Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1882-06-17
A CALaFosSaASs sresv

on the frontier, and the trials and Incl
oenis OF the miners camp. The per-
son who was entertaining the PARTY WIS
apparently nifty years of age, whose
weather beaten face betokened the fact
mat his life had been passed oos of
doors, and whose powerful frame aud
orawny nSts indicated that, although
past iifes meridian, he was still In the
heydey Of his ssranQth. He foru~riv
lived IN Indiana, and was home on Z
VISIT aftoT . thirty yoars' absence In the
Tar West, most q the time having BEEN
spent In the mines Of CaiiIo1uis, 1Yizo-
"a, and New Mexico.
Talk about romantic ssuriss. ssid
be. IF you've goe time 70 listen, / will
Tell you consisting that happened duriue
the early days Of California, and Of
which I was myself q witness. Il han
pened nearly thirty years ago, in the
spring Of "a, and at time when fhcro
was no more government In that part of
Canofnia than there IL nov in the hOaxt
OF Africa. All the government the min
ers knew was that OF their own vigi-
lance Committee, of which every man
q member, sxosps those who needsd
watching aud were not permitted to
JOIN. 1 was little more than boy, a
great big oveIHrown Hoosief, but ike
thousands OF others was smitten with
the gold fever Of '49, and pulled oot
Tor the western Eldorado az soon as
could get away. drifted about from
place to place until finally WOUND up
sn little claim on the north fork of
the Salmon rlver, Just over the Trinity
mountains from Wsterville, and that u
whore this occurred. The miners were
scatterd all along the fork pretty
nearly all the way from the forks to
Sawyef's bar. and Il was not very diff
ncuit matter to get crowd together in
case the vigilanfes had work on hand.
The signal for snmmOning the boys to-
ge<her on such OCCASIONS was a certain
peculiar whistle, and il didn't matter
what they we're doing, Just let that whis-
tie sound, and the prospect of hanging
a slulce r0bter was generally sufficient
attraction to cause them to drop work
and report to headquarters. Sluice rob-
bers were pretty plenty in that locali-
ty, and the whistle was heard with CON
frequency.
"One evening along in the Spring. il
was just growing dark and the miners
were quitting work for the day, vhen
the sound of the whistle was heard. We
all listened and located tho place from
whence the sound came. Other whis-
ties took it up and tue signal was ech-
oed from hill to hill, apprising the boys
Of tho fact that there was work ON hand
1t didn't take long, tell you, for a
crowd OF two or three hundred excited
miners to gather ut the cabin where the
whistle was sounded, and great was
their surprise when they learned that
Nose Rodacker, a miner had been found
in his cabin. There he lay
beside the fireplace, at which he had
evidently been preparing supper, his
eyes wide open and staring with Rhas-
tly glare that was appalling. A knife
was sticking in his breast buried to the
hit, which was convincing proof that
be had been murdered. There was q
decided air of mystery about the whole
atfalA ROdacker had lived alone, and
had neither friends or enemies, 80 far az
any one knew, and the result of his
days work. a painful of washings Law be-
fore him untouched. Evidently he had
not been murdered for his money, and
there was no apparent explanation for
the crime. But the boys got their heads
together, and two or three of us remem-
bered having seen q stranger in the
two or three times during
the day, and suspicion naturally rested
on him. Several of the miners institu-
ted search for the stranger and an
hour later brought him into camp.
HE was nice looking young fellow,
apparently not over twenty years old,
with face rs smooth as baby's and
little, delicate hands that showed con-
cluslvely that he was no miner, used to
the pick and shovel. He was dressed
In ordinary rough clothes, wearing a
a 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 noticed that
he WINGED considerably a. they showed
him about from place to place, and fin
ally bumped him up and down ON q log
between two big fellows, who held his
arms. Tho follow made no attemIt to
get away, and had no more strength
than a boy, but that made no differ
ence 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
evidence enough to convicta preacher
before that kind of a jury, and It didn't
take long for them to bring in a YER
dict"
Here the speaker paused and relit
his pipe, sending cloud of smoke about
his head.
What was their verdict7' asked one
Of his hearers.
"what was itf Same old thing. Never
was but one verdict returned By the viQ-
ilantes, no matter what the crime 81
which the prisoner is accused. Death!
The spokesman got up and announced
to the captive that he was to hang BY
the neck until he was dead. The bow
turned pale as ghost, and without a
word or u sound, fell backwards from
the log on which he sat in a dead faint.
Two or three of the men jumped for
ward to his assistance, one of them ran
to the sluice to get hatful of water to
sprinkle in his face, and another famed
him. but to no purpose-the fellow
didn't seem to revive"
"Unbutton.his shirt sollas," aaid ono
One of the boys stopped over and I'M
buttsned the collar, turning back the
folds as he did SO. Suddenly he jumped
back paler than the boy himself.
"My God. it's a womanv' said he, and
his hat came off rs reverently as though
he had stepped into church. 1t was
whispered around among the boys in
short order. and the surprise was gem
eral, tell you. In those days there was
no women in California except in the
cities, and most Of them that were there
were none of the best, and the fact that
there was woman in our midst Was
enough to astoaish ~ but Vhis only
us mystery abont the nur-
der, and We we're as far from an expla-
nation of it as We were before discover
ing the sex of the prisoner. A few min
utes later shs recovered from the swoOn
and resumed her quiet demeanor. The
men of course, wanted to know the reas-
on for her appearance in the country in
that disguise, and what connection, IL
any. her presence had with tho murder.
A committee was appointed TO take
her aside and hear what she had to say,
and to them she told her story.
"a few years ago." she said II lived
with my father, mother and sister on
our farm in Missouri. We we're as hap
py 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