The Progress., 1888-02-25
''OLD HOPELESS" :"
He Tells the Pathetic Story of
Poor Nancy.


Two great rocky cliffs in Southern
Colorado form the walls of dark abyss
something like fifteen feet wide, from
the bottom of which comes up the
eternal moan of waters as they rush on
in the solemn darkness over their rough
course to the Rio Grande. The walls
of this chasm are over hundred feet
high, and almost perpendicular.
The place is called Purgatory, and
not altogether appropriately, for,
standing near its forbjdding edge, with
the waters seething and moaning far
below. it is not improbable that
thoughts of the final resort of sin is
suggested to the mind of the awe
struck visitor, and cause him "to shud-
der and grow sick at heart"
TO within ten feet of the edge leads
well-worn trail, which abruptly ends
at a grave. The latter is marked by
neither rough stone nor slab, and the
many visitors to the spot are told, by
the loquacious mountain guides, of a
romantic incident of which this lonely
mound is the fatal outcome.
One day in the beautiful summer
time in company with my guide, 1
halted my steed near the edge of
Purgatory and took in the widely
picturesque scene.
My guide was a hunchback, horribly
disfgured in form, and his dress and
manners were rough in the extreme.
His coarse, iron-gray hair was long and
unkempt, and his distorted face was
covered with a repulsive shock of beard
From out this growth shone his great
dark eyes, whose uncertain expression
bespoke half-vacant mind.
'Old Hopeless he had been called in
my presence, and the landlord of the
Colorado House had told me that he
was a character of the region, almost
entirely insane at times, rational at
others. but never dangerous and al
ways good guide. So, for want of a
better, he had been engaged for that
day.
When, in the course of our rambles,
we drew up at Purgatory, he suddenly
burst out in tumult of incoherent ex-
pressions, in which I caught the word
Nancy" Ispoke to him. He calmed
himself, as if his mind were all at once
strengthened by a visitation of reason,
and began talking to me in an earnest
tone.
'I'll tell ye all about Nancy-Nancy
Summers, Felix" he said, in the char
:acteristic dialect of the mountains.
''' Long years ago she war knowed all
over Colorado, an no one ever said
;thet her name warn't spotless. Beauti-
fulP-yas, yas, more'n tllet. She was
ez fair as May-day moon, ez fresh ez
dew-kissed flowers. Her face war a
trife brown from exposure to ther sun,
but it war perfect in outline frum fore
head ter neck. It war full of firmness.
an tenderness, too. sometimes. Her
eyes war rich, dark brown, an when
a feller looked into 'em, he war her
slave forever. Her ha'r war of the same
color, an long an wavy. Thar never
war a better figger ner hers, an she
knowed how ter dress ter set it off.
She lived with her parents, who KEEP
ther Colorado House. ther hotel we
left this mornin', Felix. Even at thet
day there war a good deal o travel
along hyar, an they war maxim money.
''Mebbe ther travel war on Nancy's
account, for she counted her lovers by
ther score, an she used ter hev pro-
posal bout ever day in ther week.
Ever young fellow in the Southwest
tried his charm on rher purity Nancy.
fer gals war gals them ays; but they
gener'ly drew off mighty quick when
they found they made no impression.
an got firm mo- in ther teeth.
zone day thar come along quiet
dispositioned good-lookin' young fell
Ter, who he'd little sheep ranch all his
own, not hundred miles from Purga-
tory, and he put up at ther Colorado
House, and ,egan ter make love ter
Nancy. He var happy in ther prom
isin' name of Luke Golden, an he war
head an years in love with ther little
gal. An, Felix, it warn't long afore
it war noised all over the kentry thet
he he'd succeeded in winnin' Nancy's
heart. It war plain ter all thet seen
them together thet Nancy liked him
mighty well, an her old man had no
objections ter him on account Of his
character.
Ever mornin' they used ter go fet,
ride. an sometimes they would gallop
side by side fer hours through ther
mountains. Often they would visit
Purgatory. an one pleasant day like