Joseph Yead

Preface

The author of these pages feels that there is no necessity for making an apology for the same to the reading public.

I am aware that readers of this book, as do those of other books, will either approve or condemn, according as their minds lead them to view things, and I would admonish all to read what I have to say with care and then condemn or approve as merit or demerit deserves.

To those who will approve, and are friends — for I am sure the work will have some friends — I will say that a short word of approval would be appreciated as a pearl of great price. And if you believe I have found the KEY that will unlock and open the prison door of poverty and servitude, that the suffering captives may go free, tell your friends about it and form clubs for further investigation, for Paul says: "Prove all things, and hold fast that which is good."

To readers who will be disposed to pass adverse criticism upon the book I will say, in kindness, Christ is the only person of whom we have record who was condemned and crucified in the face of a verdict of "Not guilty," for His judges said : "We find no fault in Him ; take Him and crucify Him !" So I would beg of you to not crucify this little book until you have shown for what you condemn it, for it necessarily follows that if a man is wise enough to say with certainty that the corporation described in these pages is not what John the Kevelator saw and so minutely described, then that man should be wise enough to point out the reason why with equal certainty, and be able to tell what it was John did see and describe. He should be able to furnish at least as much evidence to prove his position as is furnished to prove that which he condemns.

To Christians who read my little offering I will say : Bead the book again and tell me where I may find a book that has stronger proof that the Bible is true, so that I may procure it and read.

To any Atheist who may read these lines, I will say : I beg your pardon, Sir ! for I am sure if you do not like the book you will write an answer.

To all readers collectively, I will say that I have not always quoted the exact words of texts in Scripture — that is, verbatim et literatim- — but have expressed the sentiment in some places and given the exact words in others.

With best wishes and love to all mankind, I beg to remain, Yours very respectfully,

D. E. Mosher,

Guthrie, Okla.

Introduction

There is no man living, endowed with ordinary intelligence, who does not recognize the fact that we are in the presence of an irresistible force. We are also conscious of the immutability of that force.

The sun, the moon and the planets revolve in their respective orbits, and have continued to do so for six thousand years of which we have record, and how many more we do not know.

When we are asked, or should we ask ourselves, what force keeps all these planets in place the answer comes to us, perhaps, in different expressions, such as God, Nature, specific gravitation, or an acknowledgment that we do not know. But all must agree that it is an irresistible force, no matter what name we apply to it, and we see that no matter how many times we change the name the force itself never changes. We may call it Nature, God, or we may use two O's instead of one and call it Good, yet there is no change. If we will but read ancient writings, or the Bible, we will notice that human beings there viewed the great phenomena as we view them today. They said God, Good, or Nature, always was. So say we. They said God, Good, or Nature never changes, and we say 'tis true. The ancients said that God rules the universe, and we say yes, Nature, Good, or you may call it God if you will, but whatever name you wish to apply, the same irresistible force rules the universe.

The Bible says God is good, and we must admit that IT is good, for from, and because of, that irresistible force, we are always in the presence of, which is variously named God, Good and Nature, we derive all the blessings that we enjoy. That force brings the rain and the sunshine ; that force quickens all life in the vegetable and animal kingdoms, from whence we draw the supplies which sustain our lives. That same Nature, or force, leads the water from the sea back up the hill, in spite of the law of gravitation, from which it again descends, a purified liquid, to refresh mankind as well as the beasts of the field and all vegetable life.

Yet men ask that foolish question, "If God made the world, who made God ?" I say foolish question for the reason one had as well ask, How can there be an end of space ? And yet how can there be anything without end or an extreme limit beyond which it does not exist? Again, we had as well ask if Time had a beginning or if it will have an end. It is foolish in the extreme to ask the human mind to answer questions that are infinite, because the mind being finite can not discern the infinite.

There are questions enough for us to answer, that are within our capabilities, to keep us busy for our short lifetime. Therefore, I for one am content to confine my inquiries within the bounds of my discerning power. Hence, when I see that what I please to call God furnishes all living things with food and clothing (for the birds and beasts are furnished with clothing of either hair or feathers, according to their needs) I can not avoid the conclusion that Nature or God is an intelligent Action, State, or Being. And again, when I see that God has never failed to provide the usual and necessary supply for man and beast, through the endless chain of fixed laws, it would demand a greater imagination on my part to conclude that all this harmony came from chance than it would to believe in an intelligent direction of things.

