Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-12-01
ON TIE DESERT.


ana fiity 4 aTds CT a Lake OF freSn Walcr.
On the burning sands of Cocopah lles-
crt, beside a lake that appears to be Of
the coolest and the purest of fresh wa
ter, lie tho bones OF an American who
died of thirst, and around him are five
or six holes Of two or three feet in depth,
which he dug with his finger nails in
frenzy of thirst. His fingers are worn
eli ct the ends, and only his whitening
bones are left to bear witness to the
tragedy.
Jose Garcia, who makes living by
poddling from one little camp to anoth-
er on the desert, las returned from a
trip which began on Aug. 20. He left
here at that time and engaged guide
at the new placer camp at Los Peaches,
below the boundary line, totakc lin TO
q mining camp in the Cocopah noun
tails in the heart of the desert. The
guido was named Quirino Sosilio,
half breed, and with them went also
Frank Gotta. Mexican. They left Los
Picachos i'll the afternoon, travelled all
night, and by the next morning were
far ont on the desert. By some miscal
culation they were without water. and
though not lost they were bewildercd as
TO tho nearest way to well and spent
the next two days in travelling without
water, becoming almost insane from
thirst. On the evening of the third day
they found water They were then ON
the northeast side of Great Salt lake, or
Lagana Salada, that lies between the
CocGpah mountains on the cast and the
Painted mountains on the west. The
lake is about six miles wide and 90 or
80 in length, varying in size according
TO the season, indicating that it is fed
by the gulf of California 1t is very
shallow and saltier than the waters of
the ocean.
The three men proceeded southwark
between the lake and Cocopahs for a
distance OF ten miles or so and there en-
countered two Mexicans and white
man The two former were named Mar
garlic Angulo and Felipe Moreno, and
the Americans name was not learned
but from the description he is thought
to he Fred Wassum, who left this city
for the Cocopah placers some weeks ago
Garcia continues the story as follows:
1.-The raen came from Los Picachos by
wy of Mil and had been without wa
ter for several days, and one of them,
Margarito Angulo, was already crazy
He was as deaf as post and wandered
around like q drunken man. He paid no
attention to my guide, and we had to
lay hold of him to make him drink. In
I; few hours lie was all right. The 9TH
ers were III their right minds. but in a
terrible condition, and as l saw their
swollen tongues my own began to swell,
for had passed through the same tor
turc only two days before, and even row
my tongue swells while | think of it.
We gave them water, and they soon re-
yiyed and continued on their way. They
were burdened with a dry washer and
many tools and moved slowly, SO we
left them, my guide giving them direc-
lions where to find the next water.
A few miles farther we came upon
the bones Of man lying stark on the
send about 25 yards from the lake
There wa3 no flesh left. The coyotes had
found the body. One leg was gone, but
the rest Of the remains were there. The
head lay toward the north, face upward.
The whis,zers were dark and turning
gray, and the hair was the same. The
man had worn a blue jumper, q red
wooden undcrshirt, one boot and brown
SLOUGH hat. / found cheap clasp purse
IN his jumper pocket which contained
this paper, which is piece of an en-
Velope or paper sack, addressed James
Moore, paynlaster A. I. and S. F.,
Topeka. In the purse was also part OF
a greenback. There was nothing else to