True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young. Page: 43

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HOUSTON AND HOUSTONIANS 48
but he would not listen to me. He ordered me to stand aside
and set fire to the hay much to my secret delight. I lost $30,000,
got wounded three times and suffered greatly during the war,
but that fellow burning hay compensated me for everything I
went through. Every time I think of it I feel better."
"Before Teddy butted into their game those Panama chaps
used to be 'some soon' on revolutions," chimed in the deep bass
voice of the ex-telegraph operator, ex-all around newspaper man
and ex-gentlemanly tramp. "The first day I got down there they
pulled off two, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I
was taking a drink *hen I heard some shots fired up the street.
The 'barkeep' went crazy in a minute, uttering the Spanish
equivalent for 'Give me liberty or give me death,' he seized an
old hoss-pistol, leaped the counter and tore up the street. I
followed him to the door, but when I saw about 50 ragged, dirtylooking
fellows coming down the street, shooting old-fashioned
muzzle-loading shotguns and muskets, right and left, I went out
of the back door, swam the river and quit the revolution right
there. In a couple of hours the revolution was over and the
new government had been established. I determined to return
to town. But just as I got to the bridge another revolution
broke out, only a block away. It was a revolution to overthrow
the revolution that had taken place in the morning. I went
under the bridge and lay there until it was over. Then I crawled
out and left town for good."
"Why," said one of two gentlemen who had been comparing
notes on Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico, "that mine you
speak of is nothing. Six years ago a party of five of us left
New Orleans for Mexico. I got sick and had to turn back. The
other four went on and a month after they got there discovered
a rich gold mine. The ore assayed more than $1000 to the ton.
They got the German consul interested with the result that they
sold the mine to a German syndicate for $4,000,000 in gold.
The syndicate put up fine machinery and went to work, but in
a week the ore played out. It was only a 'pocket'."
\Now, one can judge from these fragments of conversation
just what an interesting place the Houston Press Club is. As
a matter of fact there may not be a successful author or playwright
in the crowd, but that does not bar claims nor assertions,
and if there are no really successful writers there should be for
there is plenty of raw material on hand, and one has only to
keep one's ears open to get everything necessary for the making
of a short story, book or drama right from first hand.
The Press Club is a great institution and its members are
great, too-if you let them tell it.

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Young, Samuel Oliver. True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young., book, 1913; Galveston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth24646/m1/43/ocr/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .

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