Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1880-03-11
JOAQUIN MILLER.
From an interview With HF. James Redpath, Il
San Francisco Chroniele.J
ep.-How old is Milleri

Gan krauc16c0 LnrUnSGaG.l
Rep.-How old is Millers
]. R.-He was born on the 10th Of
November, 1920 he il nearly forty
He says he doesn't cultivate eccentric
ity. lie said be acted in The East and
Europe just o. he had always acted on
the coast; bat as soon Is be found Out
how other folks acted he acted like them.
] asked hIm il be had ever heard il said
that he only pretended to be lame-be-
cause Byron was lame. Joaquin laughed
heartily when asked the question:
He said he had never heard that story.
No; Byron was lame in his right Foot;
he himself was wounded in his left
leg. :.
ReP.-Do you knOw the story Of bis
life9
J. R.-Yes. One day caught him
in a communicative mood and ] asked
him thousand questions, more or less,
and wrote down bis answers in short
hand. He thought ! was only making
briet notes. so have got . complete
autobiography. ] will give you the
main points. Josquia's real name Is
Cincinnatus HeIne Miller. His father
gave him this double-barreled name in
honor of Cincinnati (the city near which
he was born) and of HeIne, the poet.
His father was Westward ho- err" al
ways moving West. and be kept iol-
lowing GreeIey's famous advice until
he got to Oregon and he could go no
further unless he swan. His father
was teacher and merchant when he
was a young man, but failed in business
and became q farmer when Joaquin was
o boy, and he has been a farmer. ever
since. He settled in Lane County, Or
egon, in 1852, and has remained there
till this hour. II was then an unbroken
forest. Joaquin did "chores" or tended
cattle or plowed IN the neighborhood
until he was about fourteen, when, in
company with another boy he ran away
TO California. He only attended school
about six months in all, and his father
kept il. The two boys stopped at a
miners camp in Yreka, on Humbug
Greek. He has truthfuIIy told the sto-
~ Of his life and OF camp life there in
his First Families of the Sierras." In
the American edition this character
turns out TO be woman, but in the Eng
lish edition the story is an autobiogra-
ply. He could do nothing-cook nor
work in tie mines. He had a very
hard time Of it, and the rough fellows in
camp treated hlm badly. He got .
chance TO 60 with two Mexicans 10
Sonora for horses end he went there.
He was gone a few months. They
waited in the Modoc country 20 tatten
up their horses. The Modocs killed the
Mexicans and took their horses. Joa-
quin was badly hurt by horses running
over him. He stayed with the Modocs
and learned to like them. They offered
20 return him to the white settlements,
but he chose TO stay.
The Pit River War broke out. He
fought with the Indians against the
whites. Before he went to Mexico he
had fought with the whites against the
Trinity Indians. There he was wound
ed for the first time. He stayed with
the Modocs for two or three years; moi
al the time, but varying his life by 60
ing into the white settlement to worI
and get al books. When he returned
20 the Indians he always carried bacl
ammunition. In the fights he was al
ways in the Modoc ranks. Itwas seer
that there was a white man anon,
them, and he was supposed to be tn
famous Mexican bandit Joaquin Muir
rietta. Hence the name that he adop
ted. He married The daughter oil IN,
Modoc Chief Black Beard. He had On
daughter by her, who is now in schoo
10 San Francisco. The mother wa
killed in battle. Once he was capture,
by the whites rs horse-thief and pu
in Jail at Shasta City. The whites di
not know that he was the man with th
Indians. but thought be was only com
mon horse-thief. On the night OF th
Fourth OF July, when every patriot
citizen Of Shasta was drunk-and the,
were eli patriois-the Indians came
down. broke into the jail and liberate
him. They escaped to the mountain.
Some time after, IN fight with The eel
tiers, the Modocs we're badly BEATEN
Black Beard pu. hisson-in law in charg
Of tw0 Indian guides. loaded him wit
gold that had been captured from Gov
ernment train. and they landed him .
the head Of the Sacramento River. II
made bic way to San Francisco. an
Immediately sailed Cor New York by th
Nicaragua route.
Joaquin landed in Nicaragua an
joined Walker. One day IN foragin
expedition the party he vas with va
ambuscaded. All were killed, or
wounded escaped. Joaquin alone wa
captured. His youth and the prayer
q some Mexican ladies saved him. A
soon ~ he was able to be removed b
was taken 10 the coast and put on boar
3 ship bound for Oregon. 1t lande
him near his fathers place. He studie
lew under his uncle Cor year and va
admitted 10 The bar. Soon after th
event he went Out with a prospectin
party 10 The territory west. which
nov Idaho. and started an express frol
the new mines. He made money an
bought an interest in a paper. whie
was soon suppressed by the military Al
aAmwsAsm~ T. - A.