Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-08-01
.TOa0uin Miller.

An old friend of the new California poet re-
lates these incidents of his carly life:
81 first saw Miller in the mountains of north
ern California in 1854 He was then a mere
boy, and could not have been more than thir-
teen or fourteen years of age. He was with an
old man called Mountain Joe,' who had been
one Fremont's guides, and who treated him as
his own boy. He had taught him the use of the
pistol with which he afterwards made himself
famous in that country. Millers home was
somewhere in what was then Oregon territory,
and it was said he had run away from it. The
summer following Mountain joe led party of
miners against the Indians, and in the fight
which ensued Miller was shot in the face with
an arrow, and nearly lost his life. Not long
after he originated, with Mountain joe and
McDougal, the great gold excitement known as
The Lost Cabin, which many Caliiornians will
remember with regret. This McDougal was a
famous character. He was a brother of Gov
McDougal of California, one of the finest look
ing men in the mountains and known about the
country as Prince George Whether THE
Lost Cabin was reality or myth, and there
are many who believe it was not all myth, the
company always had bags of gold dust, al
though they were never seen to be engaged in
mining. They rode the finest horses, were
armed with the choicest weapons, and wore the
most splendid Announcements, Prince George
especially being noted for the magnifcence OF
his dress. Every few months they would drop
down to San Francisco, put up at the best ho-
tells, and attract the attention of the whole town
by their lavish expenditure of money. Then as
suddenly as they came, they went, and all at
tempts to follow them or trace the sources Of
their wealth were utterly futile. In time the
Lost Cabiners disappeared, and it was said they
had joined the tilibuster Walker, in Mexico
McDougal never returned, and it is believed
that he is at this moment a chief of the Patago-
mans; and all trace of Mountain Joe has been
last.
"DIiller next turned up with the Indians near
Mount Shasta, leading them in their fights with
varied success. About this time the Pitt River
massacre occurred, when the whole valley was
retaken by the Indians, and the settlers either
killed or captured Whether Miller was or was
not engaged in this affair is not known, or was
not at the time; nevertheless, reward was Of
tered for his body, dead OF alive. Hewas captur-
ed one morning with small Indian campwhile
sleeping after a hard ride from the settlement.
and, while the Indians taken with him were Shot,
he was carried TO Shasta City and put into irons
to await execution But fortunately just in the
nick of time another party of Indians broke into
his prison and rescued him.
"Tiring of this border warfare, Miller, after
WHILE changed his mode Of life. For time he
rode pony express to and from gold mining
camp in the interior through an Indian country
where no other man could or would go, making
friends wherever he, went He wrote quite a
number of songs, about this period, for the mi
ners, which to this day may be heard in the
press business Miller next hoisted bis shngle
as attorney at law and was elected judge by
the people, which office he held for some two or
three years with an honorable record, both as a
Judge and citizen. IL is hardly possible he
could have edited paper, as report has it, for
his education had been quite meagre, extending
only to few months schooling in a log hut.
When.he became attorney he had literally no
book education"
Another friend says of him:
81 am bound to say that Milleris uneducated,
his book-lore and intellectual training being of
the smallest. He is particularly familiar with
the Bible, and he has no doubt read and absorb
ed Byron, and perhaps one or two other poets.
| furnished him with the first copies of Shelly
and Carlisle he had ever seen. The English
critics (who cannot help finding resembances in
every new poet to some great one living) have
detected something in common between him and
Mr.. Browning. Genuine poets in certain good
qualities always resemble one another. | know
that the first poem OF Browning's Miller ever
read was the ballad of Herve Riel, which appear
cd some months ago in the Cornhill Magazine.
What he bias published is written with care and
displays the whole but little lack of cultivation
But he boasts no education such as schools can
give. His letters and his conversation exhibit
little evidence OF any; and the former, partly
owing to the wound in his right arm, are scarce
ly Ineligible to any one unfamiliar with his
peculiar spelling and his doleful caligraphy.
But he has read men and nature, and his own
soul, with watchful and remembering eye"