American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-01-13
CANTON, MISS, SATURDAY, JANUARY 49, 1872.

c ton of the Coroner, gave verdict o
| "dcath from general debility" Som
G one tried to bring the Coroner into con
tempt again, by afterward calling atten
> ton to the fact that he had forgotten t.
swear the jury; but the officer replied 81
) is not necessary in such cases by the Law
t made and provided" " and so was countc(
wise and correct.
They bore the body of the last man o
Mexican Camp to the graveyard on tn,
hill-maybe a little nearer to heaven
How odd, that nearly all graveyards are OF
hill. The places of chief mourners were
given to Forty-nine and the dog. Wheth
er these places were given because Forty
nine was the only present acquaintance o
the deceased, er whether the dog quietly
asserted right that no one cared to dis
pute, is not certain. Most likely it was
one of those things that naturally
and therefore correctly, adjust them
selves.
When these bearded men in blue shirts
rested their burden at the open grave, they
looked at each other, and there was an
unpleasant pause. Perhaps they thought
of the Christian burial service in other
lands, and felt that something was want
ing. AT last Forty-nine stole up close tc
the head of the grave, hesitated, lifted,
and laid aside his old slouch hat, and
looking straight down into the earth, said,
in low and helpless way:
Earth to earth, and dust to dustr'
heSitated again, and then continued:
"The mustard and the clover seed are but
little things, and no man can tell the one
from the Others yet bury them in the ut
most parts Of the earth, and each will
bring forth its kind perfect and beautiful
and--and-man is surely more than little
seed-and-and !" here he broke down
utterly, and knelt and kissed the face Of
| the dead
The men looked away for awhile, as if
to objects in the horizon, and then, with
out looking at each other or breaking
silence, lowered the unshapely box, caught
up the spades, and found positive relief
in heaping the grave.
Then the Coroner, as in duty bound,
or, as he expressed it, "as required by
law in such cases made and provided y
directed his attention to search for the
buried treasure.
Yeast powder boxes, oyster cans, and
sardine boxes, old boots, and quicksilver
tanks, were carried out to the light and
of the bunk" said the Coroner-and
blankets, bunk, and straw were carried
out to the sun but not an ounce of gold
To make sure against the intrusion Of the
i'll disposed, the unwearied Coroner slept
was taken up carefully, piece by piece,
but only crickets clad in black, and little
pink-cyed mice, met the eager eyes of the
log hat
as the hard baked carthen floor was the
last place in which one would look for
hidden treasures, that was probably the first
and only place in which The Gopher had
buried his gold The thought made the
Coroner enthusiastic. He sent for picks
and if l must tell the truth, and the
whole truth, he sent for whisky. BY
sunset, the entire earthern floor had been
dug to the depth of many feet and
empted outside the door Not far
things worth of gold was found. The
next day the chimney was taken down.
Lizards, dust Of adobes, but nothing more
| am bound to say that, about this time,
the memory of the man just taken up the
hill was held in but little respect, and
that Il good or bad name, 50 far as the
overZcalOus Coroner was concerned, de-
pended entirely on the results of the
search. But one more thing remained to
be done; that was to remove the cabin
Shingle by single, log by log, the struc-
ture was lcveled. Wood-rats, kangaroo
mice, horned toads, rattlesnake or two
that had gone into winter quarters under
the great logs, and that was all Not an
ounce of gold was found in the last cabin
of Mexican Camp.
The flat was then staked off as mining
ground by some enterprising strangers
and they began in the center to sluice it to
the bedrock, They sluiced up the gulch |
for a month, and then down the gulch for |
a month, until the whole hill side was
scalped, as it were, to the bone, and the |
were bankrupt, but not /
even 50 much as the color OF the dead |
mans gold was found.
HOgem was disguised, and The Gopher !
was voted a worse man dead than living. |,
II began to be noticed, however, that |
FOrty-nine had mended somewhat in his /
personal appearance since the death Of ,
The Gopher, and it was whispered that he |
knew where the treasure was. Some /
even went so far as to say that he had the .
whole pile of it in his possession. "SOme |
Of these nights he'll come up a-missing,"
said the butcher, striking savagely at his
steel across his block. In Justice to
IIogem it must be observed she was not
without grounds to go upon in her sus-
)iciOns For was not Forty-nine near the
nan at his death? And, if he could get
MS dog, why not get his gold also?
One night Forty-nine, holding tight to a
ow-string, shutlled up to me in the saloon,
md, timidly plucking my sleeve, said
"Going away, hear ?"
"Yes"
"To the States?'
eyes"
"Near to Boston?"
May be-"
"Wcll then, look here; come with mew
and, with the old dog humping his
lead against his heels, he led the way out
If the door down the gulch to his cabin.
lie pulled the latch-string, entered, and
inally struck light. Sticking the can
lie in Il whisky-bottle that stood on the
rreasy table in the center of the floor he
picked up the tow-string, and pointing to
he bunk in the corner, we sat down to-
,ether, and the old dog rested his nose be-
ween the old mans legs
After looking about the cabin in nerv-
nus silence for time, Forty-nine arose
With a look of resolution, handed me his
tring, stepped TO niche in the wall,
nd, taking an old crevicing-knife, stuck
stoutly above the latch.
This means something said to my
elf. Here will be revelation" and
onfess that vision of The Gopher's gold
'ags crossed my mind with tempting Wv
dness. After a while the old man came
ack, took up the whisky-bottle, removed
he candle from the niche, and, holding
up between his face and the light, which !
e held in the other hand, seemed to de-
ide some weighty proposition by the run
f the beads in the bottle, and then turned ;
nd offered it to me in silence As de-
lined his kindness, he hurriedly took a {
Ong draught, replaced the candle, then
anne and sat down close at my side, took I
is string and the old dog again thrust {
is nose between his knees
You see'-and the man leaned over to
le and began. in a whisper and a strange