We see that we must study the plans of Nature, which is absolutely honest and always the same, in order that we may assist Nature or God in bringing about a full measure of blessings. We see that the capabilities of the earth, through the laws of Nature, or God, are augmented by educating our young men and women in schools of agriculture, where they are taught to observe more closely the fixed laws of Nature (God), for they study the plans of God and put the same into operation, and thus we have a place to fill in God's plan.

If we did not plant corn, would we reap a harvest of corn? The answer is obvious, for we know full well that the wind would sow the seeds of noxious weeds. And the plan of God being that the earth must bring forth from seed according to the kind committed to its care, if man wishes to reap the kind that is good for his food he must do his part for God made the plan and it is up to man to use it.

When the writer became fully convinced that God had provided a perfect plan for man — not certain individuals, but man in the broad sense — and that that plan left a duty for man to perform, and when I saw that success depended on the man, I realized the grandeur of God's nature and saw why he made the strongest beast subservient to man, for it at once appeared to me that God intended man to use his faculties to plan the work and direct the beast with his strength to perform the labor or supply the motive power. And I at once saw that at least in some slight degree man was as God, for God made his plans and left man to do likewise and to find out God's plans as well. Again we see that as we grew in numbers and scattered over a larger area, it became necessary to have greater power than the services of beasts, that the needs of man could be supplied. Therefore, God inspired man so that he discovered the power God had placed in steam and electricity and taught man to harness it for his service, and we are all made to cry out that is GOD !, Good, or Nature — that irresistible force in whose presence we all stand, which is the ever-living and true God.

Now, Dear Eeader, if you have followed me thus far I am sure you can follow me until I have finished what little more I have to say. For I must say, with Joseph Yead, I have no plan. But there is no power of reasoning that would convince me that God, who has put in operation the perfect harmony we find in this universe, could not and did not complete His work and so left us to be slaves of each other. His Earth is perfect harmony, He supplies the means to attain every good, but we must seek the means. For He says, "Seek and ye shall find ; ask and ye shall receive ; knock and it shall be opened unto you/' Moses and the Prophets were inspired as law givers, others to discover God's way of fashioning harness to the ox and the horse ; Watt, to harness steam ; Edison, to develop the power of electricity, and Joseph Yead was shown the way to Freedom and the Brotherhood of Man.

Thomas Lawson says he has a plan, and I doubt not he has, for there are many ways to produce power and they are easily found because so numerous. So if Lawson has a plan he showed that he possessed wisdom as well, for though he had a perfect plan, had he given it to the world at once, before the people were ready to receive it, failure must be the result.

But let come and go what will, Dear Eeader, remember this fact : There is a way, and that way is God's way, and it is as perfect as the Laws of Nature are perfect. I am thoroughly convinced that God reveals to men the existence of elements and the power for service they possess, and then in turn reveals the plan to utilize their power for the assistance of humanity. I assign as a reason for my belief the following: We have convincing evidence that men have discovered an elementary principle and have worked for years trying to perfect a plan to control, and to utilize that principle without success, and were almost despairing, when the idea that proved to be the right one, in many instances, came to them in their sleep. We have uncontrovertible evidence to prove that train wrecks and other disastrous calamities have been averted by reason of presentiments and dreams. Therefore, if supernatural influence controls the mind in all these things, would it not be foolish in the extreme to say that it does not and can not control in the ethical lives of humanity ?

I tell you, Dear Eeader, there is a plan, and a principle to work that plan, and when we are ready to apply ourselves to the research we can all find it, for it is universal, as all of God's works are universal, and it is perfect, as all other plans of God are harmonious and perfect. When the seed is planted in the mind it is quickened, as the dry and inactive kernel of corn is quickened when planting in Mother Earth, for God has fashioned the brain of man to bring forth and develop the seeds of discovery that are committed to its care, and he has fashioned the Earth to bring forth and develop the seed of vegetation, and to furnish a workshop for man and a home for beasts.

