"JOGGLES" WRIGHT.

 

            IF I ever heard his first name I have forgotten it. Then, were it published, not many of his friends would know who was meant, for they knew him only as 'Joggles.'" He always reminded me of a thoroughbred horse that had been brought up in a band of mustangs. He could outfoot any of them, out-jump any of them; he had more deviltry in him than any of them, but he was as fond of their comradeship as though they had all been of the blood royal.

            He was of fine stock, that was clear, and must have been trained at home in all polite usages, for when the occasion required it he showed that he was familiar with all the rules of select society.

            But he must have run away early from home, for there was always a vagrant, untamable side of his nature. He was from the south somewhere, Maryland, or more likely Virginia, for when he first appeared in Nevada, he quickly found he who was later Governor Bradley of Nevada, and being broke, Bradley instructed him in his duties, and giving him a $200 shepherd clog, set him to herding sheep.

            To give him such a place was on the same plane of wisdom as that which had Paul Sheridan assigned to the quarter- master's staff when the big war was on.

            Wright tired of the position within three days, and to vary the monotony, kettled the dog : 'just to see him run," though the dog knew more about herding sheep than Wright ever learned.

            He went to Belmont and engaged to work as a miner.

            Whether he had known the business before or not I do not know, but he soon became an expert miner, then a foreman, then a superintendent. He quickly showed that he not only understood mining, but further, that he understood mines, and where ore bodies were liable to make good, and how to reach them. Moreover, he swiftly demonstrated that he knew how to

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handle men, how to get full work from them, and at the same time hold their respect and gain their affection.

            When he began to earn more money than he ever had before, he began to look carefully at every horse that came into Belmont, on the pretense that he wanted a saddle horse.

            At last he found one to suit him, bought it, and was seen riding the horse out of town for an hour or two daily.

            A race-horse man came into Belmont one day and announced a desire to run his horse 600 yards against anything that Belmont could produce. Wright paid no attention to him the first day, but the second day, when the stranger offered to run his animal at five to four against any horse that could be produced, "Joggles" closed with him on a $500 race.

            "Joggles"' horse was badly beaten, for the stranger had a really great horse, and "Joggles" financially was where he was when he first entered the camp, except that he still had his horse. He did not mind the money loss, but his pride was badly shattered.

            When he arose next morning he went to the stable and had his horse brought out. He looked him over, and expressed the belief that his judgment had not erred, that he was satisfied his horse only lacked confidence in himself; that if such confidence could be built up he was sure he would make a four-mile racer.

            Then he proceeded to give the horse confidence. He found an empty can in the stable and made a hole near the top of the can, tied a rope in the hole and the other end to the horse's tail. He got some pebbles and put them in the can ; and striking the flank of the horse with the flat of his hand, at the same instant whooped at him like a Comanche.

            The horse sprang forward, and feeling the attachment and hearing the rattle of the pebbles, dashed down the main street in a frenzy of fear.

            "Joggles" danced for joy, shouting like a lunatic. "Didn't I tell you he could run if I could only give him confidence?'

            When his hilarity subsided, he said he would make the stable man a present of the horse, if he could catch him, and thereafter went on foot to and from the mine.

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            After he left Belmont he bought a small band of cattle and was camped with them near the sink of the Carson. One morning his head vaquero explained to him that the camels that had been packing salt from the salt beds near the sink to the Virginia City quartz mills silver mills use large quantities of salt in reducing ore were on the range about twenty- five miles away; that old Brigham, the patriarch of the herd, had a mane four feet long; that they could go over there, throw a rope on him, shear off his mane and from the hair make two fine lariats.

            So, next morning they saddled their horses, rode to where the camels were, dismounted, re-cinched their saddles, and the vaquero urged his frightened horse horses are afraid of camels near enough and threw his lariat over old Brigham's head before Brigham realized what was intended.

