Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1891-02-24
AN AMERICAN MONARCH.

prising about an acre Of ground, and
upon this island, far from the noise
and turmoil Of the busy world, lives
Dlpk Bassett, the hermit, says a Mich
igan correspondent of the New York
Sunday Journal.
Bassett is an odd genius, fond of
quiet and solitude, yet one of the most
popular men in his section, known
and liked by everybody. Beyond a
few glittering generalities nothing is
known of his past life, and the es-
capade that led to his retirement from
the world il a secret known only to him
SELF
He is a bachelor, about ffty-fve
years old, good-looking, we'll edu-
Gated, we'll read and we'll informed,
an inveterate smoker, strict tee
totaler, jolly and witty in his inter-
course with men, the soul of honor in
business transactions and q confirmed
fisherman.
On his little island home, which Is q
veritable paradise in summer, he has a
small log cabin comfortably furnished,
q miniature chicken-coop, an ice-house
and q vegetable cellar. The island is
bordered with a row of fruit trees,
plums, peaches, apples, pears and cher
ries, and in the interior is garden for
potatoes, Strawberries and other small
fruit and vegetables. His acre is high
ly cultivated and very productive, and
the crops he raises more than suffice
for his simple wants. He sells some of
the surplus and gives much away.
His chief occupation, however, Is
fishing. The waters about his island
fairly TEEN with whitefish and lake
trout, and he is an expert in pulling
them in both with the net and line. He
finds ready market in this city for the
fish and in the summer sells many to
resorters. In the early fall he gets in
his crops and then fishes until Decem-
Der, storing the fish away in his ice
boxes for winter shipment.
In January he harvests his ice crop,
and then if he feels like taking little
exercise and enjoying life on moderate
scale, he secures employment in the
woods and labors in the lumber camps
until it is time for him to return to his
island.
His living expenses are merely nomi.
nal, and the money he has left after
subscribing for half dozen papers and
magazines he lays away where nobody
knows, and none knows how much he
has.
He is honest himself, and he takes it
for granted that everybody else is the
same. He has no locks on his cabin
door, and frequently goes away for
hours ct time, leaving his money loose
on the table. He has never lost any
thing yet by thieves, and apparently
has no fears in that direction.
" His father and other relatives adj
hered to the lost cause, and when the
war ended nothing could be found Of
any of them. Bassett wandered around
the country, and finally, in 1875; came
here. He found work at first among the
fishermen, and then, taking fancy to
the island, he squatted upon it, and has
since lived there like another Robinson
Crusoe.
He has few choice hens, four or five
cats and dog, and leads quiet and
apparently happy life. Although he
saw much hard service in the army he
is not pensioner. He lost his papers
soon after the war in transmitting them
to Washington, and has failed in every
attempt to find any of old comrades,
and he rarely. even thinks now OF OPP
plying for financial succor from the
Government.
A peculiar circumstance in connec.
ton with Bassett's island home is that
it has never been entered on the Gov
eminent charts. There is no evidence
to be found on the maps that the island
exists, and he Is unable to acquire any
! legal title to 1t.
He holds it by the right Of possession,
and has no fear that any one will try to
GUST him. This condition of affairs has
another peculiar feature. Marion isl.
and, which is separated from Bassett's
| by but few rods of water, is included
in PeninsulRr township, and the owner
Of the bigger island pays his taxes and
votes in the township, but Bassett's
land, having no legal existence on the
map, Is declared not in the United