The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-08-15
DANDY FERGUSON.

do not bel1eVe tnaG tJuaslmOuO was
a more pitiably deformed creature. OF
Ouilp more hideously unnatural look
ing object, than was Dandy Ferguson
when I saw him for the first time, that
calm summer afternoon, laughing and
Joking with crowd of boon companions
in the cool shade of an awning at Quartz
Mountain. His face was scanned and
distorted by peculiarly glossy scars
the ineradicable evidence of close and
long contact with that shriveling ele-
ment, fire. His body was bent, and he
walked with a siding movement. He
was sickening spectacle at first sight,
suggesting fearful suffering in the past,
and my curiosity in regard to him was
til roughly aroused.
"Who is that man ?" asked, accost-
ing tall, blue-shirted miner who was
standing in front of the post-ofice.
Don't you know him ?" answered
the man; "why, that's Dandy Ferguson.
thought ev'rybody knew Dandy Fer
guson."
Why do you call him Dandy Fer
"Because-well, because he used to
be dandy-a reguler 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 spark in his billed shirt
front as big as peanut. He put on
more airs'n a mine superintendent, an
most all the boys was down on him from
the start. That was about three years
ago, an he came up here from the Bay
to git Whit O. fresh air, an male ma
ture an the pines give him back what
d he'd lost spreein' round with them stock
sharps and young bloods o. Frisco. No,
he don't look like he was more'n half
human. that's n fact; brit I'd rather
have them scars O. his than wear tie
clothes of the richest man in Californy
-thet is, ef I'd gone through what he
Las an suffered what he did. Proud of
'em Mister, thar ant a man in this
yer country-no, sir, nor in this yer
State-as is prouder'n Dandy Ferguson
vi what other men might grieve over an
r gh about, an no mans got a better
right to be proud, either. When he
fust came to Quartz Mountain he used to
parade the streets with his nose cooked
np-so; he'd hydraulic himself with
,,atchouly an smell-water till you
couldn't git within mile of HIM.
"He was delicate-looking cuss, an
his hands were as soft as barber's. The
boys used to bet that if big Bridget Sui
livan-our herwOman-was,,tO to take it
into her head to Jump him, she'd knock
spots out o. him in short order. Thet
was our opinion of him when he played
his small cards in this yer camp-but he
showed down both bowers an the ace
hefore he quit the game, you bet yer
life. Dye see thet quartz mill over thar
on the side hill +? Thet's the Chaparal
Mine, ye know, an it's thar thet Dandy
Ferguson showed us what sand was. One
night, about month after Ferguson got
here, somebody out there yelled Fire I
an the camp turned ont. The h'istin'
works was in a light blaze, an the flames
shootin' high up in the dark: We all
rushed to the spot like a pack O. mad
animals-you know how fire stirs men
up an excites 'em. OF course, nobody
knowed what to do, an for minute we
all stood round lookin' at the fire Creep
in long the caves, an the burning shin.
giles droppin' down the shaft. Purity
soon some one says: What + kinder
sharp an fierce like. Then there was
little movement in the crowd, an man
with face as pale as death sprang away
ITOu t1o ulOutH Oi TIC oudio ySlllu lTdu-
tic: water Water For the love o.
God, turn on the water-the mig ht shifts
in the lower drift There was an awful
agony in tibet mans voice; he bad jist
remembered thet his brother was down
there, an thet the fire under the biler of
the engine was banked. thet the cage
was too heavy to work by hand, an the
timbers in the shaft pitch pine, an dry
as a bone with great sparks droppin'
down like fakes in snow storm. You've
heard how fast man thinks in times of
danger. Jim Slocum thought of his
brother, the dry timbers, the engine, the
cage, an water, all in a second, but that
was all. He didn't hev time to think of
the fact thet thar wasn't a barl of water
within mile of the mine. Somebody
rushed to the tank-ther was about a
tubful there. The fire was playin' round
the biler, an the engineer he'd turned
the safety cocks to let thet out. We all
rushed ev'ry which way yellin' fur ropes,
ladders, anything-as ef ladder could
reach down about two hundred feet to
where the men was. They were clean
gone with excitement, an didn't know
what to do, en- the fire roarin' and crack
lin like the DEVILS own blaze,
''Some rushed one way an soma
another, while some of them stood
starin' into the hot, black smoke am
waller fire, dazed, scared, helpless.
Quicker'n it takes me to tell it man