if you will give him a personal talk that all will be well with me." The Senator then accompanied me to the door, and placing his hand upon my shoulder, said: "Mr. Puter, I will call on Mr. Hermann immediately after dinner this evening, and if you will call on me tomorrow, I will report the result of our interview."
At nine o'clock next morning I called on the Senator at his rooms in the Dewey Hotel, at which time he informed me of having called on Commissioner Hermann on the evening before; of having gone over the ground with him, insofar as Mrs. Watson's pressing need of money was concerned; also laying before him the fact of my close personal friendship with Mr. Mays, of Portland, and in addition, the Senator added, "I told him how I felt about the whole matter and advised that he do something for you without further delay. Commissioner Hermann," continued the Senator, "then mentioned having known you for a long time, and when he expressed himself as feeling kindly toward you I lost no time in 'fixing' things up with him, and I feel confident that you will experience little or no further difficulty."
The Senator then suggested that I call around and see Mr. Hermann that afternoon or the following morning and that he would probably have something definite for me at that time.
About 2 o'clock, while on my way to the Land Department, I met Mr. Hermann, who informed me that the Senator had been up to see him and that they had talked matters over relative to my twelve claims, and that it was his purpose to take the matter up personally and, if within his power, he would have the patents issued.
I did not find it convenient to call on Senator Mitchell again that evening, but paid him a visit on the day following, when I proceeded to inform the Senator that I had met Mr. Hermann on the afternoon of the day before and that he had promised to take the matter of my patents up personally.
"It is evident, Mr. Puter, that I have seen Mr. Hermann since you talked with him last," broke in Senator Mitchell, "as he told me last evening that he found everything all right and had decided to issue the patents."
This was good news to me, so I repaired at once to the Commissioner's office, and was told by Mr. Hermann that he had ordered the patents issued and that I would get them in a few days.
Two or three days later, I called again on the Commissioner to make sure of the ground, and Mr. Hermann sent one of his clerks down into the basement with me, where we found a female clerk, whose business, I was given to understand, was to write up the patents, and I ascertained that she was working on those of mine, much to my satisfaction and relief, for now, at last, the long chase was indeed drawing to a close.
I then returned to the Dewey Hotel and informed Senator Mitchell that everything was all right, as I had seen several of my patents made out, and that the others would be forthcoming immediately, so I bade him goodby and returned to Portland, Oregon, via California, and when I arrived in Portland, the entire twelve patents were awaiting me.
Calling on F. Pierce Mays immediately on my return, I gave him a complete history of my experience in Washington; how I had "backed and filled"—lost and won—only to lose again, and how, in my last desperate effort, as it were, I planked down a cold two thousand, and, in the immortal words of the Yankee trader who said, "Money talks," I managed to come off victorious, though I was forced to admit, without having added materially to my bank account.
After finishing my story, I thought that Mays would have a fit, right there and then.
"Two thousand dollars—two thousand dollars," he repeated, "why, man, what were you thinking about?"
"Had to be done," said I, "it was a case of come through or lose everything."
