The morning call., 1894-02-25
PALMER Is DEAD.
He Was Called King of
the Gypsies."
PNEUMONIA TOOK HIM OFF.
TribeSmen Demolish the Old
Mans Home.
STRANGE GYPSY SUGGESTIONS.
Nothing Allowed to Remain That
Would Recall the Memory of
the Departed Chief.
STRANGE GYPSY sUPERsTITIoNs

A spiral column of smoke rose from the
ashes of what had been mans home out
al Point LobOs road and Sixth avenue yes
terday morning. There was no fire alarm.
1t was merely that the occupants Of num-
Der of gypsy tents had watched the camp"
of one of their mum Der follow its owners
spirit into space.
The "King of the Gypsies" was dead and
his huge body had been borne to the
Morgue. His wife and his children, even to
the third generation. and number Of step
sons aud stepdaughters and sons and daugh-
ters-in-la W, following the traditions of their
tribe, had assembled to witness the com plete
demolition of all things that might. if left
behind, recall to their minds the SORROW of
to-day. So they applied the torch to the
diapidated Old tent in which the "king"
had lain, and watched the flames creep
over the canvas and crackle among the
brush about its base.
There were som articles in the old camp
that would not burn. These were the
cooking uten sils, th wash bowl, and knife
and fork and other things made of metal,
and these. together with other personal eff
fects of the old king. left in other adjacent
tents were gather ed together by his tribes
iuOu uDu titOCo"Ouru tdkcu W dstltti6
distance, where lusty young gypsy bat
tered and hacked them to pieces with
dull AK.
ut is notion among the gypsies," he
said, as he methodically pursued mis- work,
that when anybody belonging to them
dies everything he leaves behind must be
destroyed. That is because they don't like
to see the things about after the man Is
gone"
But those things are servicea BILE.
Couldn't they be given to some poor per-
son or disposed of in some other way?"
was asked.
Mop" said the young man, as he drove
the edge of the ak into a shining brass tea
pot. That would not do. You wouldn't
like TO Rave other people using things hat
had been used by anybody who belonged
TO you. would you? Well, that is the way
the gypsies feel about il. and that is the
reason we are getting rid OF everything
that belonged to old man Palmer"
And so there is nothing left of Henry
Palmer, the king of the Gypsies," except
his ady. which, stripped of clothing, lies
under sheet on a slab at the Morgue.
Even that will disappear to-day. when an
underlaker Will convey 1t TO Oakland and
bury il IN q lot in Mountain View Gene
terry, where he has already buried many
of the members of the Palmpr tribe. 1t is he
same undertaken WHO was always called
by this strange tribe of nOmads, and IL
Is part of their code of superstitions
that this should be so, as long as the tribe
and their funeral agent shall last.
The lot in Mountain View is owned by
them, and here and there it Is dotted by
the graves of men and women and chill
dren who have lived and died out-of-
doors. 1t covers the remains of the
Queen OF the Gypsies." Palmer's fret
wife, who was shot by some renegade
gypsy beyond the Mississippi River eight
years ago. Her remains were brought all
the way out to California to be laid in the
Palmer lot by the side of her children,
and In the presence of her people.
Henry Palmer was a rich man then
rich even beyond what would be consd-
cred wealth IN gypsy. He owned DO
houses, for real estate was too stationary