Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1895-09-07
DAzEo ON THE DESERT.
Man Dies Of Thirst Within One Hundred
and Fifty Yards of q Lake of Fresh Water.

",ah Dies "t Ahirst within One Hundred
and Fifty Yards of Lake of Fresh Water.
On the burning sands Of Cocopah des-
ert, beside n lake that NJ pears TO he Of
the coolest and the purest of fresh wa.
ter, lie the 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 a
frenzy of thirst, His fingers are worn
of at the ends, and only bis whitening
bones are left to bear witness to the
tragedy.
Jose Garcia, who makes living by
peddling from one little camp to anoth.
er on the desert, has returned from q
| trip which began on Aug 20. He left
here ut that time and engaged guide
at the new placer camp pat Los Picachos,
below the boundary line, to take him to
a mining camp in the Cocopah noun.
tains in the heart of the desert. The
guide was named Quirino Sosilio,
half breed, and with them went also
Frank Gotta, a Mexican. They left Los
Picachos in the afternoon, travelled all
night, and by the next morning were
far out on the desert. BY some miscal.
culation they were without water, and
though not lost they were bewildered as
to the nearest way to we'll 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
Laguna Salada, that lies between the
Cocopah mountains on the east 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 a 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 be Fred Wassum, who left this city
for the Cocopah placers some weeks ago.
Garcia continues the story as follows:
"The men came from Los Pioachos by
way of Mil and had been without wa
ter for several days, and one Of them,
Margarito Angulo, was already crazy.
He was as deaf rs a 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
a few hours he was all right. The 9th
ers were in their right minds, but In a
terrible condition, and rs l saw their
swollen tongues my own began to SWELL
for had passed through the same tor
ture only two days before, and even now
my tongue swells while l think OF 1t.
We gave them water, and they soon re-
yived 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
tions where TO find the next water.
"a few miles farther we came upor
the bones of man lying stark on thu
sand about 30 yards from the lake
There was no flesh left. The coyotes hat
found the body. One leg was gone, bu'
the rest Of the remains were there. The
head lay toward the north, face upward
The whiskers were dark and turning
gray. and the hair was the same. Th'
man had worn blue jumper, a rec
wooden undershirt, one boot and brown
slouch hat. found cheap clasp purse
in his jumper pocket which contained
this paper, which is a piece Of an en-
yelope or paper sack, addressed james
Moore. paymaster A. t. and S. f..
Topeka. IN the purse was also part o
q greenbacl1. There was nothing else u
identify the body. The boot was abou
No o, and the man did not seem Il
have been large.
81 examined the fingers and found tn
ends worn off, and there were five or ST.
holes In the ground around the body
made by scratching for water. One o
the holes, farther away, seemed to hay
been made with pick and shovel
There were no tools around the man. II
eanteen and no sign Of food. As we pro
eeeded traced his barefoot tracks 10
moro than five miles, coming from Tn
direction Of Yuma or New River an
going toward Coyote Wells. The track
were irregular and frequently crosse
and sometimes went into the lake
About l5O yards from the body, ava
from the lake, we found reservoir
fine fresh water. We found the bod
OH Sept H." ~
AS the body is in Mexico nothing ca
be done by the officers here, and 1t WI
In all probability rest where II wa
found Coroner Woodward will tai
steps to ascertain who the man was, =
San Diego Cor. San Francisco Examine'
when the Women Vote.