, 1886-06-04
A GRIM
Tho Fleshiess Fingers and the Mountain
Tomb.

Yesterday as the reporter was saunter
ing in front of one of our hotels his at
tention was attracted by = sturdy figure
clad in a well worn suit of brown canvass
From out the forest of beard that envel
opcd the bluff countenance, looked eyes
quick and intelligent, but withal curious.
The man was evidently a stranger in
Cheyenne. and the reporter took his trail,
An introduction was easily effected in
the peculiar western manner, and the
stranger was soon in a communicative
mood. He was a trapper and hunter who
had spent adventurous years amid the
mountains of the great Rocky Chain.
Early last fall he had located in the Snow
mountains, on the border of Wyoming
and Montana, and southwest of the great
Crow reservation. Here he gathered CON
siderable furs and when the deep SHOWS
came on he built a rude cabin and trapped
at intervals during the winter. This
spring he loaded his furs on his pack
pony and started for the railroad with
them. On the road 4 startling experience
awaited him.
The second night from his mountain
cabin he camped in a deep valley, already
green with the upland grasses. He I'M
loaded his pony at the base of a high
rocky cliff, along which ran a clear noun
tain stream. As he did so his attention
was attracted by a singular looking pile of
rocks, appearing halfwayup the face ofthe
cliff. These rocks seemed to have been
heaped up by human hands, and the trap
per, with great difficulty assembled the
cliff to where they were.
AS he drew near the rocky heap assum-
ed the shape of a rude tomb, and the
startling sight of a skeleton hand project
ing through a large %crevice in the rocky
heap proved it to be such. The funeral pile
was some six feet in height and the trap
per lost no time in getting a look. at the
interior. 1t contained the skeleton of a
man who had been enclosed within its
rocky walls in an upright posture. The
back of the skull was perforated by a bull
let hole of large size, and one of the tenn
pies was crushed in by a heavy blow. On
the bottom of the tomb lay a rusty pocket
knife. The handle o. this bore a plate, and
on this could still be traced the letters
&c. L." cut deep and rude. Moldering
fragments Of canvass clothing were at the
feet of the skeleton, with half a dozen me
talic buttons.
Replacing the stones he had removed,
the trapper made his way down the cliff,
wondering what mountain tragedy had
stained the fair valley in which he had
pitched his camp. On reaching the low
ground again he began a tour of %investi-
CATION through the valley. About a quar-
ter OF a mile above the tomb he found un-
mistakable evidences of placer mining,
and a few miles further on in the side of
a high bluff was IN old dugout. The roof
of poles, matched with dirt and coarse
grass, had long ago fallen in. Removing
some of the ancient rubbish, he penetrat-
ed into the interior of what once was a
human habitation, and unearthed a
handleless spade, a few battered tin plates,
and an old United States cartridge box.
Next morning he packed his pony and
left behind him the scene of long passed
violence and bloodshed, the last object his
eyes rested upon being the mountain
tomb with its skeleton inmate grimly
guarding the valleys dread secret.