Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1889-12-28

u ior. Hours we're epent In this search, en-
M soon our watches and the lowering sun tol
- ns that it was after midday. Two Of a
billy sample and myself. were considerabi
IN y n to one side Of the Other
and walked in such directions that v
~ would soon come together on top Of q hig
Quite, each IinstiHctively heading for IL /
nope That We might catch q glimpse OF th
9 itself or some iamiliar landmark
Billy got there ahead Of me mi as / wa
zoo lar away to hear his voice he began {.
nre on his revolver and wildly motion {.
me to come to him. Thinking he had dis
covered the road hurried as fast as
could to where he was. When he saw tina,
l vas going toward him he started dowr
the other side OF the butte and soon disap.
peared. When / reached the summit OF the
quite l could see him about five or six
hundred yards away in alittle valley bend
ing over some dark object, while three or
1our coyotes were skulking across the
prairie as though he haddriven them away
from the object. Overhead circIed a huge
eagle. and just below him was q monster
@nige owl also apparently getting out Of
reach az fast as possible. Seeing that he
: found something I ran down the hi.l
ana In q moment was by his eide. / saw
q what he had found-it was the body
Oh man lying fat upon its back, the body
OF a man roughly but warmly dressed and
when In lie q strong vigorous specimen OF
physical manhood. What the features had
Deem IKE while in lille We could not tel,
as the hyenas OF the prairie, the coyotes,
q almost eaten the face away, only here
and there o piece Of frozen flesh still ad-
herring to the bones. We could see traces |
OF blood on the buffalo overcoat which
formed g part OF the man'sclothiDg. Open
ing the coat we saw the same stain on the
heavy blu wooden coat underneath, while
right over the heart was a large round
hole. This told the story, but not vet
satisfied we continued our search and saw
me same ugly hole in the mans breast.
we then knew that it was q bullet and not
colo which had ended his life. A cartridge
belt well filled with 45 .calibre cartridges,
vas Duckied around the body. A holster,
sncn as cowboys wear, was attached TO
the Deit, but contained no pistol. Looking
9 q lew minutes Billy saw the but OF
q Ooits revolver protruding from the
snow, not over a foot away from the
man'e right side, causing MS to think that
after bring the fatal, shot the man bad
suddenly thrown out his right arm and his
nuc'es relaxing the pistol fsllfrom hi hand
ana onto TIE ground n was subsequently, !
partly covered by the drifting snow. We {
searched every pocket Of the poor fellows
clothing in hope that we might find some ,
thing that would furnish a clue to bis iden. 4
tlty, In this, though, we were unsuccessful.
A few dollars in silver, a piece of plug t
tobacco, a knife apocketbook with a faded, =
greasy photograph Of q woman, q couple :
ivory faro or poker chips and a briar. o
pipe were all we could find. No hat
or cap could be found near the body and il
seeing that farther search would be useless .
| remained with the body while Billy =
staI ted to find the coach, we having de. lie
to carry the remains to the station, 81
I we ever found it, and bury them there.
While Billy was gone the coyotes !,
'eemed to grow holder, as though not "
afraid OF one Of us, and commenced to ci
iraw a little closer. As If to en-. p'
courage them a pair Of monster prairie q
wolves also showed up. Wien the brutes I
'ot too bold l opened fire on them with Il til
lavy and killed one OF the s0lves and al
.iso wounded a coyote. In q little while al
BILLY and the coach showed up, as did also til
he messenger and the others Of the party,
no picking up the body we placed it on pr
ne roof OF the coach and strapped it there til
nd then started to leave the q 7ful spot co
mid the howls of q dozen or more lean, A
ungry coyotes that had assembled on a sa
title butte near by, and were yelling their in
rotests at being cheated out of their prey.
Finding the corpse seemed to be a piece pl
1 lack for US, for in less than half an hour de
found the o and by driving slowly lie
one OF Us walking ahead of the team in
managed to keep it and arrived at the tic
bation for which we had started mi
ut the afternoon before. at about rel
O'Clock nearly all of us bit
ore traces OF our fearful experience, some tic
the shape OF frozen fingers, frost-bittea tn,
RS and faces, and Others with sore feet str
nh frn1on tooc All - - \ / op<
antic with hunger, while every bone and wit
int in our bodies ached. The kind. a
'arted stock-tender gave us a bountiful dis
PIPER OF bacon, beans, s%ourdough bread aft
Id good strong black coffee, and it ia safe me
say b a We ate that night ais a good du'
any OF US had never eaten before, and rec
obsbly never since. We did not need pre-
y coaxing to remain over night, as we rec
d all the night-riding we wanted. Getting like
If robes, we all laid down on the floor ma
ar the stove and vent to sleep. The next Trs
orning we arose, and after breakfast be. rec
n to make preparations to bury the un. pull
man. With q sh. vel and an old Trs
oxen pick we found at the station, aided of &
he cooks ak, w dug, or rather hewed, for
'espectable grave a short way from the by
on the point of q little butte, and will
that We buried the body, and with it ica
we had found belonging to it, in
SASJ OnA 0As O1u DOlOE0p b6CluR | ~
. body in the hole, we wrapped it up in a u N
'ce OF ~wagon-sheet which one of the T
Ivers a found on the road a short ReI
ne before. There was meta praying man une
the party, 80 we made no attempt at pre-
y kind OF q service, but QUIETLY the
d sadly covered the sleeper will
and packed the frozen ground as lati
I'd as we could, SO as to prevent the ing
Ives and coyotes from digging down to cleo
After we had buried the man we bills
20 more started for the west, and our. pub
the remainder OF the day did little Hos
, but think, as the incident I have JUST gun
sted apparently had taken all desire to Sou
K out ofeveryone of us. That, Imustsay. give
the strangest Christmas 1 have ever II
mt, for it was Christmas morning, 1880, to c
It we buried tire man, where he now for
ps unknown and uncared for by every. soul
~. unless it be a sorrowing wife and
1erless children in some far off place, or
ad and heartbroken mother who is
nly waiting for the return OF her wander.