The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1881-08-17
The Two Graves in Poker Valley.

1T was the curiousest thing that
ever happened in the diggins,' said
the old man, as he slowly filled his.
pipe. Nigh onto twenty years ago
was about the date, an n hundred
or so of US miners had squatted in
Poker Valley. It wasn't much of a
valley, an thar gar..t any too
much poker, an ! k1ow put in
six months o hard werk in that ere
hole an didn't el'ar fifty cents u day.
Howsumever, that hain't nuthin' to
do with the story l sot out to tell,
though it serves to explain why we
were.all out o. temper one AFTERNOON,
when a stranger entered Poker Val
ley by the west trail an brought
his skinny an foot-sore mule to a
halt in the centre o. our town. 1t
war airly in the fall, an the wealth
er was downright mean. 1t had
been drizzlin' ali day long, an we
had cussed an sulked an loafed
around till every man was ready to
answer 4 word with blow.
THE mint that stranger rode up
we all rushed out to see who he was
an what he wanted. He was a light
weight chap, muliled up TO the ears
to keep dry, and Ge couldn' say
what he could do with q pickaxe or
how he'd back friend in a fight.
He didn't git down from his mule
but began to inquar' arter n chap he
called Sweet William. This Will
liam was candy sort o man. He
seemed sort o pious, had q soft voice,
never cussed nor drank whiskey,
an we didn't 'zactly mate with him.
Ten days afore this stranger rode up
Sweet William got out o his blank
cts at midnight, either asleep or in
trouble, an the poor cuss took
walk over q bi. o cliff about fifty
feet high, with a lot o jagged rocks
to light on. We didn't take on very
much, as he had no partner and
wasn't one o us, as | menshuned
before, but we gin him decent |
burial an sold his traps on the squar
10 the highest bidder.
"Waal, now, that stranger was
goin on to AK about William. an | /
was sayin' to myself that he had
the softest voice of any man in the (
diggins, when suthin' happened. |
Old Kentucky Bill an Deakon' Joe
had been growlin' at each other for !
an hour or two, kinder achin' fur /
row, an at length they went at it.
Old kentuck gin Joe litter on the |
jaw, an Joe he out with his pepper
an fired kentuck to kingdom come. |
No, he didn't either. The bullet
cut lock of hair and did its bloody |
work beyond. The stranger on the
mule got it plump thro' the heart,
an he was dead afore he fell into
my arms. He? No, stranger-it |
was woman! Sure's your born it |
was a woman not over twenty-five |
years old, and with q face as purity |
rs thousand dollar nugget. She
was dressed sort o. man fashion.
an she was bravln' linens, bars,
storms and everything else fur an
objeck. What was it? Waal | dun
no. Was Sweet William her lover
or her husband? ? Had he run away /
from her, or had ne cum thar to t
make a stake? Must have been
some powerful motive TO have sent |
that gai on sich a trip, an we talked
it over an kinder concluded it was
love, an nuthin' else.
" Twas a terrible deal ANYHOW,
an / never think of it without feel
in my heart grow big and my throat
choke up. When we diskivered il
was woman we sot around thar
like pegs for half an hour. Then we
riz up and kicked them two fighters
out of camp an dug a grave long
side o Sweet Williams fur the poor
dead gal, an they sleep thar 10 this
day. Ruff and cussed as We war
in Poker Valley, we had tears in our
eyes as we put the poor gal away,
am ! seed more'n one old grizzly
pop his chin when the Alabama ell
der stood at the head of the grave
and said:
The Lord gave and the Lord
hath taken away. May they be
llned together in heaven. = Free
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