Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1878-10-25
DANDY FERGUSON.

do not believe that Quasomodo was
more pitiably deformed creature, or
Quilp more hideous unnatural look
ing object than was Dandy Ferguson
when saw him for the first time, that
calm summer afternoon, laughing and
Joking with crowd of boon compan-
ions in the cool shade of an awning at
Quartz Mountain.
His face was scanned and distorted by
peculiarly glossy scars-the ineradi-
cable evidence of close and long con-
tact with that shriveling element, fire.
His body was bent, and he walked with
a siding movement. He was scken-
ing spectacle at first sight, suggesting
fearful suffering in the past, and my
curiosity in regard to him was thor
oughly aroused.
"Who is that man?" asked, accost-
ing a tall, blue-shirted miner who was
standing in front of the post office.
"Don't you know himPn answered
the man; why, that Dandy Ferguson.
thought everybody knowed Dandy
Ferguson"
"Why do they call him Dandy Fer
guson?"
Because-well, because he used to
be dandy regular out-an' -out sport.
When Dandy Ferguson first came to
this camp he was a gilt-edged gentle
man, an no mistake. He wore plug,
an flashed Il spark in his billed shirt
front as big as peanut He put on
more dog n mine superintendent, an
most of the boys was down on him from
the start. That was about three years
ago, an he came up here from the bay
to get Whit o. fresh air an make
nature an the pines give him back
what he lost spreein' round with them
sharps an young bloods o. Frisco.
mo, he don't look like he was
more'n half human, that's fact; but
I'd ruther have them sears o. his than
wear the clothes of the richest man in
Californy-that is, eff I'd gone through
what he has an suffered what he did
Proud of 'eml Mister, thar amt man
in this yer country-no, sir, nor in this
yer State-as is prOuder' II Dandy Fer
guson of what other men might grieve
over an sigh about, an no man got
better right to be proud, either. When
he first came 10 Quartz Mountain he
used to parade the streets with his nose
cooked up so; he'd hydraulic himself
with pat-chouly an smell-water till you
couldn't get within a mile of him. He
was delicate looking an his hands were
as soft rs barber's. The boys used to
bet that if big Bridget Sullivan-our
washerwoman--was to take it into her
head to jump him she'd knock the spots
out ohm in short order. That was
our opinion of him when he played his
small cards in this yer camp-but he
showed down both bowers an the ace
before he quit the game, you bet your
life. Dye see that quartz mill over
thar on the side hillP That's the
Chapparral mine, yer know, an it's
thar that Dandy Ferguson showed us
what sand was.
Zone night, about a month after
Ferguson got here, somebody out there
yelled Firen and the camp turned out.
The h'istin' was in light blaze, an
the flames shootin' high up in the dark.
We all rushed to the spot like pack o.
mad animals-you know how a fire
stirs men up an eXcites 'em. OF course
nobody knowed what to do, an for a
minute we all stood round lookin' at
the fire creepin' long the caves, an
the burnin' shingles droppin' down the
shaft. Purity soon some one saws
'WhatP kinder fierce like. Then there
was n little movement in the crowd,
an a man as pale as death springs
away from the mouth o. the shaft vel
lin frantic, Water! Water! For the
love O. God, turn on the water-the
night shifts in the lower drift
There was an awful agony in that
man's voice; he had iist remembered
thet his brother was down there, an
thet the fire under the biler of the en-
gine was banked, thet the cage was too
heavy to work by hand, an the timbers
in the shaft pitch pine an dry as bone,
with great sparks droppin' down like
flakes in snow storm. You've heered
how fast man thinks in times of dan
ger. jim Slocum thought of his broth
er, the dry timbers, the engine, the
cage an the water all in second, but
thet was ALL He didn't hev time to
think OF the fact thet there wasn't a
bar'l OF water within mile of the mine.
. Somebody rushed up to the tank
there was about a tubful there. The
fire was.playin' round the biler an the
engineer had turned the safety cocks to
let thet out. They all rushed every
which way yellin' fur ropes, ladders,
anything as eff ladders could reach
down 200 feet to where the men was.
They was clean gone with excitement,
an didn't know what to do, an the fire
roarin' and cracklin' like Satan's own
blaze.
"Some rushed one way an some an
other, while some of them stood starin'
into the hot black smoke an yaller fire,
dazed, scared. helpless. Quicker'n it
takes man to tell it a man jumped
through the door of the histin' works
an caught hold of the chains. His
coat an hat was gone, an he looked
like an angel-almost-a he swung
over the shaft in his white frilled shirt,
an his long, yaller hair.
4" II was Dady Ferguson.
"He didn't wait fur nobody, but
jammed big scantlin' thet two men
couldn't lifted down over the shaft.
Then he yelled fur a rope, an told
some men near the door to fetch him
the oil win'lass thet was lynn outside
near the dummy.
You never see men work like they
did as soon as there was a head. The
rope an the win'lass was brought into