The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1882-05-25
At ST. Cloud surgical aid was pro

the Indians had impoVerlshed him. It
was only by the greatest exertions that
MyFon could keep his family FROM ae-
tuaI want: and hearing that laborers
were in greater demand at Cape Girar-
deau, he, with his wifeand children, en-
parked on the steamer Tidal Wave for
that place, after having remained at ST.
Cloud nearly year.
The voyage was never completed,
however, for when Tower Grove, Mo,
was reached, q fire broke ont on Che ill
fated steamer, and in a very short time
She was burned to the water edge.
The Joss of Life was considerable, aud
among the missing ones we're the two
Myron children. 1902 s----
For the second time Robert Myron
was homeless and penniless, with his
sufferings intensified by the loss of his
children. Perhaps it was fortunate for
him that he was obliged to work very
hard simplyto keep the wolf from. the
door, for it prevented him from brood
ING over his. misfortunes, as even a
Stronger man might have done.
During the two years that elapsed aft
err the burning of the Tidal Wave, Rob-
ert Myron laboreA industriously, but
without success, 50 far as the accumu-
lation of worldly goods was concerned;
he had been able TO pay the rent OF a
rude cabin three miles from the village
of Power Hill, and to furnish it scantily.
But the expenses attendant upon the
birth of two children, and his own Sc
we're illness, during which he was con-
fined to his bed two months, had ex-
hausted the small fund he had succeeded
IN saving to enable him to remove to
Cape GiraFdeau. e as- e..l
Then came a time when he could no
longer find employment near his
wretched home, and he, sought it some
miles up the river, going and returning
each day in 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 narrow bar of sand that
made out from the bank of the river at
the spot where the Tidal Wave was
burned. On this frail and treacherous
foot-hold he managed t. remain during
the night, in full sight of the town, but
unable to attract attention to his desper-
ate condition.
The dawn of the day revealed still
more horrors, for close beside him, hav-
ing evidently been unearthed by the
waves, was the skeleton of a human
being. At first Myron felt that fear
which seems to be natural in man when
he 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 tore
main almost in actual contact 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 fieshless frame a
leather belt Curiosity Overcame his
horror, and, christening the belt, he
fouII1 gold coin to the amount Of five
thousand dollars.
That Robert Myron was in fever of
excitement 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 a 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 aud his necessi-
ty was a long one; but when those who
came to rescue him arrived at the sand
bar they found him with 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 question 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 returning it if
they should ever find the dead mans
heirs. This he hoped to do by making
such investments as could be readily
realized upon, so that they might show
themselves to be good, even if self
elected, stewards.
The cabin they lived in, and the FIVE
acres Of land surrounding it, was for
sale at price below its real value.
Myron represented to the owner that,
despite appearances, he had succeeded
i'm saving a 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, tilling his own farm when he could
find no other work. Then he invested
in very small way in stock, buying
when he could get decided bargains
only. Year by year he added to his
possessions, and his neighbors called
him a g thrifty" man. I
All his investments were good ones,
since none were made save with the.
view of converting everything into cash
at a moments notice if necessary, and
Robert Myron became a wealthy man.
As Is usual, with wealth came the re-
spect Of his neighbors, who, to show
their appreciation Of money, elected him
to the Office of County Judge.
During the year 1870 the inhabitants
of Tower Hill witnessed the destruction
of another steamer by fire at almost the
exact place where the Tidal Wave went
down. Among all those men who Ia
bored to save life none was more active
than Robert Myron, and his house was
converted into a hospital for the recep-
ton of those who were injured, but saved
from death.
Mrs. Myron was as earne st in her eff
forts to comfort she distressed people as
was her husband, and her labor was
signally rewarded by finding among the
unfortunate ones whom she was nurs-
ING her father, whom she had not heard
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