Sharp County record., 1890-02-13
DETECTING CRIME.
An Atmospheric Revelation and
How I Photographed It,

Giles ParSlOe and L haQ SpenJ lour
months at mining camp on the Glla
river, near Florence, in Southern Arl-
zona. We had had tolerable luck. 1
suppose, between us there may have
been the value of six or seven thousand
dollars. But the vein began to peter
out, at least we thought so. Perhaps
the heat and the monotony Of our sur
roundings may have had some influence
on our opinion. At all events we made
up our minds to push on westward to
the junction of the Gila and the Colo
RADIO at Yuma city. The railroad had
not been put through at that time, and
the region WAS as remote as 1T was desc
late. Not that we minded that. The
romance of youth was still strong in us;
we were but two or three years out of
college. But we wanted variety as we'll
as remoteness, and believed, as all men
are apt to do, that the true Eldorado lay
beneath the horizon.
There was sociable, agreeable fell
low in the camp, Dick Stapers by name,
with whom, more than with any of the
others, we found it agreeable to frater-
nize. He was some years our elder, and
had been we'll educated; knew some
thing of the classics and of English lit
erature, and was fond of enriching his
conversation with quotations from an
cient and recent poetry He was also
we'll acquainted with the life OF the
plains, and gave us not few useful
hints. On the other hand, it must be
confessed that he was not particularly
Industrious or successful miner. He
seemed unable to take advantage of his
own knowledge and experience; but be-
ing gifted with winning tongue, he
contrived to live along in fair comfort,
especially as he was tirst-class poker
player. His presence made the place
less lonely and monotonous, and for
that reason no one thought of grudging
Dick a pull at his whisky flask, or even
a handful of dust now and then. There
was no other standard whereby to
measure the value of social cheerful
ness.
Giles and l were, therefore, any thing
but put out when Dick proposed to ac-
company us on our journey. In the first
place, he knew the route, and secondly
he would be grand resource to the
camp fire. So we accepted his sugges-
tion with cordiality, gave him good
mustang, and, one fine morning, we all |
three rode forth with the sun on our
backs. A mule carried our camp equip |
age, and Giles, as the steadiest and !
stoutest of the party, was intrusted with I
the larger part of our dust" There |
was about four hundred pounds weight |
in all, of which he carried two and a
half hundred, and | the remainder. |
Giles and were each armed with rifle
and revolver; Dick was unarmed; but,
as he said: Nobody will want to shoot
me, and don't want to shoot anybody"
A few miles below the camp there
was a ford, which we crossed, keeping
thenceforth on the southern bank of the
stream. The sun glared down at us as
if it had nothing else in the solar sys-
tenn to attend to. ] felt as if something
were pricking me in the base of the
brain, and Giles plodded doggedly along
with his head down and constant sue
cession of drops running down his nose
and falling on the pommel of his saddle.
Dick alone appeared lightsome and
comfortable. He had jest for every
mishap, and remedy for every i'll; and
when Giles asked him, with some exas-
peration, where the deuce he got his
good spirits from, he replied with a
verse from Campion:
"Good thoughts his only friends,
His wealth a well spent age,
The earth his sober inn
And quiet pilgrimagep
In short, he was incorrigibly jolly, and
even hilarious. And when, after a hard
days journey and innumerable petty
contrarieties, we dismounted at length
to camp in bend of the stream, heard
him murmur to himself, as he kindled
the fire for supper: post tot naufragia
portusPH latter 50 many shipwrecks, a
earbor.l