, 1877-11-24
OLD TU0LUMNE.


The e,rIm, nay CHASTITY huIlor oi .iic
,.oer has attained worldwide celebrity.
Human life was at discount IN the ma
;or;t,, of sections, and the killing or hang
mo of a man was treated more as II IL
,rere \ comedy than a tragedy The e1-
preston, "gone up the fiume, apPiied 10 :,
those who had "died with their boots on:
is an example Of the epigrammatlc facetiae
If a certain form of death in the early
day. "Gone up the fume belongs, by
r;;6ht of origin to TuoluIane, and came
INTO existence Immediately after the lynch
inc Of J. S. Barclay. This unfortunate
victim Of mob passion was hung from the
f,ume, between Columbiaand Gold Springs,
and this tragedy, in connection with other
banoinqs Of a similar character, from the
same kind of gallows, originated the ex-
preston quoted, arising In conversation
as follows:
"Wbat has become of Cherokee Bob,
Sam | haven't seen HIM tor long
time
Haven't you heard how he passed IN
his chacks down at Montezuma Flat =
No"
"Wen, he's gone up the fume.
"The h--n"
"Yes an horses hauled him over tho
river.
This was the origin of the somewhat
anomalous expression "gone UP the
fiume.
Another common expression in the
early daYs was - Oh jim. In the North
en- mines, when the miners came forth
from their claims at dinner time or IN the
evening after their days work was done,
each one Of them As he stretched out hls
arms Ike faithful Mohammedan greet
inc the rising sun would ezelaim, "Oh-h-h
joe" prolonsing the first word to an IN
ordinate length and cutting the last as
short Us possible. In the Southern mines
ii Was :: .:Gh-h-h jim" delivered III the
same manner. The origin of this express
sion lay III the necessity OF throwing the
voice as far as possible when wishing to
communicate with a friend III neighbor-
in1 claim. A woman III those days was
= rarity and something of curiosity, and
whenever one "hove in sight of camp
Of miners, the first who saw her was sure
TO announce his discovery to his friends
in the adjoining claims, preiixins the
exclamation "Oh " long drawn out, with
the name OF one Of the adjacent miners
supplementins with " there's woman a
comm" Finally the announcement of d
woman in sight settled into " oh-h-h
JIM, and the cry WAS passed from CLAIM
to claim as she went by. Previous to '0G
from Chinese and Montezuma, from James
town and Sonora, up Woods Creek and
on above Columbia was denselypopulated
Every inch of ground YVES occupied ant
thousands of picks were swinging from
morning to night, consequently the pro
.ress OF woman over the road through
this PORTION Of the mines, was greeted .
every step with a jovial welcoming shou
! Of "Oh-h-h jim" along the creek
/ e" Oh-h-h JIM rang out clear and stron:
frnm the slopes nf Table Mountain, ant
"oh-h-h Jim iloated from the dlstan
plains Of Rawhide \ deep bass sent th'
cry from the gulehes toward Tuttletown
ard it was caught on the wing by a shrll
treble far up the creek, each man eeasin:
from his work 70 cry "Oh-h-h Jim, Il
gaze earnestly after the woman, or, per
haps, to swing his old, gressy siouch ha
i'll token of the joy he felt at seeing 81
great a curiosity as a woman IN th'
" dissings.' Then he would return t.
his labor with thoughts OK the 4" girl h
left behind him." thinking, with tear
dimmed eyes, perhaps. of the aged mother
or blooming sister who patiently waited
his return from the far shores of the ght
tering Pacific Manga mother has passeo
away while waiting for the return Of tn,
son who never came, thousands Of sister
are still waiting, and will continue to val
until time ceases to be, and q the heavens
are rolled up Us scroll. Sonora Demo
croi.