Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-03-22
A CALlFORNIAN,s STORY.
A Romantic Tale OF the Early Days in
the Gold Fields Of the Pacific slope.
From the Indianapolis Journal.

n Journal representative overheard STORY
which was narrated one evening early In the
week by one of a party of gentlemen who were
engaged in listening to the stories ofthe speaker
Of life on the frontier. and the trials and Incl
deats of the miners camp. The person who
was entertaining the party was apparently nifty
years of age whose weather beaten countenance
5etOkened the fact that his life had been passed
out of doors, and whose powerfals frame and
Jrawny fists indicated that. although past life's
meridian, he was still in the heydey Of his
strength He formerly lived in Indiana, and
vas home on a visit after thirty years absence
in the far west. most OF the time having been
spent in the mines of California, Arizona, and
New Mexico.
THE MINERS STORY.
Talk about romantic storiesln said he. of
you've got time to listen, / will tell you some
thing that happened during the early days of
California, and Of which / was myself witness.
1t happened nearly thirty years ago, in the
spring of 81. and at time when there was no
more government in that part of California than
there is now i'll the heart Of Africa. All the
government the miners knew was that of their
own vigilance committee, of Which every man
was member, except those who needed watch
ing and were not permitted to join. / was lit
tie more than boy, a great big overgrOwn
HoOsier, but. like thousands of Others. | was
out for the western Eldorado as soon as l could
get away. drifted about from place to place
until finally wound up on a little claim On the
north fork of the Salmon river Just over the
Trinity mountains from Weayerville. and that
is where this thing occurred The miners were
scattered along the fork pretty nearly all the
way from the forks to Sawyers bar. and it
wasn't very difficult matter to get a crowd to-
gether in case the vigilantes had work on hand.
The signal for sunlmoning the boys on such oc-
casions was certain peculiar whistle, and no
matter what they were doing. just let that
whistle sound, and the prospect of hanging
sluice robber or cnt-thrOat Was generally suf-
hcient attraction to cause them to drop work
and report at headquarters. Sluice robbers
were pretty plenty in that locality, and the
whistle was heard with considerable frequency.
MYSTERIOUS MURDER
some evening. along in the spring, it was Just
growing dark and the miners were quitting
work for the day, when the sound of the whis-
tie was heard. We all listened and located the
place from whence the sound came Other
whistles took it up, and the signal was echoed
from hill to hill, apprising the boys of the fact
that there was work on hand. 1t didn't take
long. tell YOU for crowd of two or three hun
dred excited miners TO gather at the cabin where
the whistle was sounded. and great was their
surprise on learning that Nose Rodacker.
miner, had been found murdered in his cabin
There he lay. beside the fireplace at
which he had evidently been preparing supper.
his eyes wide open and staring with CHASTITY
glare that was appalling knife was sticking
in his breast buried to the hilt. which was con-
ylncing proof that he had been murdered.
There was a decided air of mystery about the
whole affair. ROdacker had lived alone, and
had neither friends nor enemies SO far as any
one knew, and the result of his day work, a
painful OF washin9s. lay before him untouched.
Evidently he had not been murdered for his
no orlro nvy,lo ION,
for the crime. But the boys got their heads to-
gether, and two or three of us remembered
having seen stranger in the neighbOrhOod two
or three times during the day, and suspicion
naturally enough rested on him. Several of the
miners instituted search for the stranger, and
an hour later brought him into camp.
THE STRANGERS TRIAL.
HE was nice-lOOking young fellow, appar-
emily not over twenty years old, with face as
smooth as a baby's, and little, delicate hands
that showed pretty conclusively that he was no
miner. used to handling pick and shovel. He
was dressed in ordinary, rough clothes, wearing
miners blue flannel shirt As soon as he was
brought in he was accused of the murder and
placed on trial before the committee. He was
pretty roughly handled by the men. and no.
ticed that he WINGED considerably az they showed
him about from place to place, and finally bump
ed MIN down On log between two big fellows
who held his arms. The fellow made no effort
to get away, and had no more strength than
boy. but that made no difference to the men.
They handled him roughly just the same. Blood
stains were found on his clothes, and the sheath
In his belt was EMPTY That was enough to
convict preacher before that kind OF Jury
and it didn't take long for them to bring in a
verdict"
Here the speaker paused and relit his pipe,
sending cloud of smoke about his head.
What was the verdict" asked one Of his
hearers
what was it? Same old thing. Never was
but one verdict returned by the vigilantes, no
matter what the crime of which the prisoner
stood accused. Death! The spokesman got up
and announced to the captive that he was to be
hanged by the neck until he was dead. The boy
turned pale as a ghost. and without word OF
sound, fell backwards from the log on which
he sat in dead faint. Two OF three of the men
jumped forward to his assistance, one of them
ran to the sluice ana brought hatful of water
to sprinkle in his face and another famed him.
but b no purpOse-the fellow didn't seem to
revive.
Intuition his shirt-collar,' said some one.
one OF the boys stopped over and unbuttoned
Suddenly he jumped back paler than the boy
himself.
my GOD, IRIS A wOMAN!'
said he. and hic hat came off as rcverentially as
though he had stepped into a church. 1t was
whispered around among the boys in short
order, and the surprise was general, tell YOU
In those days there were no women in Cali
fornia, except i'm the cities and most ofthOse who
We're there were none Of the best, and the fact
that there was woman " our midst was
enough to astOnsh us. But this only deepened
the mystery about the murder and we were as
far from an explanation of it as we were before
discovering the sex of the prisoner A few
minutes later she recovered from her swoon and
resumed her quiet defHeanOr. The men, of
course, wanted TO know the reason for her ap-
pearance in the country I'm that disguise, and
what connection, if any. her presence had with
the murder. committee was appointed to
take her aside and hear what she had to saw
and to them she told her story.
THE PRISONERS STORY.
"A few years ago. said she. 4 lived with my
father, mother and sister ON our farm in Mis-
souri,. We We're as happy together as any family
ever was, and didn't know anything at all about
the real meanness of men. One day there came
to our house a nice looking young fellow who
wanted work on the farm. Mother did not like
his appearance. and begged father not to take
him, but we needed help on the place, and in
spite OF mothers protest he was taken into the
family He was nice young fellow, apparently
and father took great liking to him. taking
him into the house and treating him exactly
like member of the family After while he