San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-07-02

and GlearlEa,r IN n = tslu SIIedlnieL ny bnt
2vayside. He was of medium stature,
weighing 1865 pounds; he dressed neatly and
wore the whites1 and handsomest gaunt-
lets.o of any driver in the Sierra.
He seemed to be of melancholy nature,
or like man who had experienced some
disturbance of heart or peace of mind. He
seldom had much tosay unless spoken TO,
was temperate on did not drink at all, and
only smoked the best of cigars. How many
people there are in the United States who
have presented Alfred with fine gloves,
gauntlets and cigars can never be known.
Bewould drive the entire distance from
wawona to Inspiration Point sometimes
without uttering a word or relaxing fea-
ture. But if he had II jolly crowd behind
him he would watch his team carefully,
hut listen radiantly to the jokes and stories
and conundrums. and conversation of'thOse
ii his charge.
The last time 3 saw Alfred was a. Yose-
mite commissioner, and went over the
mountains with him alone He had on a
new pair of gauEtlets sent him by Senator
Morgan, of Alabama, and used fine whip
presented him by Mrs. Langtry. He said
to me that he had never permitted but one
man to take the feins from him in his life,
and that was President Grant 1.-THE gen.
eraI drove nearly all the way to Inspira-
ton Point" said Alfred, land lighted at
least four cigars. He took in everything
along the road, and made all the turns as
perfectly as an old driver. ! had fine
crowd that day-the general and Mrs.
Grant and Ulysses, Jr.; Mr.. Young, who
has since been minister to China; and there
were Miss Jennie Flood, the only daughter
of the wealthy bonanza man; Miss Dora
Miller, the only daughter of Senator Mil
Ter, who is now the wife of an officer in the
navy, and Miss Flora Sharon, one of the
daughters of Senator Sharon, who after
ward married Sir Thomas Hesketh, of
England. Miss Sharon was the prettiest
girl | ever carried into the valley and Mrs.
langtry the most beautiful and most
agreeable woman. received nice presents
from all the members of the Grant party.
The general himself gave me a silver
mounted cigar case containing eight cigars,
and the girls sent me gloves and candy"
Aug. II, 1878, rode over one of the sum-
.mits of the Sierra from Quincy, Plumas
county, to Oreville, Butte county, upon
the seat with Cherokee Bill. This driver
was not an Indian, but a regular Buckeye
from the western reserve. But, all the
same, he was called Cherokee Bill. He
was stout, clumsily put together erea-
ture, with stub beard, and drove a four
horse mud wagon. He was rather more
morose looking and slovenly in his dress
than most Sierra drivers, being clad in
overalls and wooden shirt, but wearing
good gloves and the regulation hat. | was
the'only passenger except an old clergy
man, who occupied the middle seat on the
inside. We left Quincy at 6 in the morn
ing, with not cloud in the sky. At 10
the entire heavens were overcast, it began
to sprinkle and distant mutterings of
thunder could be heard.
At II O'Clock, when within a thousand
feet of the summit, we encountered the full
violence of the storm. | had never seen
lightning, thunder and rain to excel it.
The rain descended, not in torrents, but in
shafts; the ightnings flashed almost in
cessantly all around, and the thunders as
sumed one awful continuous roar, with
now and then crash that resembled the
fall of hundred or more noble taxodiums
of the forrest. said to Bill, although
was already completely drenched, II guess
I'll crawl inside" NO" he replied, "you
don't want to get in with that thing inside
He refused to bury my poor boy few
months ago because he hadn't been bap-
tiled. | wish one of these pines would
strike him dead He's one of those old
buffers who believes, or pretends that he
believes, that lots of our babies come into
the world to be damned, and claims that
it is wicked to bury fellow being if he
hasn't been baptized. I'd like to run him
off into the canyon"
We reached the summit at 10 o'clock,
and here a sight presented itself such as
! had never seen before and have never
witnessed since. The storm had spent it
self upon the summit, and had been swept
into the stupendous chasms surrounding,
with all of it's celestial pyrotechnics and
deafening artillery; and from a sunny ele-
walton 1000 feet in the air we could behold
the jubilee of elements below. ! saw
Hooker's fight in and above the clouds on
Lookout mountain, at the commencement
of the Atlanta campaign, and | was re-
minded of that memorable episode by the
sight before me, except that, with the eX
ception of the din of small arms, the roar
of heavens artillery in the Sierra that
18th day of August was like that of 10000
battles in the clouds.
Bill refined up so that could stand and
get good view, at which Jne INSIDE pas
senger stuck his head out of the window
and asked: What is the matter driveri
What are you stopping here for?" Bill
was ferocious and replied, Pm listening
to the salute the Almighty is firing over
my poor boys grave" The preacher said
no more, and told Bill to drive on, which
he did, but quietly said, to me: do you
think that preacher would ask for my GER
iiiicate of baptism if he had a chance to