Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-08-26
4 MINING CAMP GIRL
SHE HAS GOOD NERVE, FOR II HAS
BEEN PUT TO THE TEST.


00t&~8 81 = 6'S6A N~@.ssy
,aaed to cnroatA scs.ea. Grsuso1s Ez-
perseaces Rarely Fhas<a Hsr-wAas she
bid whe. she Met Rsrgsar.
One day not long ago. when the afternoon
erSia from the south stopped ut Scccrro,
\. NJ. substantial looking man Of per-
haas 50 years Of axe helped young and
attractive woman she WAS not more than
% ss most Ito leave thecars- Then charm
Ing little lassie Of jumped down, and the
thrse got into the bus and were driven to
the Park House. The lady was seen to be
sica and so attracted more attention than
even good hooking women usually do In
these towns. AT the hotel IL was learned
that the man was mining expert on the
way from one of the camps in southern
New Mexico to Beaver with his wife and
child, but bad been obliged To leave the
train by the Sudden illness Of his wife.
Ha wing mads the wife comfortable (she had
no; been in great danger at any timel the
husband teos the next train north, leaving
the wife. with her little girl, to recover at
leisare. Ii j. interesting 10 note that there
was nothing remarkable about that in this
COUNTRY, nor is the fact less interesting
when IL is said that this wife, although
among entigc strangers, WAS perfectly ut
ease, without self consciousness, and pro
eeetied on the road to health.
Two or three days later u chance &C
euaintance asked her To 50 with him while
he photographed two OF the points of inter
| est in the town--the adobe wall. els years
old, that fences one side Of Death alley.
and cottonwood tree that shades it. The
wall when first built served as a fort for a
"a b., wall nfsyh
wiped out by the Indians. and the alley got
its name from the fight that then stained
the wall with blood and from the lynching
of sundry bad citizens who were hanged
from limb of the cottonwood.
The photographs taken were Of grewseme
subjects, and thetaik naturally ran TO from
tier tales and experiences, especially the ex-
periences of the young woman.
Did you ever see a man hangedf' asked
the chance acquaintance. Fancy such
question to Fifth avenue young woman'
But it was proper here.
Not exactly" she replied, "but saw
one hanging. was with my husband In
one Of the camps near Denver, and when we
got up one morning and looked out the
back door of the dining room, as we We're
going To sit down TO breakfast, We saw
man swinging from tree there ON u back
street. IL was a desperate, and they had
hanged him over night"
"lha, was remarkable experience" said
the listener.
why, yes, l suppose 50; but he was u
tough and deserved his fate, 1t did not
seem very remarkable to me. But then
never do think much of what you would
call remarkable experiences until after. l
remember being in another camp near that
one aud seeing another man dead from VIC
lence. used to ride down every day quite
distance to the postofiice. We didn't have
any in our camp because il was "A new one.
So one day rs | cantered along l saw a man
living face down beside the trail. My first
thought was that he was drunk of course.
Then thought he might be sick, SO reined
la the horse and spoke to him. But he did
not answer or move, and SO got down and
turned him over. A great hole had been
shot through his breast. There was an
empty shotgun under him. He had killed
himself There was no one anywhere in
sight, SO l left him there and rode ON into
town and notified the authorities and got
the mail When got home to the board
ing house, told some of my friends about
il, and they were worse frightened At the
thought Of seeing dead man than ever
was at anything. But then they couldn't
help it, they had been trained in the east. y
Were you ever really frightened by any
such experienced" was asked.
why, yes, after it was over. Twas pretty
ncr, Gus over that suicide after I'd heard
my friends talk about it awhile Some
thing Is always happening in mining
town, though, and one gets used to all sorts
OF experiences. Now | suppose that your
.,.l.. IA t.-,.. L.,1e
death il they should awake to find man
i'll their bedroom. woke up that way once.
My husband was in Denver 1t was a moon
light night, and when the mir from an open
window awoke me l saw stranger right
by the bed lie was thief. We had re-
ceived lot of coin for a trade. and he had
heard of it, What did | do' always sleep
with six shooter under my pillow and my
hand under there too. The moment ! saw
him | pointed my revolver at his nose. |
didn't say word and he didn't. There was
no call for words-iust motions-aud he
made them right away. He didn't stay u
little bit"
According to the mine camp stories no
place is SO free of thieves and robbers IA q
mine camp" remarked the acquaintance.
"Yes, so they say, but every body in a mine
camp lives and talks in the superlative.
The innate honesty of the miner is exagger-
ated to cover all the citizens Of the camp.
Now there is another thing you'll read
about-the wonderful cbivalry of the peo-
pie in the camps. Those stories are all true,
and they are not true Women are treated
with unusual Difference there, but there are
exceptions to the rule. l had an experience
in that way too"
Quite as interesting as the stories them
selves WAS the manner of the telling. The
stories would not have been told at all but
for the turn Death alley gave to the con-
versation aad for questions that were asked
by the chance acquaintance; but, once she
talked of such things, they were told as a
girl in the Mohawk valley might tell of be
ing overturned by Il snowbank while driv-
ing home from church or Of any other
countryside incident.
The tourist among the mine camps will
often meet such young women, both mar
ried and single. They are generally Of west
ern birth-this one was Denver girl Most
Of them have lived in Denver at one time
or another. They have healthful forms, at
tractive faces, bright minds. They are
cheerful, enthusiastic, amiable, fearless.
They stand on their heels, with their toes
out, and look the whole world in the eye.
They have the best education that their
schools and their homes afford. They are the
pride and JOY Of every man in the shadow
Of the Great Divide. 1t may cheer the
would be emgrant from the east to know
that they gre not prejudiced against tender
feet as tenderfeet, but against dudes only.