The Author.

CHAPTEE I.

"Thanks to good Providence, I am once more in God's country/' was my mental exclamation as I climbed down from a Denver and Eio Grande train at the union depot at Denver, after an absence from civilization of over three years.

The brilliantly lighted streets and depot seemed to have a bewildering effect on me as I stood for some minutes watching the throngs of people passing to and fro from the trains.

I had not experienced the luxury of pressing a feather pillow or a cotton-top mattress spread with sheets for so many months that I was at a loss to know how to proceed to procure for myself these much-coveted luxuries. My personal appearance was so unspeakably to the bad that I was afraid to move lest some of the most weakened portions of my wearing apparel would give way, and by so doing place me in a very embarrassing position to say the least, even if I should escape the vigilance of the police who were not liable to censure if they took me to the city lock-up as a vagrant; for at that moment I was in sore need of a barber and haberdasher.

As I was debating in my mind which I should call on first, the barber or the clothier, I heard my name spoken and realized that someone had penetrated my seeming disguise and recognized me. In a moment I was all action and began pushing my way through the throng of people, who seemed willing to give me all the room they could spare if by so doing they could avoid personal contact with what must have seemed to them a wild man of the mountains.

I was anxious to avoid meeting anyone with whom I was acquainted until I had interviewed the man with the razor, comb and brush and then the fellow with the hand-me-down clothes to sell, after which I should be pleased to renew acquaintance with anyone who might come along; for I was hungering for news from home.

Just before I reached the open street a man stepped in front of me and then suddenly turned facing me with outstretched hand, exclaiming as he did so, "No you don't, old man, I know you in spite of your disguise! What in the name of goodness does all this mean, anyway? Come! give an account of yourself. What crime have you committed that you should suddenly disappear from the face of the earth, and then as suddenly reappear again in these Eip Van Winkle habiliments? You look like a holy fright. Where in the mystic realm of dreamland have you been all these years ?"

The man who kept up this torrent of questions, not waiting for an answer to any, gave my hand a vigorous shake and then collapsed into a paroxysm of laughter, which seemed to me, was to be endless, from which he recovered at intervals only to ply me with more questions fast and furious, punctuating each question with a mirthful "Ha ha!" and "Ho ho!"

I became aware of the fact that we were the center of a crowd of curious people while my old friend, Jack Dempsey, stood there plying me with senseless questions and laughing at my discomfiture like one gone mad ; and, as I had not been given a chance to say a word up to this time, I did the only thing left for me to do, took up his merriment and we exchanged "ha ha" for "ha ha" like two bull pups barking at each other for their own amusement.

I finally called Jack to his right mind by saying : "Jack Dempsey, if you do not close that mouth of yours and get me out of here, and to some place where I can get a shave and some clothes more in keeping with the habits of civilization, I will have you arrested for cruelty to animals. Get me some place where I can clean up, and then I will tell you my story, but I can't talk here, as I am nearly famished for something to feed the inner man. And when I am myself I will tell you my story of where I have been and what I have been doing for the last few years, which seem an age to me."

"All right, come on," said Jack, "but I wish you to tell me now if you learned anything more of that white-whiskered duffer you were so interested in the last time I saw you ? You remember the one I mean I am sure."

"Yes, I remember him/" I said, "and it is of him I shall speak. But first let me get rid of this crazy patch-work I have on in lieu of clothes and then I will be at your service."

We soon reached a barber shop, and while I submitted myself to an artist's care, Jack went out and soon returned with garments fit for a prince when compared to the mixture of bear and buck skin that I was wearing.

As soon as we left the barber shop we repaired to a firstclass hotel. Then, as the evening was well-nigh spent, Jack left me, with a mutual understanding that we would meet on the morrow.

I was awakened early the next morning by my friend Jack pounding on my door. I arose, and after a hasty toilet went down to the dining room and met Jack, and together we partook of an excellent breakfast. Let me say in passing that if anyone would enjoy to the full the refinement of the snowy white linen and beautiful decorations of silver-ware and cut-glass of an up-to-date breakfast table they should go into the wilderness and wander about for a few months, eating half-cooked meats roasted by the camp fire and sleeping on the soft face of a granite rock ; or experience the discomforts of a dusty and mouldy bed made of boughs of the pine-tree for awhile; then, and not till then, will one be able to understand what eating and sleeping really mean among a civilized people.

