Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1890-03-07
NELLIE CAWLINS,
Died Of Broken Heart, June 4, 1880.
Aged 81 Years.

The secret of this strange inscription pans
out to be 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 beneath that marble
slab, and entered into an agreement with
the former owner of the claim that the
slab should not be molestcd by him, and the
following story is from Martins lips:
"When | struck the Territory five years
ago | looked around for good place to To-
cate. l started overland from Big Stone
City to Watertown, and when 1 reached this
point I came across a homesteader who had
turned sod on thus claim. l found him
alone, apparently broken down from some
cause or another. told him was looking
for 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 90 back East. He was u Virgin
ian, and wanted to return 10 the Old Domin-
ion. l finally agreed to take The claim, pro
vidtng he'd accept a small amount in re-
turn. he took me out to that grave on yon-
der rise and told me his secret
SIN 1873 he married a Virginia girl born
near Roanoke The wedding took place
at Philadelphia during the centennial. anC
the summer was spent in sightseeing and
IL pleasant honeymoon. She was the daugh
ter of South Carolinian, who, subscquen
to the war, located in Maryland poorer b'
far than he was before the stars an,
stripes were fired on at Fort sumter. Re
maiden name was Nellie r. Pell, and the
lealh of her father the year following heI
marriage wiped out the entire lot of her kin
ship.
"Cowlins and his bride came to the North
west and located here. While poWing one
'prlng ne Jurneu up some numun bones
No particular attention was paid to them.
8 he thought they were probably the
ioncs Of some Indian, but with due reycr
nee for humanity, Cowlins picked up til,
zones from the fuIrow and reinterred then,
below the plOwshare's searching point. II
emoving the bones he noticed q tiuger
ing which had evidently been worn by til,
person whose bones he had discovered
After cleaning the dirt from the ring h,
noticed parks and letters thereon. Tn
ring was slipped on one of his fiugers, aut
le resumed his plowing. At the dinner
table his wife noticed the ring, and h.
handed it to her for examination. She tool
it, and in an instant turned dead
pale and tainted. When she be
,ame conscious she inquired where hC
had got the piece OF jewelry, and
ne related the circumstances connected
With its discovery. She gave way again
md on recovering she explained the cause
f her illness The ring VS. one pres nted
by her to another suitor, young college
student to whom she had been betrothed
The symbols Of secret society to which he
belonged were on the exterior of the ring,
md IN. T. p her initials, TO y. M. S. the
initials of his name, John NJ. Shafer were
N the inside, engraved there by her order
when she purchased it for Christmas
present for him.
"Cawlins argued with her that probably
The ring had passed into the hands of ST me
me else, but she believed otherwise.
Shafer had gone to the Northwest and had
never been heard from, and the bones un-
3arthed by CaWlius were, in her opinion,
undoubtedly his. Her old love for her first
iuitor returned. She became i'll through
constantly having her mind on the ring
matter, aud her death followed. She had
requested before her death that her re-
mains be inferred at the spot where the
ring was found, and that her grave be
narlied by "a stone bearing the words you've
,'ead.
"After Cawlins went East" said Martin,
he sent that slab, and placed it on the
grave. Idon't know what became of him,
n whetherhe is awe yet, but the way in
which he brOOded over this affair led me TO
believe that 10 wouldn't be many years be-
fore he'd need a gravestone, and one with
an inscription similar to that one out
thereu