Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-09-16

nothing was ever known of her tongue. A
hide she called TOGO ftO-kay) man, ndche
lnah-chey); the sky, te-gua (tay- gwah) the
body. pinehe, (pin, She learned q
few Spanish words: pan (bread), pdpds,
tpotatoes), cdbdllO (horse). Sometimes she
called Captain Nidiver in Spanish, tata,
(father), sometimes mana tmother).
The gentieness, modesty and tact OF the
untutOred wild woman OF the Pacific we're
so foreign to ideas of the savage nature, that
some parties believed that she was not an
Indian, but . person of distinction cast away
by shipwreck and adopted by the islanders
before their removal from their home. Others
were certain, from her evident refinement,
that she had not been long alone, but had
drifted to San Nicolas after the Indian
woman persisted in the serf, and had by mis-
take been taken for the original savage. The
old sailors who rescued her affirm that she
was an Indian, the same who jumped from
the schooner to save her child. The represen-
tative of a lost tribe, she stands out from the
Indians OF the coast, the pOssessVr OF noble
and distinctive traits; proydent, clearly,
tasteful, amiable, initiative, considerate, and
with maternal devotion which civilization
has never surpassed.
She was greatly disappointed when none
of her kindred were found. She dropped
under civilizations; she missed the outdoor
life of her island camp. After q few weeks
she became too weak to walk; she was car
ried on to the porch every day in a chair.
She dOzed in the sunshine, while the chill
dren played around her. She was patient
and cheerful, looking eagerly into every new
face for recognition, and sometimes singing
softly to herself. Mrs. Nidiver hoped q re-
turn to her old diet would help her. She
procured seals meat, and roasted it in ashes.
When the sick woman saw it, she patted her
nurses hands affectionately, but could not
eat the food. She fell from her chair one
morning, and remained insensible for hours.
Seeing the approach of death, Mrs. Nidiver
sent for priest to baptize her prOtege. At
first he refused, not knowing but that she
had been baptized previously, although the
burden Of proof was against it. At length,
needing the kind Catholic lady's distress, he
consented to administer the rite, condition
ally. As she was breathing her last, the
sign OF the cross was pressed on her cold
brow. and the unknown and nameless crea-
ture was christened by Father Sanchez, in
the beautiful Spanish Juana Marie" In
CLEAN CHASTITY skull and cross bones. close
to the Santa Barbara Mission, under the
shelter of the tower, is the neglected grave
of devoted mother, the heroine of San
Nicolas.
The abandonment of San Nicolas occurred
forty-siX years ago. The survivor of eight
cen years. solitary captivity arrived in Santa
Barbara the Sth of September, 1858. Cap
tain Nidiver's house, where the stranger
died, stands in sight of the ocean, and can
be pointed out by any schoOl-boy in town.
Nidiver and his wife are living, and their
son George follows the sea, as his father did
before him. Carl Detman,O or Charlie Brown,
as he is called by the old sailors, may be
found any day where the retired bOatmen con-
gregate. Thomas Jeffries walks the streets
in blouse, wide hat, and flowing gray hair.
DIR. BrinkerhOff, who attended the woman of
San Nicolas, is a well known physician of
the city. Father Gonzales died few years
ago, after a continuous residence Of more
than a quarter of century in the Mission.
For a long time he was partially paralyzed,
and was carried about in a chair. Iremem-
Der him as a little dark man, with eyes
that blaZed unnaturally from sunken SOCK
cts, his appearance rendered more startling
by a white turban bound around his head. He
is buried under the floor of the old chapel.
The rambling mansion on State Street, known
as the Park Hotel, may have sheltered tour
lists who read this account. 1t was the first
brick house built in Santa Barbara, and was
the private residence of Isaac Sparks, the
lessee of the sail-boat from which, in 1885,
the woman jumped overheard. "Burton's
Mound,' q picturesque knoll, threaded by
rows of olive trees, belongs to Lewis L. Bur-
ton, another lessee of the Poor es NADIA. A
lady in San Francisco has some Of the island
er's needles. Nidiver and Brown retain her
curious water tight baskets. The Mission
fathers sent her feather robes to Rome. They
were made of the satiny plumage Of the
green cormorant, the feathers pointing
downward, and SO skilfully matched as to
seem one continuous sheen of changeful lus-
ter.
The record of baptism is in the church reg
lister. Her grave will be pointed out to any
one by the Franciscan brothers on the hill
Scribner's Monthly.