But to continue my story. After breakfast, as Jack had to make a small town out some ten miles from the city, we coupled business with pleasure and drove out to the town behind a spanking pair of bay horses. On the way out I began my story and continued it from time to time until finished.

"Well, Jack, if yon remember, when we were last together here in this city we discovered the fact that an old graywhiskered man had sold a large quantity of gold dust, and we concluded from his dress of buckskin that he was a regular mountain rambler?"

"Yes, I remember old 'gray whiskers' very well," said Jack. "And I also remember that you were very anxious to learn from whence he came, so that you might explore that region and, if possible, locate a mine of much gold and share with him the joy of getting hold of some of the same kind of 'dirt' that he seemed so well supplied with. Yes, my memory is good along that line, for I remember you proposed to postpone your trip to Boise City to some future date if I would join you in an expedition of discovery, in which the old man was to be made, unwittingly, to take a leading part, and we to be his followers. Now don't get huffy," continued Jack, "for I will admit I was as anxious as yourself to follow the old duffer, but I could not see any way to get off from home and my house."

"All right, Jack," I said, "it is perhaps as well and better that you did not join me in this hide-and-seek game, for while I did get a little gold dust out of the trip, it cost me more in hardships and time than the dust was worth — five times over — but I was more than paid by the fullness of other valuable sweets for the hardships I endured."

"Did you really follow that old fellow after all?" queried my friend. "I have guessed as much all along, which accounts for my not trying to find out what had become of you all these years."

"Yes," I answered, "I went. But if you will keep out of the game, I will tell you the whole story."

And now, without excuse or apology, I give the story to the public just as I told it to my friend.

When I left you at the corner of Seventeenth and Laramie, I at once started for the depot to arrange for my trip to Boise City, Idaho, but on my way I stepped into a jewelryshop to see that my watch was running right, when I discovered that same old man weighing out more gold dust that he had sold to the jewelryman. In a moment my plans were changed, and I resolved to follow Mr "Gray Whiskers and Buckskin Breeches" to his bonanza.

I spent some time looking at a scarf pin, waiting for the old man to leave the store, and then I followed him like the sleuths we read of in the Nick Carter yarns, but with none of the excitement nor danger attending the sleuths of the stories mentioned.

I located my man all right at the Windsor Hotel. I then tried to locate you, only to learn from your house that you had been called to Pueblo on business, and would not return for several days ; so I had to enter the chase alone.

I accordingly fixed myself for contingencies by drawing from my bankers and taking a "Letter of Credit" for all the money I had. I next took a room at the Windsor, where J learned all I could of the old man, which was next to nothing ; except that he registered from Boise City, and that he had a very old-fashioned leather trunk in his room, which was all the baggage he seemed to carry.

The next day I made a discovery that helped me on to the trail, and, at the same time, made it possible for me to go on ahead and let the old man follow at his leisure. This arrangement bid fair to give me all the time I wanted in Boise City to attend to some business and await the coming of the man I was determined to shadow. My discovery was simply this : Mr. WhatVhis-name, for I could not make out a single letter from the scroll on the hotel register which T found there instead of a name, had purchased various supplies and some of them he had stored away in the old trunk. But, I accidentally learned that he had packed several boxes and shipped them to Boise City, consigned to "J. Y." I then took another look at the hotel register, and I could plainly make out two names, one beginning with "J," and the other beginning with "Y," and as I found he had bought a considerable quantity of goods for ladies and that he had submitted measurements in each purchase of shoes, dresses, gloves, etc., this indicated to me that the articles were intended for several persons.

I therefore concluded that he was laying in supplies for himself and, perhaps, his wife and daughter, and that he could be depended upon to follow the goods to Boise. I thereupon packed my baggage and set out for Idaho.

I arrived at Boise City in due time and at once began watching for the arrival of goods marked "J. Y.," and was gratified to see them arrive on the third day. I was meditating as to how I had best proceed when something happened that I turned to my favor.

