Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1882-05-12

than the ox-cart. In this rude vehicle Mrs.
Myron placed her husband aud children, and
not once during that tedious journey, made
painful by the suffering of the man for whom
she had braved the dangers and discomforts
Of frontier life, was halt made.
AZ st. Cloud surgical aid was procured, and
there, after Mr.. Myron's recovery, he sought
work of any kind that would bring in sufh.
cient for the support Of his family, since the
depredations of the Indians had impoverished
him. It was only by the greatest exertions
that Myron could keep his family from actual
want, and hearing that laborers were in great
er demand at Cape Girarde0u, he, with his
wife and children, embarked on the steamer
1iddl WdUe for that place, after having re-
mained at St. Cloud nearly year.
The voyage was never completed, however,
for when Tower Grove, Missouri, was reach
cd, fire broke out on the Inflated steamer,
and in very short time she was burned
to the waters edge. The loss of life was con.
siderable, and among the missing ones were
thetwo Myron children.
For the second time Robert Myron was
homeless and penniless, with his suiferings
intensified by the loss Of his children. Per
haps it was fortunate for him that he was
Obliged to work very hard simply to keep the
wolf from the door, for it prevented him
from brooding over his misfortunes as even
a stronger man might have done.
During the two years that elapsed after the
burning of the Tidal Wave, Robert Myron
labored industriously, but without success, so
far as the accumulation Of worldly goods was
concerned he had been able to pay the rent
of a rude cabin three miles from the village
of Tower Hill, and to furnish it scantily But
the expenses attendant upon the birth of
two children, and his own severe illness dur.
ing which he was confined to his bed two
months, had exhausted the small fund he had
succeeded in saving to enable him to remove
to Cape Girardeau.
Then came time when he could no long.
er find employment near his wretched home
and he sought it some miles up the river, 90.
ing and returning each day in a small boat
Even then it appeared that misfortune was
not wearied with pursuing him. for one night
when returning from his work a storm came
up, which overturned his frail skiff, and,
nearly exhausted, he was thrown upon a mar
row bar of sand that made out from bank
of the river at the spot where the Tidal Wave
was burned On this frail and treacherous
foot-hold he managed to remain during the
night, in full sight of the town, but unable to
attract attention to his desperate condition.
The dawn of day revealed still more horrors,
for close beside him, having evidently been
unearthed by the waves, was the skeleton of
human being At first Myron felt that fear
which seems to be natural in man when be
sees the deserted tenement of one of his kind
but the resting place which the waves gave to
| the living and the dead was SO small that he
was obliged to remain almost in actual con-
tact with the yellow bones. As he sat by the
skeleton waiting for help from the shore,
which seemed SO tardy in coming, he saw
about the ribs of the heshless frame leather
belt. Curiosity overcame his horror, and, un-
fastening the belt, he found within it gold
coin to the amount of five thousand dollars
That Robert Myron was in fever of ex-
citement hardly needs to be told. He had
struggled to the full strength of man many
| years. and was hardly more than a pauper
when he should have had at least spot of
Gods footstool he could call his own. The
dead had brought him what the living had re-
fused. To take the gold for his own purposes
seemed theft, and yet he who had fastened
| it about his body could no longer use it. The
struggle between his conscience and his me-
cessity was long one but when those who
came to rescue him arrived at the sand-bar
| they found him with a skeleton on which
nothing could be seen and no one could have
fancied that the hAlf-drowned man had found
a treasure. That the bones were those of one
of the passengers of the Tidal Wave, no one
doubted, and they were given a resting place
among the nameless graves of those who had
| lost their lives in the disaster. No one save
Robert Myron and his wife knew of the
money-belt, or that on the inside of it, cut
deep in the thick leather, was the name
Henry Parks"
But Myron, having this money, did not
dare to use it openly lest people should ques-
tion how he got it. He had agreed with his
wife that they should use the gold for their
own benefit but do it with the view of re-
turning it if they should ever find the dead
mans heirs. This he hoped to do by making
cunh inuaatpnanf ac anftla ha raaAiIx, "A
upon, so that they might show themselvs to
be good, even il self-elected, stewards.
The cabin they lived in, and the five acres
of land surrounding it, was for sale at a price
below its real value. Myron represented to
/ the owner that despite appearances, he had
succeeded in saving small amount of money
| about half the price asked-and offered to
buy it if his note would be accepted for the
balance. The bargain was made and Myron
still continued to work by the day for any one
who would hire him, tiling his own farm
when he could find no other work. Then he
| invested in a very small way in stock, buying
when he could get decided bargains only.
Year by year he added to his possessions, and
his neignbors called him thrifty" man.
All his Investments were good ones, since
none were made save with the view of con-
verting everything into cash at moments
notice If necessary, aud Robert Myron be-
| Nhulo wealthy Ahhs Ab 10 ubuult Win
| wealth came the respect of his neighbors,
who, to show Eheir appreciation of money,
elected him to the Office of County Judge.
During the year 1870 the inhabitants of
Tower Hill witnessed the destruction of an
other steamer by fire at almost the exact
place where the Tidal Wave went down.
Among all those men who labored to save
life none was more active than Robert Myron,
aud his house was converted into hospital
/ - Ill.
but saved from death.
Mrs Myron was as earnest in her efforts to
comfort the distressed people as was her
| husband, and her labor vas signally rewarded
| by finding among the unfortunate ones whom
she WIS nursing her father, whom she had
not hoard from since the day she left his
home to found another with the one man she
loved above all others. The daughters heart
was made still more glad when the old gem
tleman told her aud her husband that he had
| been searching for them several months in
the hope OF inducing them to return to his
lonely home, or allow him to remain with
them.
Then he told strange story and one
which lifted load that had grown heavier
with each succeeding year from his son-in-law's 4
heart.
Iu 1861, Mrs. Myron's aunt had died, be-
queathing to her niece the sum of five thous-
| ana uollbrs. Juuge DeIryi uhli releutlnB thut
he had not looked with favor upon his daugh-
ter's marriage, had sent his clerk to carry to
her this legacy. The messenger had written
to his employer from st. Cloud in 1862, stat
ing that he had traced Mr.. and Mrs. Myron
to that place, but that from there they had
gone, as he had reason to believe, to Cape
Girardeau, which place he was about to start
for in the steamer Tidal Wave. From that
tme Mr.. Berry had never heard from his
clerk, and he believed he had lost his life
when the steamer was burned.
As the old gentleman finished his story, the
husband and wife gazed at each other with
an almost despairing hope in their eyes, and
it was only with the greatest difficulty Judge
| Murnn cnnld ask the nnnsIinn .MhAL WINS The