Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-04-22
AE DIED SMILING.
The Fact That the Deacon Had Tsis Boots
ON Eased TIis Mind Mt the Last.

The Fact That the Deacon Had Tsis Boots
ON Eased TIis Mind Mt the Last.
Camp Hard Luck was six months
old, and we hadn't lost q man. by
death. Now and then one had met
with an accident to lay him up for a
few weeks, but it was a subject of
congratulation that no one had actual
ly turned up his toes. Almost while
we congratulated ourselves on this
good fortune, Deacon White took to
his bed and became seriously i'll. The
deacon was a quiet, dignifled man,
who never thawed, and he was the
acknowledged peacemaker of the
camp.
The chaps Just over the hill at
Cherry Diggins were quarrelsome,
brawling lot, and but for the efforts
of Deacon White there would have
sometimes been rows In which some
body would have got hurt
Three days after the deacon was
taken down he sent for two or three
of us to pay him a special visit.
When we had come together in his
shanty he said
Boys, I'm very sick man. It's
my last sickness. I'm an old man,
and realize that I've got to 60"
We knew that it was a serious case,
but yet we talked encouragingly and
tried to brace him up.
cts no use, )" he protested after we
had had our say. "Tve got to die,
and the only question is how shall
go. If l die in my bed the boys
won't like it. 1t would look too
womanish, and the fellows over the
hill would have another chance to
brag They've had three men die,
and all died with their boots on.
AS a matter of fact we were lit
tie tender on that point, but we were
willing to make an exception in the
case of the deacon He was not a
fighting man, and he couldn't be ex-
pected to get up off dying bed and
get in the way of a bullet We talked
and argued with him, and apparent
ly made him see things as we did,
and after an hour or so we returned
to work, leaving him in the care of a
man whose foot had been hurt and
who was just able to limp around.
This was about o'clock in the af-
ternoon. At about o'clock a Cherry
Diggings man appeared on the crest
of the hill and began whooping and
yelling and giving our camp the
grand def. Following our usual line
Of conduct, we paid no attention to
him, but he kept on seeking a quar-
rel, and by and by something hap
pened to startle us. We heard a
ringing war whoop and looked up to
see Deacon White, fully dressed and
having a revolver in his hand, strid-
ing up the trail.
The man left with him had fallen
asleep, and the deacon had dressed
and armed himself without anybody
being the wiser. He was a man six
feet tall, but he looked to be a foot
more as we saw him now. His long
black hair was blowing out behind
from under his hat, and the yells he
uttered as he swept up the trail sent
chills over every man of US.
The chap from Cherry Diggings
must have been dumfounded. He
ceased his shouting and stood stock
still until the deacon came within
pistol shot and opened fire. Then he
turned to flee, but bullet in the leg
brought him down. The deacon con-
tinued to advance, firing all the time,
when we suddenly saw him throw up
his arms and fall at full length. Only
then did any of US move. 1t had all
come upon us in such way that we
stood spellbound. When we did move
hundred of us went together, and
in three minutes we were at the crest
of the hill.
There lay the deacon, shot through
the heart, and there lay the Cherry
Diggings man, having four bullets in
him and dead enough before we got
there. AS we looked down on the
face of the deacon we expected to see
it wild and distorted, but it was not
so. There was a smile there-a smile
fading away into pallor as death
claimed the victory. He had died
with his boots on and saved Camp
Hard Luck from being disgraced in
the eyes of Cherry Diggings. De
troit Free Press.