I overheard the station-master say in a loud voice, "I

don't care a where you got the bill of lading, you must

be identified before you get the goods." I at once went inside the station-house and was in time to hear the man, who was evidently after some freight and was unknown to the agent, say, "All right, I will get some one to identify me." He then left the station.

I leisurely approached the station-master, and, after making some comment on the state of the weather, asked him if he was annoyed very much by people wanting goods without proper credentials. His answer was rather short, I thought,

for he said, "Not by a d n sight, for I hold the goods until

I am safe." I ventured to ask if he knew the man who owned the goods and soon learned that I was on the wrong tack, for he answered me by saying, "Cut it out, what's it to you?" I attempted to make peace by offering an apology, and begged his pardon for my seeming inquisitiveness, whereupon he looked at me with a kind of I-was-not-born-yesterday smile on his face, deliberately puckered up his lips and began whistling a horn-pipe.

A3 I was being worsted, I quickly left the depot, and as I went I heard some remark about a fool "tenderfoot" asking questions. I had no notion of leaving the station until I learned what goods the man was after, so I took from my pocket the latest paper and settled myself on an old rustic lawn chair and began to look over the news columns. I had barely begun reading when two men drove up to the station with a dray, and after the agent was satisfied the men began loading the goods marked "J. Y." T asked no more questions but I kept my eyes and ears open, and when one of the men said something about the distance being three or four miles to camp, it dawned on me that if I wished to locate that camp T had to be hustling. I hurried to a near-by livery stable and ordered a saddle-horse. T then went to my hotel, adjusted a wig of false hair and a full beard, changed my hat and drew on a pair of leather chaps, or leggings, and with a pair of revolvers hanging to the belt which I buckled around my waist, over my coat, T was sure no one would suspect me of being anything but mountain ranger.

Thus disguised I made haste to the depot and found the dray had left and was just turning the hill several hundred yards to the north, and as the party had a good start I had to canter along lively to keep in sight. I followed them to their camp and there learned they had about fifty pack burros and several saddle horses. I returned to town by another route and had just turned my horse in at the stable when the drayman drove up to the livery barn, and, to my surprise, the other fellow was with him. I was glad I had left my toggery at the hotel as it lessened the danger of my being suspected of spying on them. I learned from their talk that there was someone expected to come in on the train in a few days, at which time the drayman would get another job of hauling goods to the camp. By making inquiry I learned that the man from the camp was the owner of a burro train, which consists of a drove of pack-jacks, and that he was engaged in packing goods across the mountains and delivering them to the owners at places where a wagon could not go, as there were no roads, but narrow trails that led down steep canons, through jungles and forests, over rugged mountains with snow-capped peaks, and at last would lead to the camp of some lonely gold hunter in the mountain fastnesses. I afterwards learned that the trails faded into mere landmarks, known only to these mountain climbers, for no path could be seen, and a tenderfoot (as inexperienced travelers are called) could do nothing but stumble along over rocks and logs, through woods and canons, knowing nothing of direction only as he consulted his compass, without which he would have been lost in a labyrinth of hills. I gathered from their conversation that the destination of the goods consigned to "J. Y." was some place in the Bitter Eoot mountains, and on consulting my map I could see there was a long journey ahead if I was to follow the old man with the white whiskers to the place of hidden treasure. I set about fixing myself for the trip. I bought a saddle horse for myself, which proved to be a noble animal. I next purchased a train of ten pack-jacks, a tent, and, in short, all the supplies necessary for an extended trip in the mountains. I engaged a guide who "was recommended to me, and, by his advice, I added many things to my kit which proved to be indispensable, such as snow shoes, a compass and an abundance of ammunition for my fire-arms. I had a medicine box with bandages, scissors, thread, needles, pinchers, files, horse and jack, shoes and nails — and a hundred more things that I will not mention. But the strangest thing of all, the guide, or pack-man, whose name was Ted, would have me get quite a bundle of baling wire; and its usefulness proved to be so great that I voted Ted captain of the ship. I will not take time to tell you of the uses we put the wire to, but will say that if you wish to know what a utility wire is go on a pack trip and you will be made wise by experience.