Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1880-01-03
TRUE CALIFORNIA ROMANCE.
Charley Paskharss, . vameus stage
Driver. After Thirty Ysars' Dis.
Eusse. % Discovered 60 DO .
woman.
From "a. San Ernnei.eo caR.

WkrsoSvILLE, December 81, 1871
There 10 hardly . city or town, or ham.
let OF the Pacific coast that includes
among its citizens Q few Of the gold hun.
tiers OF the early days. where at least one
person cannot be found who will remem.
Der Charley Parkhurst. For In the early
days the gold hunters were by rapidly
succeeding gold discoveries drawn back
to San Francisco as q headquarters. and
again distributed from IL to the most
recently found diggings. and in those
same early days Charley Psrkhurst wal
Q stage driver successfully on all the
moro important routes leading out from
the city. He was in his day ono OF the
most dextsrous and celebrated Of the
famous California drivers ranking with
Foss, Hank Monk and George Gordon.
and II was an honor to be striven for to
occupy the spare end OF the drivers seat
whom the fearless Charley Parkhurst
held the rsins Of Q four or six-in.hand.
CALIFORNIA COACHING
Had. and has even yet, u exciting I'D.
junct that was wanting In all preceding
coaching. II was when the organized
bands Of hishwaymen waylaid the
coaches, leaped to the leaders heads,
and. over levslsd shotguns, issued the
grim command made 80 often that u has
crystalized into the felonious formula Of
Throw down the box" Drivers OF q
phlegmatio temperament become accus.
toned to these interruptions. eIpsrtly
reckon up the killing capacity Of the gun.
barrels lsvsled at them, accept the inev.
liable. throw down the treasure box and
drive on. Charley Parkhurst was high
strung. and this was one requirement Of
the early days he could never master.
He drove for q while between Stockton
and Mariposa, and once was stopped and
had to cut away the treasure box TO get
his coach and passengers clear. But he
did It even under the drop Of the rob
bers' firearms, with IN Ill grace. and he
deiantly told the highwaymsn that hs
would "brsak even with them." He was
a. good a. his word. for being subss-
quently stopped on q return trip from
Mariposa to Stockton. he watched his
opportunity. and, contemporaneously,
IIhNkp his WlLD AUsIANua
And his wicked revolver loose, and
brought everything through safe. That
his shooting was 10 the mark was subse-
qusntly ascertained by the confession OF
''Sugsrfoot." o notorious h~ighwayman,
who. MORALLY wounded. found his way
to . miners cabin In the hills, and In
articulo morris told how no had been
shot by Charley Parkhurst. the famous
driver, in q desperate attempt with
others to stop his stage. Charley Park.
hurst also afterward drove on the great
stage route from Oakland to San Jose,
and later. and for . long time. he was
''ths boss Of the road" between San
Juan and Santa Cruz, when San Fran.
cisco Wal reached by way Of San Juan.
But Parkhurst was Of both an energetic
and . thrifty nature. and whom rapid
improvements In the means Of locomo-
ton relocated coaches farther out to.
ward tho frontiers. and made the driving
Of them less profitable, IL was not sum
cisnt for him that he was acknowledged
% one Of the three or four crack whips
Of the coast. He resolutely abandoned
driving and went to farming. For fifteen
years he prosecuted this calling. varying
Il In the winter times by working In the
woods, where he was known as one OF
the most skillful and powerful Of chop
pers and lumbermen, and where his
services were
rAorRLY U FOE.
And always commanded the highest
wages. Although. in his stage-coaching
days, he was bail fellow we'll met with
the migratory miners. and although.
during the succeeding years Of his life
as farmer and lumberman he was social
and generous with his fellows, he was
never incorporate. immoral or reckless,
and the sure result was that his years Of
labor had been rewarded with o compe-
tenoy Of several thousand dollars. For
several years past he had been 80 30
yerely afflicted with rheumatism as not
only to be unable to do physical labor,
but the malady had even resulted In the
partial shrivelins and distortion OF some
Of his limbs. He was also attacked by
q canoe on his tongue. Al the com
binsd diseases became moro aggressive,
the genial Charley Parkhurst became,
not moross, but less and less communi.
cative, till Of late he has oonversed with
no one except on the ordinary topics Of
the day. Last Sunday. In . little cabin
ON the Moss Ranch. about six miles
from watsonvills, Charley Parkhurst,
the famous coachman, the fearless
fighter. the industrious farmer and ex.
pert woodman, died OF the cancer on his
tongue. He knew that
DEATH WA APPROACHING,
But he did not relax the reticsncs Of his
later years, other than to express Q few
wishes a. to certain things to be done at
his death. Then. when the hands OF
the kind friends who had ministered to
his dying wants anne to lay out the
dead body Of the adventurous argonaut,
q discovery was made that was literally
astounding. Charley Psrkhurst wa 0
woman. q perfectly formed. fully dsvsl.
opsd woman. II was no wonder that
friends and associates who had known
him intimately for Q quarter Of . century
refused TO accept the evidence Of even
their physical senses Of the fact, and that
it wa only after the confirmation OF all
the physicians Of the vicinags. who were
hastily summoned to view the body.
that the fact could DO realized. The
discoveries Of the successful conceal.
msnt for p~rotracted periods Of the 70.
male sex under the disguiss Of the mas.
culins are not infrequent. but the case
Of Charley Parkhurst may fairly claim
to rank a by all odds the most astonish-
ing Of all Of them. That . young wo-
man should assume mans attire and,
yRirSpLKss AND ALONE,
Defy the dangers Of the voyage Of 1S49.
to the then almost mythical California
dangers over which hardy pioneers
still grow boastful-has in 1t sufficient
Of the wonderful. That she should
achieve distinction in Q physical occupa-
ton above all professions calling for the
..k nhv.;cal oualitiea of narve. couraoe