Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1895-07-15
DAzEp ON THE DESERT.
Man DIES Of thirst within one Hupdree

ErdEifty Yards os a Lake OF preeh Water.
On the burning sands Of Cocopah deg
art. beside \ lake that appears to bo Of
the coolest and the purest of fresh wa
fer. 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 his whitening
bones are left to bear witness to the
tragedy.
Jose Garcia, who makes living by
peddling from one little camp to anoth.
or on the desert, has returned from q
trip which began on Aug. 90 He left
here at that time and engaged guide
at the new placer camp at Los Picachos,
below the boundary line, to take him tc
mining camp in tho Cocopah noun.
tains III the heart of the desert. The
guide was named Quirino Sosilio, n
half breed, and with them went also
Frank Gotta, 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 II 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 20 or
30 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 q
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 placors some weeks ago.
Garcia continues the story as follows:
"rhe mon came from Los Picachos by
way of Mil and had been without wa
ter for several days, and ono of them,
Margarito Angulo, was already crazy.
He was as deaf as post and wandered
around like drunken man. He paid M
attention to my guido, and we had tC
lay hold of him to make him drink. Ii
few 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 now
my tongue swells while / think Of it.
We gave them water, and they soon re
yived and continued on their way. The,
were burdened with IA dry washer ant
many tools and moved slowly, 10 w
left them, my guide giving them direc
tions where TO find the next water.
"A fow miles farther we came upol
tho bones OF "A man lying stark ON tin
sand about 90 yards from the lake
There was noHesh left. The coyotes ha'
found the body. One leg WAS gone, bu
the rest Of the remains were there Th
head lay toward the north, face upward
The whiskers were dark and turning
gray, and the hair was the same. Tn
man had worn blue jumper a re'
wooden undershirt, one boot and brown
slouch hat found cheap clasp purs
Ia his jumper pocket which o0ntaine'
This paper. which IL n pieoe of an en
yslOpe ur paper sack, addressed jaime
Moore paymaster A. T. and =. r.
Topeka IN the purse was also part O
a greenback There was nothing else q
identify the body. The boot was abou
No o. and the man did not seem Z
have bsen laTgo
II examined the fingers and found Ga
ends worn On, and tbero were ave or si
holes Ia the ground around the body
made by scratching for water ono o
che holes. farther away, seeined ~ hay
bosn mAds with o pick and shovel
There were n0 tools around the man, "a
oAiitaan aud nO sign ~ food A. We pfo
f,asAod 1 iTaoad his barefoot tracks ~
snnra than i've uliles. coming nOm "a
diraoti0n ~ YunlA 30 Nov River an
s0lnR toward Coyote Wells tbs track
esrs irregular RIld fFolaeiily eTtses'
aiid s0iaeiinaas went Into tbs lAks
About 100 yards from ule boay aNa
fsosu lis iAke, No found TaaeTFoir 9
nns haah satof We found ihe Dsd
ssu kepi ~"
A. ilaa b.idy 10 Ia NsEir0 noihlna ga
10 a,aie ~ Gas efnaass hsge, siid y Nil
is AZ probability FpHf Nbsfs y 80
f,aiia laasairF Woodward Will tAA
sisl~ ~ aAostaiH sho fbs mAH va p
tal Diego Df han Ffallaisso tsaiiiiiieI
shss ihs sss.ss Fsas.
Ihsy sav aise'.ssins 2 p'ota'sa s''