never come until her hand is put to the task." Truly will she find it a Herculean task, akin to the cleansing of the Angean stables.

A wholesale political purification is the crying need of the land. It is only necessary to study the history of political corruption and its effects on other nations to determine what the fate of our own may in time be, unless such purification shall take place. The whole system of voting, the regulations governing the qualifications of the voter, should undergo a sweeping and radical change. Instead of allowing every Tom, Dick and Harry, all the rag-tag and bobtail of the land to help make the laws which they are continually breaking; instead of giving suffrage to nearly all mankind, good, bad or indifferent, and then extending the privilege to the same classes of the other sex, let the laws governing the ballot be so amended that a standard of intelligence, upright conduct and morality shall be the requisite of a voter; then make the right of voting an equal right among men and women of the same high standard, and woman suffrage shall be a blessing to the land.

MARY S. DOTEN Reno, December 6, 1894.

TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE Friday, December 7, 1894

PRESS ASSOCIATION VISITS US.

California Editors Come Unexpectedly to the Comstock

The Party Spend the Day Enjoyably in Visiting the Mines and Sleighing and Coasting.

The town was enlivened yesterday by the arrival of the California Press Assocation. It was not expected that the quill-drivers would honor us with a visit, and consequently no preparation had been made by the citizens of Virginia for their recepton and entertainment. It was only decided that they should visit the Comstock at an exceedingly late hour Wednesday night. The S.P. train, which brought the party to Reno, was delayed, not arriving there until after midnight. Elaborate preparations had been made by the people of the riverside town to entertain their guests, and a banquet had been arranged, which was to be given on the arrival of the party; but owing to the lateness of the hour of their arrival the proposed festivities were postponed until last evening, and the Press Association unexpectedly decided to spend yesterday in Virginia.

Yesterday morning Superintendent W. E. Sharon received a telegram from R. L. Fulton of Reno, asking him to arrange for the party to visit the lower levels as a body, and accordingly Mr. Sharon made the necessary arrangements. Many of them did not desire to go down the shafts, and contented themselves by going into the Curry tunnel. W. E. Sharon, Joseph Ryan and James Kinkead did much to entertain the press people.

Some of the ladies of the party went wild with delight at the snow. Many of them had never seen the "beautiful" before and it was a novelty to all. Sleighriding was the order of the hour and everything with runners in town was pressed into service. There were a number of young ladies in the party who took unlimited delight in the coasting and the sleds of the gallant youth of the Comstock were at their disposal. The Missess Hassett of Sacramento, who are with the party, captivated two young men who had a large sled, and were given a coast down Union street. They got dumped in the snow, much to the amusement of their large audience, but picked themselves up and continued their ride down to the C. & C. dump. Their verdict was "coasting is just lovely."

The party left on the evening train and a good number of people of the town were at the depot to see them off. Although they were not given as royal a welcome as we could have wished, owing to the fact that they were unexpected, the snow made amends. Not all of the party came up from Reno. Mr. W. H. Mills and Mr. Willis and T. W. Sheehan of the Sacramento Record-Union and many others stopped in the Riverside town. Those who were here and the papers they represent are as follows:

Dr. Bowers, Los Angeles Voice; John Buckingham and wife, Ukiah Dispatch-Democrat; E. W. Bruen and wife, Santa Cruz Record; R. R. Bunker, Monterey Gazette; W. C. Brown and wife, Monterey Gazette; G.H. Crossette, and wife, Petaluma; Mrs. Mary Lynde Craig, Redlands Citrograph; D. G. Cummings, Dunsmuir News; W. D. Craw and wife, Redwood City Democrat; J. H. Dungan and wife, Livermore Herald; T. V. Dewey and wife, Hanford Journal; J. H. Durst and wife, Wheatland Four Corners; T. G. Daniels, Alameda Argus; H. A. Downer, Monterey Democrat; G. M. Francis, wife and daughter, Napa Register; J. A. Filcher, Auburn Herald; W. S. Green and wife, Colusa Sun; Misses Regina and Alice Hassett, Sacramento; R. H. Joy, San Mateo Times; J. N. Jeffrey and wife, Los Angeles Pomotropic; F. A. Kimball and wife, San Diego Seaport News, F. K. Krauth, Alameda Encinal; N. Lyons and wife, Selma Irrigator; C. V. Morgan, Bodie Miner; W. S. Wellick, Lancaster Gazette; H. A. McCraney and wife, Lakeport Avalanche; A.E. Munn and wife, San Jacinto Register; Duncan McPherson, Santa Cruz Sentinel; Louis Meyer, Heraldsburg Enterprise; F. H. Owe and wife, Half Moon Bay News, R. A. Oakes and wife, Haywards Journal; E. A. Peuschel, Bakersfield Democrat; C. Radcliffe and wife, Merced Sun; F. M. Swazey, Redding Free Press; James Travers and wife, West Oakland Sun; L.B. Woodruff, Nevada City Chronicle; C. B. Whiting, Colusa Herald; J. J. Vanderbergh, Selma Irrigator; Watson Chalmers, Chico Enterprise; C. F. Montgomery and wife, Antioch Ledger, A.B. Lemmon and wife, Santa Rosa Republican; R. M. Thompson, Santa Rosa Democrat; W. R. Ellis and wife, the Mail of Woodland.