The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-06-30
DEATH VALLEY.
Some Of It's Terrors Graphically
Described
A Desert Region In Which Hundreds of
Human Bolngs Have Suffered I'm
told Torture ond Lingor-
ing Deaths

Ing Deaths
A notable case illustrating tho
danger to which even the most expo
rienccd desert traveller is subjected,
says the San Francisco Chronicle, was
thnt of resident of San Bernartlino
named Cornman, which occurred about
fifteen years ago. A young man was
sent out by Cornman to visit tho remote
mining camps of Ivanpah and Resting
Springs for the purpose Of obtaining tho
election returns. After he had been
gone few hours it struck Cornmasl
that the messenger had never been on
the desert and was in danger Of being
Lost AS he was himself familiar with
tho routes, he saddled q horse and
filed u canteen, and started out Over
taking the messenger he sent him back
and then continued on what was des-
tined to prove his death journey. lie
reached the camp, obtained the re
turns, and then started back for Sun
| BernardinO. But. he never reached that
place.
Some time elapsed, and finally parties
arrived i'll town who had left Ivanpah
several days after Cornman's departure.
This ut once caused an investigation to
| OC EAl>cTlcuCcQ CTuCKcTS WCrO
put on the trail, and they found whcro
Cornman, evidently crazed with thirst,
had left the road in search of water,
had wandered ainlcssly about for
miles, and finally had come back within
few yards of the highway. Complete
~ worn out, no had thrown himself
down by the side of bowlder and
blown out his brains with the six-shoot-
er to which he had chung through his
indescribable sufferings. IIo left n
rudely scrawled note stating that he
was lost, that his horse had got away.
and that there was no other refuge ex-
cept suicide.
The singular fact that the belief of
the victim that he is lost is Immediately
productive of insanity has been noted
in scores of instances. The profound
desolation, the appalling quietudc, the
tremendous heat of the sun, and the
awful fortunes Of thirst combine to up
set the stoutcst intellect in an incrcdi-
bly, short time. While one of the sur
veying parties was running tho lines
for the railroad across the desert some
twenty years or more ago, young man
connected with the party lost his life in
Il remarkable manner. In some way he
became separated from his companions
in a section that was traversed by o
range of low hills While he lost sight
of the wagons and his fellow-travelcrs,
they were in n position in the hills
where they could see him in the valley
below. For awhile he appeared to be
walking along, easily following the
tracks left by the wagons Then he be-
gan to wander about. After watching
him through their glasses for some
time they became convinced that some
thing was wrong, and several of the
party hurried down into the valley al
ter him When they reached him they
found he was stark crazy, having be-
come SO through thirst and the entirely
unfoundcd belief that he was lost He
was carried to the camp and tendcrly
cared for, but died the same night, q
victim to his own imagination
In cnse within the writer's personal
knowledge two prospectors found them
selves one day without water, and to
their dismay the spring or water-hole
which they had depended upon for a
supply was entirely dried up. Instead of
wasting time searching for other
, springs, which might or might not exist,
they decided that their only safety lay
, in taking the back track to the point
from which they had started. The
: journey took all day and portion of
the night. One of the men became
crazy, imagined he saw lakes and
rivers, and wanted to rush to them.
The other, however, retained his senses,
and finally had to draw his six-shooter
and at it's muzzle force his companion
, to keep In the trail ahead of him. Their
suffcrings were terrible, but they
reached a spring at last, after eighteen
J hours of torture.
, Several years ago the writer happened
! to be camping at Aqua Calicntc, on the
old Arizona wagon road, near the foot
Of San Jacinto mountain 1t was q
bright moonlight night, and, CHANGING
to walk short distance from camp, Il
wagon was found, apparently deserted,
and attached to which were four bony
horses in the last stages of starvation.
The old rickety vehicle was covered
with ragged sheet of canvas and on
turning this back an old man was
found, apparently dead. Examination
however showed him to be alive, and
some stimulant diluted with milk was
quickly obtained and poured down his
parchcd and blackcned throat It was
heartrending to hear the poor fellow
tell OF his awful experience when he
recovered strength enough to speak.
"My God" he said, 81 thought should
die from thirst" 1t appeared that he
had travelled all the way from Indio
under the burning sun and through tho
hot sand, distance of thirty miles or
more and had had nothing to drink for
something like eighteen hours