The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-11-01
ONE COFFIN TOO MANY.
A Case Where Superstition Squared
with tho Facts.
From the Providence Tele5ron'

with tho Facts.
From, the Providence Teleyrom
.Jt was at the old Tuolumne camp when
things had Just begun to boom. A few
-;cb strikes that some of the lucky ones had
made had encouraged the rest of Us TO hang
on The Jumping Jehoshaphat claim had
,,ot in some of the new-fangsed powder and
1ras blasting away for all that was out.
Most of us looked askauce at the new kind
- ,,ovder. and when Uncle Billy Grimes
,Dronhesied that the camp would be blown
IN with the stuff or get poisoned with the
Flmes. al his partner had at Red gulch, we
made the jun ping Jehosaphat boys move it
out of harms way. SO when blast Went
IF one fine morning when nobody was ex-
Iecting it, and laid out five of the best men
n the camp, we were all able to say, L told
Won So as we rushed up TO the claim.
The cannpwas intensely excited, for these
,rsro the first deaths since we came in, not
co,Inting two sluice robbers and a horse
thief that we had hanged for luck. We stood
off a little bit, for no one but the five boys
IN the rit knew whether there were half a
doren more to go off. But we sailed in
I,Tetty soon and hauled out what was left of
The bows and it was sight to make you
sick We were pretty badly cut up about
Il and when we cleaned t EN- up and laid
+bon out decentlv in their cabin, we went
d1,rn in front of Dutch Dawes saloon, and
81 Hawkins called the meeting to order.
.rRoys.' he said, in HUSKY voice, we've
got our first chance to start a graveyard,
99nd no town ever had a better. Them
havs thar and he jarked his thumb over his
sboulder, would do any graveyard proud,
and we ought to start 'em off in style. It's
a rotten shame if we don't give 'em the
hest send off the markets got, and d the
ex enSe,
I'VE cheered the sentiment, in spite of the
occasion, and he continued:
-, naU " g wait 10 80 IS to send for cof-
fms. Any man that's in favor of this SEN
tIn,ent, can Just walk up here and plank
down his dus6.'
mo one could refuse this appeal, and the
needed sum was soon raised. An order was
written to the Simpsonville undertaken and
oiven tn the driver of the down stage, with
inc verbal message:
"'If they amt here by tomorrow night
? committee of ther boysll be down there to
find out why, an they'll need their collins
to hum
about supset the next evening wagon
tIrned off the main road and came into
camp. 1t brought the collins. They were
unloaded. one after the other, ard shone
with all the spendor that fresl varniSh
could give them.
"'IRar's style for ye,' said Hawkins, with
pardonable pride. How the boys would en-
ioy them if they were here. BY. the lord
J{arrvr he shouted, suddeIly, there's six
here. Who ordered six"
Jim Davis was the man that wrote the
letter. He turned deathly pale and said
"tRy - there's bad luck coming.
There's a sixth man in this crowd. | ordered
five cofins, an that extra one hasn't come
for nothing
"There was a sudden silence, and the most
of the crowd turned as pale as Jim. 1t did
look mighty plausible that that there coffin
was looking for some one, and each man
felt an uncomfortable suspicion that he was
the one The only one that was bold
enough to resent the idea was Five Fingered
Jack. who had been born with five fingers
on his left hand, and had eveDed matters by
shooting off his thumb
YOU'RE a good one, JIM, he says,
you're the scholard of the crowd, but you
can't write straight yet.
".See here said jim. getting riled, 4
amt no scholard, but don't knuckle down
to no man when 1t comes to ordering cot
fins. KEEP copy of the letter, so't the IN
Clertaker don't cut any shines with us
"He pulled out the letter, and he had
written five as plain as life.
".That coffin has come for one of u.s. he
continued, an it means business. Itstands
to reason that when a coffin travels twenty
five miles it's goin' to git it's man.
1--WE gathered round, looking about as
solemn as we felt, and some of the boys KEEP
lookin' over their shoulders suspicious like
to the cabin where the dead men lay, as
though they were afraid the night might
encourage 'em to come out an pick their
company for the next days journey.
Isl Hawkins tried to pump The fellow
that drove the team up to camp, but he
didn't know anything about ii. the collins
bad been loaded in by the undertaken, and
he brought them up as they were given to
him. 81 Hawkins told us to come into
Dutch Dawes, and the boys began to get
their courage out of bottle, in the natural
way. AS they got livened up they began to
Joke about their fears and recommend can.
didates for the vacant honor.
"'Mebbe it's after the Teller what stole
Simpsons horse, said Five Fingered Jack. ii
a sort of bantering tone. Eff he's ketched
hell need it mighty bad
The crowd laughed-al but Jim. He
took it seriously and tried to argue the
matter.
Hell be lucky ter git buried at all
Ye.can laugh if we want ter, but there's goin
be six funerals tomorrow instid of five
"'Theres dead coyote little ways W
the gulcb Mebbe ye'd like to plant hin
along with the boys, continued Jack, mock
ing him.
Jim began to get his back up.
THAR Hear that he said.
IL was only the boot of the mountain
owl, but it's enough to give a dead man thu
cold shivers, if he's feeling little off color
Hear that Eff that doesn't mean baC
luck, I'm DutcLman.
Some of the boys began to look nervous
again.
"'Shet up, can't yer said Jack, contempt
uously. 'Ye're wuss nor a hoot owl yerself
A scared fool like you is regular Jonah il
camp. Ye'd break it up in week of "
had yer way
Who's a scared foolp says Jim, firing
up like like fighting cock.
You air, says Jack.
Yer a liar says jim
The boys began to climb behind boxes
and anywhere else they could to get out OF
the way. There had been bad feeling be
tween the two ever since they came into
camp, and we knew it meant business wher
they began passing compliments like that
About as soon as you could say Jack Rob
inson the popping began The two men
walked toward each other firing as fast as
60 he