The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-09-18
Dur 9anliIp 9torp.
A Tragedy of the Desert.

yuinPihSJ ontFJCdru m6u ana loss Oh
bY4lion by road agents, but such ex
captions only obtain when the offenders
6eturn TO the district after having
been escorted to its confines and warn
ed not to come back on pain Of death.
Such exceptions are violations of the
law OF the district, and the ~yiolators
must be hung up" as examples, there
fore 1 suppress my opposition and side
with the majority for the good OF the
camp. / am writing now of a locality
s~eventy-fve miles outside the knowl-
edge of the code-the Lizard Noun
tains OF the Colorado Desert-where
ed and the coup d'etat Of the nolle
prosequi Is not permissible, save on
N condition, that the suspected man
leave camp forthwith. The time was
when l was always ready to take the
trail with the committee" and camp
on 1t till the offender was run down or
out of the district, and it has not been
SO very long ago since | experienced u
change of heart.
One night, on coming to my tent
from my claim in the gulch, l found
the following note, scrawled on the
back OF q blank location notice, stick
ing in q cleft stick in front of the tent:
Git yer boss IN gun an come down
TO the store as soon az yer git this.
Biznes ov Importance. C~OMNITTEE."
| knew what 1t meant, an all-night
ride, possibly several days and nights,
so | set about getting my supper and
Trying an extra quantity OF bacon.
supper over, / wrapped the surplus
bacon and a few squares of pilot bread
in o bandanna, tied it with q canteen
on the saddle and fastened down tho
tent fly Then, taking up my rifle and
0n1l1n ynr ~ l,,~ -, .o ,,n.
plcketed, and, saddling, was o o at
mile down the gulch. The store was
only a big wall tent at the forks of the
canyon, and the stock consisted only OF
rough wearing apparel for miners,
coffee, sugar, flour, pilot bread, bacon
f~rijoles (beans,) tobacco and O few kegs
OF whiskey, all packed into the camp
on burros. "A group Of miners, all
IN n some mounted, vas gather
ed about the front of the tent, while to
one side lay-the figure of a man, tho
blanket.
Whats the trouble, boys l asked,
as l rode up.
Two or three jerked their thumbs
in the direction Of the blanketed
figure.
albany"
Albany was a man from York State
m q native of its capital, upon whose
beauties, wealth, etc, he was always
descanting and planning what he
would do on his return there after
having made his pile" This had
earned for him the sobriquet of Albany.
No n knew his other name, or had
forgotten 1t, and Albany answered the
purpose as we'll as Tom Jones or John
Smith. l dismounted, and, going to
the PROSTATE figure, turned back the
blanket. Yes, it was Albany, His
skull was crushed in u fearful manner,
and his hair and the lower part of his
beard matted with CONCEALED blood.
The boys had washed the CRIME and
blood from his faco in order to re-
cognize the features.
Who did it ?"
dunno, unless twas Injun Joe he's
the only man missin' from camp. jim
son an Kaintuck foun' Albany q layin'
in front Ov his tent with his head
busted open. His hoss was gone, an
the tent had ben ransacked an his
gun, best clo'es an a lot ov grub took.
JimsOu come back an got q boss an
they brought him down here then
they started out to give the word while
some ov the boys ven to fin the trail.
They's a lot Ov barefooted tracks
aroun,' al some OWENS made in the
blood whar his head laid, but none
lead away. That don't go fer nothin,'
though, cause Albany's shoes is gone.
They foun' the trail Ov the hoss, an it
led over the hog-back, down Tough
nut Gulch, into Coyote Pass, an out on
the desert toward 'tother mountains.
1t pirted toward Stinkin' Wells. He's
got purity nigh twelve hours start anil
probly camp thar tonight, maxim
Mule Springs to-morrer night"
During this brief statement others
had come up, until all the miners in
the camp, something less than 100,
o present. According to the
custom, we divided into five groups,
and a slip OF paper for every man in.
each group was thrown into a hat.
On n slip in each hat was written
Coz; the others we're blank. The
men drawing the $50" slips formed
the vigilance committee to accompany
the captain on the pursuit. l drew a
Co" The captain gave orders to
have all of Albany's camp'outfit brought
down to the store, and after adding to
our scant supplies we filed our c~anteens
at the spring and filed away down the
gulch to take up the trail at the foot
OF Coyote Pass. In the dim light we
discerned the footprints of the horse,
evidently ridden at a gallop and head
ed directly for Sinking Wells, the
o X water hole.
Paying no more attention to the
trail, we rode away into the desert
night right straight for the wells.
Indian Joe was a half breed who never
acknowledged his tribal origin, but
drifted around from one mining camp
to another, picking up a precarious
livelihood. He was not known as II
bad Indian, could be safely trusted
with any message or do any GRAND,
and no miner where he was known
would objdct to giving him q meal or
several OF them, II necessary. In fact,
he was considered good-natured and
harmless, as Indians go, and it seemed
almost impossible that he could have
committed 80 foul q crime, yet the
circumstantial evidence was too strong
to admit of doubt.
1t was early dawn when we rode up
to the few cotton woods that sur
rounded the wells, or more properly
"sink," of tepid alkali water. There
was evidence of q recent camp, and
down under the ashes were two or
three half dead Goals, showing that
the camp mad been abandoned several
hours before. We had breakfasted in
the saddle, and after holding q brief
council we decided to camp there for
the day. The trail OF our quarry led
straight for Mule Spring, in the noun
tains miles away across that level
stretch OF desert. He had the advant-
age in knowing that pursuit could
come bat from one direction. IF he