            But it happened to be just that season of the year when Brigham was sure that he was lord of all he surveyed. When the lariat began to tighten around his neck, he did not wait, but turned, and with mouth open and ears back, started for the horse. That animal, wild with fear, turned and sprang into a run. The vaquero cut his lariat at the saddle and fled for his life, while "Joggles" filled the air with shouts of laughter. The camel chased the vaquero a mile and then returned to his family, still proud, but disappointed that he did not overhaul the man who dared to throw the rope on him. But he had the rope to show as a proof of his valor. The two men reached home at 10 p. m., the vaquero bewailing the loss of his lariat.

            Three or four years later a newspaper published that the camels had been returned to Arizona and were running wild. A friend seeing the article, asked "Joggles" if he did not believe it would be fun to hunt wild camels. "Joggles " expressed doubts, but admitted that it was great fun to see an angry camel hunt a man.

            When Johnnie Skae gained control of the Sierra Nevada on the Comstock, Wright was appointed superintendent. He sank that wonderful incline, all in ore, twelve hundred feet, and made the short cross-cut in ore and every one believed it was a greater bonanza than that of the Con-Cal Virginia. It

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was but a pipe of ore ; a thousand men lost their fortunes in the stock, but it was a wild dream while it lasted.

            The Sierra Nevada ground is four miles north of Virginia City proper. Wright kept a saddle horse to go to town and return. One morning, as he was going from the hoisting works to the office, he met his secretary -- one Ford -- coming from the office. As they met, 'Joggles" said, 'Which way, Ford?' Ford replied that he was going to town. "On foot?" asked "Joggles." Ford said yes. "Why don't you take the horse?" asked "Joggles." Ford replied that he would like to if the horse was not going to be used.

            'Why, certainly, take him; the loafer is eating his head off. What is the use of walking?" said Wright.

            Ford saddled the horse and rode away. He returned three or four hours later. He was a big man, an athlete, six feet tall, and weighed two hundred pounds, but as he entered the office where Wright was sitting, his lips were white. He showed three or four contusions on his face, and was trembling like a frightened girl. Looking up, "Joggles" exclaimed : "Why, Ford, you look demoralized. Did you have a scrap down town?"

            "No, no scrap," said Ford, "but at the highest place on the grade that horse of yours suddenly turned, jumped off the grade, bucked to the bottom of the ravine and tossed me on a pile of rocks."

            "You don't say so!" said "Joggles." ''Why, confound him, we will sell him: he did the same trick with me yesterday."

            But poor Wright. He burned his candle at both ends. He would work all day, run with the boys all night and be back to work next day as though nothing had happened. He was a leader everywhere, no matter what strata of humanity he happened to come upon.

            Suddenly one day he collapsed. One physician was sent for ; he sent for another and one of them was obliged to tell him that he had but a few clays, perhaps but a few hours, to live. He received the news in his old, careless way, saying : "If it was measured up maybe I have lived out my full three-score years and ten."

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            The morning before he died Judge Belknap bent over him and said, "Wright, you ought to pull through. You do not look like a dying man." To which he replied : "I do not seem to feel like one, but those doctors say they have a corner on me."

            I saw him three hours before he died. His mind was rambling, but. turning his head wearily on the pillow, he said : "Hurry, for the boys are having a hard time down on the sixteenth level."

            The air of Nevada is still filled with echoes of him. His courage was perfect; his generosity of the frank and joyous kind : he was like Brinsford Sheridan, if he could not help a friend up, he would lie down beside him. He was careless what kind of a crowd he was in, but at the same time he had an independence of character which caused him to hold himself the peer of the very highest.

            He had ability enough to justify him to aspire to the highest places, but he did not care for personal honors ; he had neither social nor political ambition; his sense of humor was limitless; he had little reverence, and would have fired a joke at the Archbishop of Canterbury; when he was superintendent of a great mine, he would leave his work any time to seize the rope of a fire engine running to a fire, all the way yelling : "Jump her ! Jump her, boys !" His animal spirits were inexhaustible ; he struck Nevada when that state was a central station for the world's sensations ; he had no more self-control than an unbroken colt; he lived fifty years in fifteen, and was no more disciplined on the last day than when he kettled his own horse to see him run.

            All the time he had no enemy except himself. This life to him was a place to have fun in, and at last he cast it aside as carelessly as he had used it all his days.