The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-30
CHEERING OUT OF THE DESERT.

1he Experience of a Stranger Who Was
the Ptctina of q Practical Joke.
SAN DIEGO, CAL, March 29.-Another
man has come out of the desert with its
horrors burned into his brain. Either
from ignorance or dare-deviltry he at
tempted to walk from Walters station, ON
the Southern Pacific road, east of Indio,
to Elsinore, and as a result was driven
frantic with thirst, and escaped death by a
miracle. Had not a hardy cattleman,
wandering like Bedouin over the waste,
encountered him, the stranger would have
persisted.
Last Friday few men lounging about
Henry Wilson'S store, at Warmers ranch,
were astonished to see coming from the
direction of the desert man who showed
by his aimless wandering and his deafness
that he was demented. They approached
him and prevailed upon him to come to
the store. He was not violent and showed
no fear of men though clearly insane. 1t
was apparent that he had been lost in the
desert and was suffering for water. His
wants were provided for and he was care
fully nursed, with the result that he be-
came more rational
On his person were an Odd Fellows and
Masonic cards, showing the bearer to be
member of the orders in good standing.
He also gave his name to the rescuers, but
the man who brought the news failed to
learn 1t. The man was well dressed He
said he had come on the Southern Pacific
as Tar as Walters station, between Salton
and lndlo, and was bound for Elsinore
The trainmen, he said, played him trick
and told him that if he would leave the
road at Walters and strike southwest he
would make short cut to Elsinore and
could easily save time and money He
started out, taking little water and food
Within twenty-four hours he was out of
water, though having little food left. He
suffered that night and the next day was
in such condition that he could scarcely
travel. Instead of resting in the daytime
and travelling by night he kept on in the
fierce sun and almost persisted of heat as
well as thirst.
The wanderer was unable to account for
himself for the three days that followed
but he said he had come to his senses suffi-
GENTLY to know that a cattleman, named
Mccain, had captured him near Borrego
Springs, and kept him until he was able to
walk Mccain, he said, was out gathering
cattle, gave him water, and then took him
westward until the trail was clear. From
that time on he struggled forward, finally
making his way to where he was seen by
the men at Warmers ranch.
On the desert he was Mortified before
going insane to find the arm and skull of a
human being, and this, in his situation,
he thought had something to do with his
condition. He described the location of
the bones and the men at Warmers ranch
thought it was probably the body of a
prospector who left that section a year ago
to go across the desert, and whose burros,
with the loads still on their backs, strayed
into the corral of old ''Figtree' John, an
Indian hermit who lives at little spring
in the heart of the stretch of desert be-
tween the mountains and the railroad.
The stranger stayed at Wilson's for sew
eral days and became apparently sane,
then he continued his way on foot in the
direction of Elsinore