Port Royal standard and commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1876-05-04
STARTING A GRAVEYARD.
The First Inquest and Funeral In the Black
Hills--A Travellers Story of Burial In the
Wilderness,

The First Inquest and Funeral In the Black
HiIls--A Travellers Story of Burial In the
Wilderness,
Death demanded sacrifice. A grave
yard had to be started in Custer City.
No one had volunteered to die and no
rufian had offered sacrifice. Fate led
Charley Holt and John Picket acrossthe
plains from Sioux City, and hope and
ambition led them to "drive their
stake" upon the southern slope in the
suburbs Of Custer. Poor boys they
were not yet men, and their combined
fortune and earthly effects would not
reach S5 in value. They selected town
lot upon grassy knoll, close to small
grove of straight, tall pines, and being
unable to chop large logs or buy lumber
with which to construct q habitation,
dug cave. These boys made their
deadfall eight feet square, covered it
with pine brush, propped this up with
eight small poles, threw on several tons
of earth, and went to bed to dream of
home, of mother, of father and of the
fortune they, in their boyish imagina-
tions, had already carved out Of these
golden realms. When morning came
sad sight was revealed to the young man
who went to the dugout to borrow
shovel. The angel of death had been
there in the night and had buried the
sleeping boys alive. A faint, piteous
voice beneath this living grave broke
the icy stiffness of the frosty morning,
CRYING out: "In Gods name, pull me
outl Am dying" The boy who had
come to borrow shovel fled In horror
from the fatal spot, calling loudly for
help, which came from all directions,
from fifty cabins in the gulch. A dozen
yeoman arms delved down and tore
away the cruel earth which had already
clasped and claimed one of these boys
as its own, and which had hugged and
pressed in its icy embrace, for eight
long hours, the struggling survivor.
The story told by the mangled and mu-
tilated youth is brief one. He told it
to me while gasping in agony and pain,
stretched upon couch of pine boughs
on the hill side. ..
"We finished our 'dug-out, and I
went down town to beg for work or
flour, We, had eaten up our last grub.
Charlie-shat's my pardner-stsyed at
home to fix up things and finish digging
out the chimney. went to the miner3'
meeting at Swearenger's saloon, and
c,me home about ten O'Clock, and went
to bed. When I woke up I was buried,
but. I had one hand free, with which I
scratched away the dirt and brush and
got air. Then all was dark again, and
after awhile I woke up. could see the
stars and the moon, and I heard Charlie
calling for me to help him. I tried to
move, but the dirt came tumbling in on
my face, so quit. Then Charlie said !:
johnny, I am dying; write to my
MOTHER I called out: Charlie, I
can't get out; God help you we must
die + then all got dark again. That's
all / know, sir, till just now. Is Charlie
dead2"
Yes, Charlie was dead His crushed
and mangled body was dragged out of
the debris few minutes afterward, and
borne down the hillside to a deserted
soldiers cabin, and laid out upon a
plank placed upon two logs.
Then came the inquest-frst held in
the Black Hills. It was queer scene.
There stood the city marshal, tall,
rough, honest man, with bronzed brown
face and tear stained eyes, pair of
navies on his hips, but gentle as lamb
in the face of death like this.
The coroner, a miner with grizzled
beard and hard, grimy hands, stood by
the body with book in his hand. Two
doctors, Just arrived that morning from
Platte county, Mo-, looking more like
tramps than professionals, stood by. A
reporter, clothing dealer, saloon
keeper, lawyer and two miners consti-
tuted the jury, which sat itself upon a
log which insisted uoon rolling over
every two minutes. The inquest was
brief, the reporter organized the jury,
swore them in, elected the evidence,
made the verdict, and founded the first
official archive for the city. The YER
dict was accidental death from suffoca-
ton - that was all, and material was
ready to start graveyard in Custer.
Then came humane hands and kind
hearts and dressed the unfortunate
stranger. One of the miners found q
white shirt, the only one in the city, a
sheet was con verted into a shroud, and
Charley Holt soon lay in rough pine
box upon bier of logs. This was not
all, fire was built in the corner Of that
black, deserted cabin, the roof opened
to allow the smoke to escape, and then
8 half dozen noble men sat and watched
until daylight. They were bound to
start a graveyard. With the rising of
the sun came ladies-yes, ladies; kind
hearted pioneers who had woven q
wreath of pine twigs, winter ivy, pine
cones and four little fragments of white
tarlatan and pieces of the black silk
strings of bonnet. This wreath was
laid reyeren tally upon the unpainted
pine box; it was all these five noble
hearted women could do, and they did
it well. But still the graveyard was not
inaugurated. Here was corpse neatly
shrouded, wreathed and cofined, ard nc
graveyard; but site for city grave
ward was found-a natural cemetery al
ready planted with groves of trees, an6
laid out by nature into broad, irregular
avenues. all sodded and half green. Gas
cades, orr amented with glittering icicles
lent their aid to the frosted evergreen
foliage and snow white grotto OF quartz
to beautify the newly selected site to-
the city of the dead. .
A half dozen brawny athletes, witt
pick and shovel, tore open the virgin
soil, and made the grave. They were
generous sections, these amateurs, ant
sunk hole like unto mining shaft. /