The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-01-31
THE UNKNOWN FRIEND.
An Incident OF the Colorado Mining Com
pspy.
BIZ William B. Parsons.

Half Moon was new mining camp in
q dcep canon at the head waters Of the
Gunnison. One Of that adSenturous
class known as "prospectors" had, in the
Fall of 1881, wandered through that
country, followed by burro, which bore
upon its back all his worldly wealth, and
had brought into winter quarters in the
valley of the Arkansas such promising
specimens of brittle and ruby silver that
many, seeing them, were induced to go
in the Spring to spy out the land And
so il happened, on March ~night, in
1882, that dozen campires were bright.
" burning, dozen tents were dimly
Gutliued in the shadows and openings OF
the stunt.d pines, and forty or fifty men,
in groups of from three to six, were
gathered around the fires smoking their
evening pipes and relating their expert.
ences and wonderful finds of the year be.
tefe.
Among fifty men brought together
from every part of the world, in wild
country, by q purpose born, to some ex-
tent ii least, OF seiiishness and greed,
some are likely to be found in whom
brutishness predominates. There were
several such in the camp at Half-Moon.
The poets say that communion with
nature re6nes and elevates the soul, and
leads men onward and upward toward
natures God. The poets are somewhat
wrong. The kindly spirit born and
reared amid the best influences of city
home, where all the surroundings are oil
a refining character, will become kindlier
and better as the years go on while the
dull man will become duller, and the
mean man meaner, in the very presence
and hush of nature. At least it is some.
times so and it was 80 with Bill Lewis
lie had seen nature in all her majesty
moods and aspects for more than thirty
wears he traversed the country from
the Missouri to the Pacific shore
lunched on the highest SUBMITS and
camped in the deepest gorges. And yet
his depravty was immense. lie bad
been convicted of dozen crimes, and
committed hundred others without con.
viction. Each succeeding Fall had found
him worse in every way than the preced
ing Spring, and those who knew him
best frequently remarked upon the new
and ever-increasing capabilities for sin
which he was constantly unfolding.
But he was not wholly bad. Perhaps
no man ever was. There was rumor
among the miners, credited by few,
that once or twice during his career his
rough voice had become gentler and the
light in his fierce eye softer, when lie had
been surprised into speaking of his
mother. Where he had come from,
"what made him leave" where hia
mother lived, or whether she lived at all,
no one knew or had the hardibood to
ask.
There was another manor rather boy
in that camp; but he could not be
seen that evening around any of the
fires. He had come into the gulch in a
crowd of seven who had been on the trail
some twenty days together, and Bill
Lewis was another of the seven. His
name was Zeno Brown. His comrades
had failed to catch or comprehend his
first name, and he had come to be called
Little John"
He would have been remarked any.
where in mining region as one wholly
out of place. He was light, delicate and
fragile-though seemingly in good health
before coming to the gulch-and was
lily fitted to meet the vicissitudes of q
mountain life. He might have been
born for an artist or poet, or both be
certainly was never intended for miner
Everybody except Bill Lewis liked and
pitted him. Bill apparently did not hate
him but he desplsed him for his soft,
tender nature; was in the habit Of cali
ing him "Susie" and "Nellie," and other
feminine diminutives, and never let pass
en- opportunity to humiiiato aud wound
him.
In coming into the gulch the party
had an unusually serious trip. The
trail was lily defined; the snow was deep
and soft; they had been compelled to
unpack their animals score o! times,
and to sleep in wet clothes and wet snow.
For all this, however, most of them
cared but little. They were not invalid
tourists, and they had crossed the range
too many times in bad weather to be
much troubled by one trip more.
But with Little John the case was diff:
ferent. He had never before been thus
exposed, and was evidently not sustained
to any considerable extent by q hopeful
spirit, and lie had succumbed. He lay
in his tent in his rough blanket bed,
sick, prostrated. exhausted. There YVES
no physician there, although most OF
those men knew something Of sickness
and in discussing his case, while none
could say that he had this or that disease
all agreed that he was "clean gone and
likely to croak."
They had been talking of him around
the fire when some one, coming from a
tent in grove near by said:
II think Little John'll 60 up tonight
He's crazy now, an thinks he's in Ohio
an keeps talkin' of his mother"
Bill Lewis, before silent and sullen
started up at once. .'I'll 60 see the kid,
he said.
He went, and all followed in wonder
The BED vas Tarn enough, and soft
enough. But it and its surrounding
were terribly rough for one like him II
his condition. Tho pale face amid the
shaggy blankets, lit up by tallow can
die burning in can the saddles, ropes
kettles and tools scattered around among
the bushes upon the earth foor-all to
gether formed q scene weird and impres
sive.
As the man had said, Little John wa!
deirious and talking of his home and
associates away back in Ohio, but mos
her to forgive him for deserting her, ane
never to believe him guilty.
Beyond this brief hint there was moth
Ing Ineligible in hia sayings. Now ant
then word of pity OF sorrow wa
spoken by some one, but not word o
hope, until suddenly Bill Lewis quietly
but firmly and confidently, remarked:
"Pards that yer kid must be saved
II you iellers have mind to turn in an
III - Il 4 Il A