Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1895-09-10
pA2kn oN rAE nEsEAf.
Man Dies of Thirst within One Hundred
and Fifty Yards OF Lake of Fresh Water.

A Man Dles of Thirst within One Hundred
and Fifty Yards OF n Lake of Fresh water.
On the burning sands of Cocopah dos
ert, beside lake that appears to be 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
frenzy of thirst. His fingers are worn
Off at the ends, and only his whitening
bones are left to bear witness to the
tragedy.
Jose Garcia, who makes q living by
peddling from one little camp to anoth-
er on the desert, has returned from
trip which began on Aug 90. Ho left
here at that time and engaged a guide
at the new placer camp at Los Picachos,
below the boundary line, to take him to
q 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 Cota Mexican. They left Los
Picachos in tho afternoon, travelled all
night and by the next morning were
far ont ON the desert BY somc miscal.
culation they were without water, and
though not lost they were bewildered as
to the nearest way to n 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
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. II is very
shallow and saltier than the waters of
the ocean.
The three men proceeded southwark
between the lake and COcOpahs for
distance of ten miles or so and there en-
countercd two Moxicans and white
man. The two former We're 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 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 as deaf AZ u post and wandered
around like drunken man. He paid no
attention to my guide, and we had TO
lay hold of him to make him drink, In
n few hours he was all right. The 9TH
ers were in their right minds, hut In q
| terrible condition, and ms / 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 / think Of It,
We gave them water, and they soon re-
vived and continued on their way. They
were burdened with u dry washer and
many tools and moved slowly, so we
left them, my guide giving them direc-
tions whore to find tho next water.
"a fow miles farther we came upon
the bones Of man lying stark ON the
sand about 80 yards from the lake,
! There was 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 whiskers were dark and turning
gray, and the hair was the same. The
man had worn blue jumper, red
wooden undershirt, one boot and brown
slouch hat. / found a cheap clasp purse
in his jumper pocket which contained
this paper which Ia piece Of Rn en-
velope on paper sack, addressed james
Moore, paymaster A. L, and S. f.,
Topeka. In tho purse was also part OF
a greenback. There was nothing else tc
identify the body. The boot was about
No. 0, and tho man did not seem X
have been large
'I examined the fingers and found the
ends worn of, and there wero five or si'
holes in the ground around the body
made by scratching for water. One O
the holes, farther away, seemed 10 hay'
been made with "a pick and shovel
There were no tools around the man, NJ
canteen and no sign of food AS we pro
ceeded / traced his barefoot tracks fol
more than five miles, coming from thu
direction Of Yuma or New River anC
going toward Coyote Wells. The track
were irregular and frequently crosse'
and sometimes went into the lake
About 100 yards from the body, ava,
from the lake, we found reservoir o
fine fresh water We found the bod,
ON Sept. H."
AS the body is in Mexico nothing can
be done by the officers here, and it will
in all probability rest where II wa
found. Coroner Woodward will tax
steps 10 ascertain who the man was. =
San Diego Cor. San Francisco Examiner
When tho Women Vote.
They were discussing proposed en-
| 80. i.,...n..r .rhn,, tho nallnr nalral.