Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-05-12

iistI , an \ A4lNhfS otts va JuSS NV.
| Is Charlie dead?" Z is
Yes, Charley was dead! His crush
e aud mangled body was dragged
out of the debris few moments af-
terwards, and bOnie down the hill
side to a deserted soldiers cabin on
Custar street and laid out on plank
placed upon two logs. ron
Then came the inquest-frst held
in the Black Hills. It was queer
seene. There stood the City Marshal,
tail; rough, honest man, withla
bronzed- brown face and tear-stained
eyes, pair of navies on his hips, ,bnt
| gentle as lamb in the face of death
like this &C. e8,s
Tue coroner, a miner, with griz-
zled beard and hard, grimy hands,
stood BY the body with book in
his hand. Two. doctors, Just arrived
thai morning from Platte Co, No.
looking more ike tramPs than pre-
fessiolsaIe, stood bye a reporter, .
Jewish clothing dealer. a saloon
keeper, a lawyer and two miners con-
stitated the jury, which sat upon a
log. which insisted upon rolling over
every two minutes. The inquest was
Ibrief; the reporter organized the iu-
Nv, swore them in, elected the evi-
-dehee, made the verdict, and found
ed the first official archiYe for the
city. The verdict was, Accidental
death from suffocation." :" That was
all, and material was. ready with
which to start graveyard in Custar.
% Then came human hands and kind
hearts and dressed the unfortunate
stranger; Charles Fahey found a
white shirt-the only one in the city;
a sheet was converted into shroud,
and Charley Holt soon, lay in . rough
pine BOX bpdnls bier of5ogs. This
was not an, a fire was built in the
corner of tha: black, deserted cabin,
the roof opened to allow the smoke
to escape, and then half dozen no.
BILE men sat and watched until day
light. They were bound to start a
graveyard. With the rising on the
sun came ladies-yes, ladies; kind
hearted pioneers who had woven a
wreath of pine twigs, winter ivy,
pine cones, and four little fragments
of white tarletan, and pieces of the
white silk strings of Mrs. Drog-
mond's bonnet. This wreath was
| laid reverently upon the unpainted
| pire 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 a
corpse neatly shrouded, ,wreathed aid
cohined, and no graveyard; but q
site for q city graveyard was Found
la natural eemetry already planted
with groves OF trees, and laid out by
nature into broad, irregular avenues,
/ all sodded and half green. Cascades,
ornamented with glittering icicles,
lent their aid to the frosted ever
green foliage and snow-white grottc
of quartz to beautify the newly
STYLED site for the city of the dead
EAthalf dozen brawny athletes, with
lipiek and shovel, tore open the vir-
liein soil, and made the grave. They
] were generous sections, these anna
i btedFs, and sunk a hole like unto
mining shaft. 1t was at least twelve
i feet lOng-this grave for the half
grown boy. But the trouble was
only half over. Who would act as
parson? There is no preacher in Gus
tar, and two hours canvass in the
city failed to find professor of re-
iigion among three hundred people,
Worse than that a,elose searE,h fail
ed to fnd aspfay yerlBook.e The May
Eor, honest man, appealed to one Of
the lawyers in the city to 'say few
words at the grave, to be Christian
like" but such pleading was not il
his line; so the three doctors were
applied to, but with. like success
Then came a committee of Judge
fIMayor and Marshal to the reporter
4 Surely, q "paper-man" knew some
thing about funerals; "and, J" said the
Mayor, "we want to put the poo
lad away a kind o. Christian like
not like adog.n Besides, graveyard
had toIbe started.
Then came the Miss Ida Simms
like an angel of goodness, with
small, gilr-edsed Bible-the only
one in the city-and the funeral cor
tege moved on through the maiI
street of the cityS 1T was pictur
esque scene on that bright, sunny
day. A wagon containing an un
painted eDainJ upon which lay th.
ladies, evergreen wreath; then th'
mayor, Judge councllmen aud mar
shal, roughy blae-shirted men, in mi
ner's boots and slouch hats; dozer
or two miners, merchants and hun
tiers brought up the rear and the pre-
cession moved Silently on. = -
Then a shallow grave on the hill
side, sunk, as one of the amateur
sections said, "clar down to the bed
rock, gentlemen; down whar the dir
shows good color. "Silently the bod.
was taken from the wagon and ten
derly laid in the golden earth zupoI
the bedrock. Then every head wa
barred, and every brpRzedl eeqnten
ance bowed, while one or two selec
i1etions of Scripture were read. III
grave was soon filed and 3 whit
pine headstone set In theeafth, ami
lithus the city Of Castar inangurste'
lts graveyard. ~ ~ !.
!. The saddest point about this al
lfecting incident Is yet to be mention
ed. No letters, papers, oreYen To
slightest clue to his home or friend
have been found. All that is know
is, that be walked all the way fror
Sioux City to the Black Hills to di
and start graveyard ell 2 j. s'4
IL A sshSaz AIornias w'eika =
One lovely, Sunday morning, eigh
young law students were strollinI
along the bank of one of the tributs
ries Of the Potomac river. The
we're going to q; secluded spots 3
murder the precious hours by play
/ ing whist and drinking wine. Fac
Of them was the son of prayin,
( mother. AS they were saunterin
along aud amhsing themselves wit
, ;dln fasta sba oourf.housa haIl-uea