Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1895-09-13
DAzED ON THE DESERT.
Man Dies of Thirst within One Hundre
and Fifty Yard. of Lake OF Fresh Water

n Man Dies OF Thirst Within One Hundred
and Fifty Yards of n Lake OF Fresh water.
On the burning sands Of Cocopah des,
ert, beside lake that appears to be Of
Ito coolest and the purest Of fresh wa
ter, lie tde bones Of an American who
died Of thirst, ami around him are five
Or six holes Of two or three feet in depth.
which ho dag with his Gngor nails in a
frenzy of tnirst His fngors are worn
uf 81 tie cnds, and only lis whitening
b'aed are left to Lear witness to the
tragedy.
Jose Garcia, who makes living by
poddling from one little camp to anoth.
or ON the desert, has returned from a
trip which began ON Aug. 20. He left
here at that time and engaged guide
at the new placer oampat Los Picachos,
b3low 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, a
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 We're withaut water, and
though not lost they were bcwildered as
TO the nearest way to q 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
tho 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 OF
80 in length, varying in size according
to the season, indicating that it is fed
by the gulf of California. It is very
shallow and saltier than the waters of
the ocean.
The three men proceeded southward
between the lake and Cocopahs for a
distance of ten miles or so and there en-
ouuntered 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 lie 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 Picachos by
way Of Niji and had been without wa
ter for several days, and one Of them,
Margarito Angulo, was already crazy.
He was rs deaf as a post and wandered
around like drunken man. He paid nc
attention to my guide, and we had tc
Law hold Of him TO make him drink. In
a fow hours he was all right. The 9th
ers were in their right minds, but In
terrible condition, and as / saw theil
swollen tongues my own began to swell
for had passed through the same tor
ture only two days before, and even nov
my tongue swells while / think of 1t
we gave them water, and they soon re
yived and continued on their way. The.
were burdened with n dry washer an'
many tools and moved slowly, so w
left them, my guide giving them direc
tions where to find the next water.
"A few miles farther we came upo
the bones of man lying stark ON TN
sand about 20 yards from the lake
There was no flesh left. The coyotes hal
found the body. One leg was gone, bu
the rest of the remains were there. Th
head lay toward the north, face upward
The whislers were dark and turnin
gray. and the hair was the same. TIL
man had worn blue jumper, a re
woolen undershirt, one boot and brow
slouch hat. i found n cheap clasp purs
in his Jumper pocket which containe
this paper, which is a piece Of an en-
yelope or paper sack, addressed jaime
Moore, paymaster A. I. and >. f.
Topeka In the purse was also part
a greenbaclI. There was nothing else
identify the body. The boot was abor
a No. o, and the man did not seem
have been large
"Iexamined the fingers and found th
ends worn Off, and there We're five or 81
holes in the ground around the BODY
made by scratching for water. One
the holes, farther away, seemed TO hay
been made with pick and shove
There were no tools around the man, 1
canteen and no sign Of food. AS we pr
ceeded traced his barefoot tracks 4
more than five miles, coming from Il
direction of Yuma or New River al
going toward Coyote Wells The tract
were irregular and frequently crosse
and sometimes went into the lax
About l5O yards from the body, aw'
from the lake, we found a reservoir
fine fresh water. We found the boz
ON Sept ~. " 49,,
AS the body is in Mexico nothing CT
be done by the officers here, and It WI
in all probability rest where II W
found. Coroner Woodward will ta-
stems 70 ascertain who the man was
San Diego Cor. San Francisco Examine
When the Women Vote.