The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1873-04-04
EMPoKIA NEW s.
FRIDAY, APRIL :, Is7s.
A FREAK or GESlus.
An IacIaent in the Remarkable Career
Of joaquin Miller
The Great Poet Indicted for Stealing .
Herse-The Theft, the Parsnit,
the Capture, the Escape.

The Great Poet Indicted for Stealing
Ilerse-The Theft, the Parsnit,
the Capture, the Escape.
From the San Francisco Chronicle
!. IwouId some things were dead and hid
. Well dead and buried deep as bell.
With recollection dead IS well
/ And Resurrection, 0od forbid.
: -SoEes OF the SferTGs.
The strange, cratic being
whose poetic genius first burst
forth from the shadow Of Shasta'G
mighty dome, probably never ut
tered q sentiment which came
more directly from the heart thar
did this cry of anguish and re
} morse. Those who knew joaquin
Tor Heiner) Miller fifteen years
ago in his wild home on the Sac
rainento find it difficult to sup.
press feeling OF sorrow for the
man who, when he has attained
such literary fame, is compelled
daily and hourly TO leok down
from his summit of greatness into
the mirror Of memory and see re-
dected there the hideous panorama
of his earlier life. There is much
in Joaquin Ailler's career that he
may well wish
| 'sWere dead and hid,
Well dead and buried"
| His life in Shasta county and
his later career, when contrasted,
present one Of the strangest
anomalies ever known among lit
erary men. From a prison cell in
a little country town, where he
was incarcerated for one of the
lowest and most unromantic of
crimes, joaquin Miller went forth
to electrify two hemispheres by his
genius, and to win raptures of
applause from the most cultured
of men and women throughout the
world.
THE POETRY OF NOTWITHSTANDING.
Admirers of the wild and weird
in literature have read Ailler's
poetry with feelings akin to rap
ture. The man has shown such
depth of feeling, such beauty of
diction, such grandeur of thought,
in fact such brilliancy of genius in
all his works, that it is hard for
those unacquainted with the i'm
purity of his earlier life to realize
that Joaquin Miller was ever any
thing but that which would en-
title him to the love and respect
of his fellows. Particularly is it
hard to realize that a man of such
attainmsnts could ever have been
indicted by grand jury for horse
thieving, or hunted down by bail
ifs and sheriffs and lodged in Jail
to answer for the crime. Miller
hints at some such dark record as
this when he tells US
Go read the annals of the North,
And recorus there Of many Q wall,
o. marShaling and going forth
For missing ShefiGs, and for men
Who fell, and none knew where nor
when.
Go traverse Trinity and Scott,
| That curve their dark backs to the sun;
Go court them all. Lo! have they not
A9O VI ny WAAAA
The history of this remarkable
incident in the poets career is one
of the most romantic tales ever
related OF any man. Miller him
self in many OF his writings seems
TO have regarded it as the one
thrilling event OF his life, for he
devotes page after page to vivid
descriptions Of the scenes he pass
ed through while flying from the
Nemesis of the law, and after
wards, while held in his clutches.
Occasionally, too, he gives vent to
the bitter remorse which at times
absorbs his whole nature, as in the
few lines of anguish quoted at the
beginning of this article.
THE POETS UNRONANTIc CRIME.
Vague rumors have from time
to time gone out to the world that,
ut some time in his younger days
Joaquin or Heiner Miller was adj
dicted to DEMONSTRATING. These
reports were received with an in
credulous smile by some, laughed
at by others, but actually believed
by none. And yet, to our poets
shame be it spoken, the story is
literally true.
Some weeks ago q reporter of
the Chronicle being then on trip
into the northern portion of the
State, found himself one dark,
gloomy night on top of an Ore
gon stage-coach. The driver was
a genial, talkatiYe fellow; but the
road was rough, the night cold
and dismal, and the reporter being
nearly worn out with fatigue and
loss of sleep, felt that he must be
anything but an agreeable com
panion. He was on the point OF
apologizing for his neglect, when
remark dropped by the driver at
once arrested his attention.
at seems to me-" said he, sci
you're one of these here newspa.
J per men You must know q fellel
they call Walkeen Miller"
''Oh, yes" responded the report
er, ave heard of him. He's thS
poet"
ayes, he's writ good deal, an6
. he's q big man now. Well, right
xround here is Miller's old camp
. In ground. About twelve miles
! above here's where he used to live
with the Injuns on McCloud river
and right in here (pointing ahead
! with his whip) is where he stole
old BASIS horse
"Whatp' cried the reporter il
astonishment; "Stole old Bass
horser
THE STAGE Drivers STORY.
"Why, yes; did you never hea
r that 'Walkeen' Miller used to stea
] horsesS say 'Walkeen, becaus,
: that's his name now; but his nam
: then was Heiner Miller. He wa
: q long, white haired fellow tina
Z used TO be around the country
he was then knowed up here as
'squaw-man;' that is 8 fellow thu
. made his home with an Injul
l. squaW. Well, he Was always look
; ed on quits spspicinusly, because
!. you know, up heve 'squaW-man
Ie amt of much account. 'Twa
J, about twelve or fourteen year ago
q guess, that he stole this horss
q Old Bass was over to . politics
!. meetin' over here ct ChurchtowI
l. bout ten miles over here. Il
4 tied his horse mp in the stab
Z yard, and went TO hear the speal
d in. Well, while he was in ther
2 this Heiner Miller was a-loafil
8 about and along about midnigl
ID Heiner went out under the she,
q and got the horse and roda al