Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-05-14
NELLIE CAwLINs,
Died Of Broken Heart June 4 1880.
Aged q 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
tho 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 molested by him, and the
following story is from Martins lips:
"When l struck the Territory five years
ago looked around for good place to To-
cate. started overland from Big Stone
City to Watertown, and when reached this
point came across a homesteader who had
turned sod on this claim. 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 60 back East. He was Virgin
ian, and wanted to return to the Old Domin.
ion. finally agreed to take the claim, pro-
viding 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 1875 he married Virginia girl born
near Roanoke. The wedding took place
at Philadelphia during the centennial, and
the summer was spent in sightseeing and
pleasant honeymoon. She was the daugh
ter Of q South Carolinian, who, subsequent
to the war, located Tin Maryland poorer by
| far than he was before the stars and
stripes were fred on at Fort Sumter. Her
maiden name was Nellie 7. Pell, and the
death Of her father the year following her
marriage wiped out the entire lot Of her kin
ship.
"Cowlins and his bride came to the North.
west 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 the
bones of some Indian, but with due rever-
| ence for humanity, Cowlins picked up the
| bones from the furrow and reinterred them
| below the plowshares searching point. In
removing the bones he noticed q finger
ring which had evidently been worn by the
person whose bones he had discovered.
After cleaning the dirt from the ring he
noticed marks and letters thereon. The
ring was slipped on one of his fingers, and
he resumed his blowing At the dinner
table his wife noticed the ring, and he
handed 1t to her for examination. She took
it, and in an instant turned dead
ly pale and tainted. When she be-
came conscious she inquired where he
had got the piece Of jewelry, and
| ne related the circumstances connected
with lC0 QleCQVeFy. 6no gave way again
and on recovering she explained the cause
| Of her illness. The ring was one presented
| by her to another sutton, q 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,
and N. T. p her initials, to j. 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 probably
the ring had passed into the hands Of some
| one else, but she believed otherwise
Shafer had gone to the Northwest and had
never been heard from, and the bones IN
earthed by Cawlins were, in her opinion,
undoubtedly his. Her old love for her first
sutton returned. She became III through
constantly having her mind on the ring
matter, and 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
marked by a stone bearing the words you've
read
"After Cawlins went East,n said Martin,
she sent that slab, and placed il on the
| grave. Idon't know what became of him,
or whether he is alive yet, but the way In
which he brooded over this affair led me to
believe that 1t wouldn't be many years be-
fore he'd need a gravestone, and ono with
an inscription similar TO that one out
| there.n