The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1877-09-29
OUR STORY TELLER.
"OUR FOOL"
IM. Quad. in pctroit Free Press. |

IN. Quad in Detroit Free Press.l
When the "Medina Party" as we
were called, were mining in Nevada in
1889, the redskins made it their bust
ness not only to hunt for scalps, but to
find them. There were twenty-four of
us in the party, and in August we were
in a camp called "Old Tom JONES'"
The diggings were good, and we had the
camp so secured as to insure the Indians
a warm reception whenever they took a
notion to visit u.s. A sentinel was posted
during the day to watch for the enemy,
and at night we all retired under shelly
ing rock in the face of the cliff fifty feet
high. This cave, as it might be called,
could only be approached by one path,
as we thought, and as there were three
dogs in camp none of the miners we're
asked to stand watch. Running parallel
with this path to point within thirty
feet of the cave was gulch, down which
ran stream of water in the spring and
fall. 1t was dry at this time and the
bed of gravel was foot thick. Any
enc sneaking down this gulch could
come within thirty feet of the cave, but
would be separated from it by wall of
rock about twenty feet high. This wall
could easily be scaled from the gulch,
and a party gaining the crest of it
could look down into the cave, almost
could at least shoot down all who at
tempted to leave it.
Such was the general situation on the
9th day of August, when "Our Fool !"
made his appearance. He was man
about thirty years of age, poorly dressed,
even for that country, and his face wore
the silly look of born idiot. As he
came into the diggings he carried his
hat in his hand and grinned like a
baboon over big stick of candy.
Who ar We, and what do we want ?'
growled one of the men, as the stranger
halted before him.
"Te-he! Te-hep' laughed the fool, in
his silly way.
Boys, here's regular born fool p
shouted the miner, and as the men gath
cred around the fellow swung his hat by
a string and called out:
The cow jumped over the moon =
te-he! te-hep'
1t was plain that he was a fool. Where
he came from and how he had reached
us no one could guess, but after talk
among themselves, the miners decided
to let him stay around until he got
ready to go.
Our Fool was soon at home. He had
the appetite of wolf, and we couldn't
get stroke of work out of him. The
very first night of his arrival, however,
he armed himself with club and paced
up and down the path like a sentinel
Il ~ I,
see Injuns-they can't see mel"
He paced up and down all night lony
and next night he took the post again
without word being said. No one
thought him any protection to the camp,
and yet think we all felt little safer
in knowing that some one was moving
about and keeping the dogs active and
vigilant. After Our Fool had been in
the camp a week the Indians became
unusually numerous. The day sentinel
reported seeing them ON the hills around
us, and one night they certainly came
close enough 70 our cave to give the
alarm to the dogs. Up to this time Our
Fool, as everybody called him, had
slept most of the day, and had been
very quiet. Next day after the alarm
he was noticed on tie ridge dividing tie
gulch from the path, and he was up
there and in the guich SO much of the
time during the next three or four days
that one of the men remarked:
II guess our fool has discovered rich
thing up there"
One morning it was discovered that
our keg of powder was missing. We tall
had firearms and personal supply of
powder in our horns, but this twenty
five pound keg which had been bought
with company funds to fall back on in
case of necessity, had been taken from
the cave by some one, and there was
deep mystery about it. None of the
men could be charged with the theft, as
no one wanted to leave or could carry it
down the mountain and sell it. The
dogs couldn't take it, it couldn't carry it.
self off, and the only thing left was to
declare that Our Fool had stolen it. He
was cuffed ana shaken around, and some
of the men wanted him whipped, but
all he could or would say was
"Injuns coming-Injuns blow way up
highp'
We searched all around for two hours,
but the keg was not TO be found, and
the incident created much ill-fecling
among the men. 1t was agreed that one
man should keep watch of Our Fool for
two or three days, and see if he would
not betray himself. Both remained in
the cave, but in some way the idiot crept
out unnoticed and was absent for three
or four hours. When he returned he
was more silly than usual, and as he