Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-04-21

looked at the Jerusalem girls or ever b
could have made out such a list of their flint
clothes !-HarPer's Baear.
Scene In the Black Hills.
HOW GRAVEYARD WAS STARTED IN CUsTEI
CITY-A SAD STORY TESDBRLY ToLD-THE
FIRST CoRoNER's INQUEST IN TIE HILLS
FRONTIER FUNERAL-CESTLENEss OF TIL
ROUGH PIONEERS.
Correspondents Of the St. Joseph (Mo. Gazette.
Fate led Charlie Holt and John Picke
across the plains from Sioux City, and hope
and ambition induced them to 'drive then
stake" upon the southern slope in the sub
urbs of Custer. Poors boys they were
not yet men, and their combined fortune and
earthly effects would not reach five dollars
in value. They selected town lot upon the
! side of grassy knoll, close to a small grove
of straight, tall pines, and being unable to
chop large logs or buy lumber with which
to construct a habtation, dug a cave. They
call them "dugouts" here but a better name
would be ''deadfalls, for thev are little
else. These boys made their deadfall eight
| feet square, covered it with pine brush,
I propped this up with eight small poles,
/ threw on several tons of earth and went 10
bed to dream of home, of mother, of fathers,
and Of the fortune they, in their boyish i'm
aginations, had already carved out of these
golden realms. When morning came (yes-
terday morning, March 3), a 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 the living
grave broke the icy stiffness of the frosty
morning, crying out, ''ln Gods name, pull
me out am dying" The boy who had
come to borrow the sh ovel fed 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
delsed 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 lev embrace, for
eight long hours, he struggling survivor
The story told by the mangled and multilated
youth Is a brief one. He told it TO me while
gasping in agony and pain, stretched upon
a couch Of pine boughs on the hillside.
1--WE finished our 'dugout' yesterday, and
went down town to beg for work or -four.
We had eaten up our last grub. Charlie
that's my partner-staid at home to fix up
things and finish digging ont the chimney
| went TO the miners meeting at Swearen-
gers saloon, and came home about 10 O'Clock
and went to he'd When woke up was
buried, but lad one hand free. with which
! scratched away the dirt and brush and got
air. Then all was dark again, and after
awhile | woke up. | could see the stars
and the moon. and | heard Charlie calling
to help him. | tried to move, but the dirt
came 'tumbling in on my face, 50 | quit.
Then Charlie said johnny. am diving
write to my mother cried out, Charlie
| can't get out: Coz help YOU We must
die then all got dark again. That's all
know. sir, till lust now i Charlie
dead9" Yes, Charlie was dead His crush
ed and manglei body was dragged on: Of
the debris few moments afterwards and
borne down the hillside to deserted sol
dier's cabin on Custer street. and laid out
upon Il plank placed upon two logs
THEN CANE THF lNQUEsT-rlRsr HELD II THE
BLACK HILLS.
1t was queer scene. There stood the
City Marshal, a tall. rough, honest man,
with bronzed brown face and tear-stained
eyes, pair of navies on his hips. but gen
tie as a lamb in the face Of death IKE this,
The coroner, "a miner with grille, beard hard,
grimy hand, stood by the body with a book
in his hand, two doctors Just arrived thar
morning from Platte County, Missouri, look
ing more like tramps than professionals,
stood by awaiting. \ reporter, a Jewish
clothing dealer, a saloon keeper, a LAWYER
and TWO miners constituted the jury, which
sat Itself upon a log, which insisted upon
rolling over every two minutes. The inquest
was brief. The verdict was accidental
death from suffocation.' that was all, and
material was ready with which TO start a
graveyard in Custer Then came humane
hands and kind hearts and dressed the un-
fortunate stranger. Charlie tahey found
white shirt, the only one in the city, sheet
was converted into a shroud, and Charlie
Holt soon lay in rough pine box upon a
bier Of logs. This was not all. a fire was
built in the corner of that black deserted
cabin, the roof opene&to allow the smoke TO
escape, and then half dozen noble men sat
and watched until daylight. With the
rising of the sun came ladies-yes,
LADIES, KIND-HEARTED PIONEERS,
who had woven a wreath of pine twigs,
winter ivy, pine cones and four little fra
ments Of white tarletan and pieces of the
black silk strings Of Mrs. Drogmond's bon
net. The wreath was laid reverentially
upon the Imprinted pine box; it was all
these FIVE noole-hearted women could do
and they did it well Then site for a city
graveyard was found-a natural cemetery,
already planted with groves of trees and laid
out by nature into broad, irregular avenues,
all sodded and half green. Cascades orna-
mented with glittering icicles lent their aid
to the frosted evergreen foliage and snow
white grotto of quartz to beautify the new
ly selected site for the city of the dead. a
half-dozen brawny athletes, with pick and
shovel, tore open the virgin sod and made
the grave. But the trouble was only half
over.
WHO WOULD ACT As PARsoN?
There is no preacher in Custer and two
hours canvass of the city failed to find
professor of religion. Think of it Here
was a city without one protesting Christian
among 300 people, Worse than that close
search failed to find prayer book. The
Mayor, honest man, appealed to one of the
two lawyers in the city 10 ''say few words
at the grave, to be Christian-like,' but such
pleading was not in his line 50 the three
doctors were applied to, but with like sue
cess. Then came a committee of Judge,
Mayor, and Marshal to the reporter. Sure
ly "paper-man' knew something about
funerals and, said the Mayor, 1--WE want
to put the poor lad away a kind O'Christian-
like; not like a dog, sir" Then came Miss
Ida Simms, like an angel of goodness. with
a small gilt-edged Bible, the only one in the
city, and the funeral cortege moved on
through the main street of the city. 1t was
picturesque scene, on this bright, sunny
day. A wagon containing the unpainted
coffin upon which lay the ladies' evergreen
wreath. Then the Mayor, Judge, Council
men and Marshal, rough, blue-shirted men
in miners, boots and slouched bats. A
dozen or two merchants and hunters brought
up the rear and the procession moved ST.
lently on. Then shallow grave on the
hillside, sunk, as one of the amateur sections
said,
''cLAR DOWN TO THE BEDROCK, GENTLEMEN
uOWn WndI lnc uHt suuNs Soou ColOE. oi-
lently the BODY was taken from the wagon
and tenderly laid in the golden earth upon
the bedrock. Then every head was barred
and every bronzed countenance bowed while
one or two selections of Scripture were read.
The grave was soon filled ard white-pine
headstone set in the earth, and thus the
city of Custer inaugurated its graveyard.
The saddest point about this affecting incl
dent is yet to be mentioned. No letters,
papers or even the slightest clue to his home
or friends have been found. All that is known