St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-07-10
NELLIE CAwLINE,
Died of a Broken Heart, June 4, 1850.
Aged 81 Years.

The secret of this strange inscription
pans out to be a romance of the first
water. Joseph Martin. the occupant OF
the claim whereOn the grave is located,
purchased the claim from the husband
of the woman whose remains lie be-
meath that marble slab, entered into an
agreement with the former owner of
the claim that the slab should not be
molested by him, and the following
story is from Martins lips:
when l struck the territory five
years ago looked around for a good
place to locate. | started overland from
Big Stone City to WatertOwn, and when
L reached this point | came across a
hOmesteader who had turned sod on this
claim. found him alone, apparently
broken down for some reason or an
other. l told him 1 was looking for a
place to locate, and he offered me his
claim. He insisted that take it for moth
ing. He'd been on it for two years, and
wanted to go back East. He was Vir-
ginian, and wanted to return to the Old
Dominion. finally agreed to take the
claim, providing he'd accept a small
amount in return. He took me out to
that grave on yonder rise and told me
his secret.
'.In 1876 he married Virginia girl,
born near Roanoke. The wedding took
place at Philadelphia during the cen-
tennial, and the summer was spent in
sightseeing and
A PLEASANT HONEYMOON.
''She was the daughter of SouthCar.
Gilman, who, subsequent to the war,
located in Maryland, poorer by far than
he was before the stars and stripes were
fired on at Fort Sumter. Her maiden
name was Nellie T. PelI, and the death
of her father the year following her
marriage wiped out the entire lot Of her
Kinship.
"Cawlins and his bride came to the
Northwest and located here. While
blowing one spring he turned up some
human bones, No particular attention
was paid to them. as he thought they
were probably tine bones of some In
dian; but, with due reverence for hui
mainly, Cawlins picked up the bones
from the furrow and reinterred them
below the plowshare's searching
point. In removing the bones
he noticed a finger-ring which
evidently had been worn by the person
whose bones he had discovered. After
cleaning the dirt from the ring he no.
ticed marks and letters thereon. The
lluS was ollppCu VII OIlt VI Ills uHHeTS,
and he resumed his ploughing. At the
dinner table his wife noticed the ring,
and he handed it to her for eXamina-
ton. She took it, and in an instant
TURNED DEATHLY PALE AND TAINTED.
when she became conscious she in
quired where he had got the piece Of
jeWelry, and he related the circum-
stances connected with it's discovery.
She gave way again. and on recovering
she explained the cause of her illness.
The ring was one presented by
her to another sutton, young college
student to whom she had been be-
trOthed. The symbols of a secret so.
ciety to which he belonged were on the
exterior of the ring, and N. T. p, her
initials. to y. M. S. the initials of his
name, John NJ. Shafer, were ON the
inside, engraved there by her order
when she purchased it for a Christmas
present for him.
''Cawlins argued with her that proba.
bly, the ring had passed into the hands
of some one else, but she believed other
wise. Shafer had gone to the North
west and had never been heard from,
and the bones unearthed by Cawlins
were, in her opinion, undoubtedly his.
Her old love for her first sutton returned.
She became i'll through constantly hav.
ing her mind on the ring matter, and
HER DEATH FOLLOWED.
"She had requested before her death
that her remains be inferred at the spot
where the ring was found, and that heI
grave be marked by stone bearing the
words you've read.
AFTER Cawlins went East" said Mar
tin, she sent that slab and | placed il
on the grave. l don't know what be.
came of him, or whether he's alive yet,
but the way in which he brooded over
this affair led me to believe that It
wouldn't be many years before he'd
need a gravestone and one with an in
scription similar to that out there.''