The San Francisco call., 1896-02-23

- ooiAS1 III MHlCU are several errors.
The young woman scout, who. accord
ing to the Chicago paper, furnished Mr..
harte with the heroine of the Luck of
Roaring Camp" was born in 1852, one year
later than the date of "the Luck" there
fore could not have been his mother.
Cherokee Sal' is what Harte calls his
heroine, and she was not an Indian fighter,
nor did she assist in lynchings. She was
SIMPLY "a very sinful woman" yet not too
sinful to be crowned with motherhood.
Harte's story, to which the Inter Ocean re-
fers, was published in 1868, when General
Crook was doing some of h is hardest cam
palgnlng, and Calamity Jane was only 16
years of age. About that number of years
had passed since the conditions had ex-
listed IN the mining districts to furnish the
hoHehst with such material as is ascribed
TO Roaring Camp.
Inc mention of Harte's most famous
story IN this irresponsible way had the
elect TO recall some almost forgotten facts
concerning the productions of writers al
ready being supplanted by later aspirants
Tor favor, some of which facts may be re-
garded as curiosities of our local literature.
Mrs. c., an early Californian, was
once telling me anecdotes about literary
and other people belonging 10 the States
hrst decade. 1t transplTed in the course
then herself appeared in PRINT in those in
terestlng times. Among other things she
had written series OF letters 10 sister in
the East which, on account of their vivid
pictures OF California life. had been pub
lIshed later in the Pioneer Magazine,
which was begun as early as 1854. 1
begged TO see them and was granted the
privilege. Taking them home with me i
spent an afternoon in their perusal, find
ing them most entertaining reading.
They we're entitled California in 1851"
and ''1S52," and were under the signature
OF shirley" So much by way of preface.
The interest OF the papers was not alto
gether in the general facts or the authors
style, although that was elegant and of
quality which inspired confidence as well
as invited admiration. I made discoy-
cry IN the very first number which greatly
qulekened my curiosity as we'll, and l be
came fully satisfied before | closed the
volumes that the letters of Mrs. c. were
the foundation on which were built Bret
Harte's Luck of Roaring Camp" and
"Outcasts of Poker Flat
Without debating an euthor's right to
build on another's foundation-though
ideas are said 10 be PROPERTY rise to
explain the grounds of my convictions
by quoting first from Shirleyfs correspond
ence. In her description OF Rich Bar, a
mining camp on the American River she
says:
The Empire Hotel was built by company of
gamblers as a residence for two of those un-
iortunstes who make e trade-a thing OF barter
OF the holiest passion when sanctifed by
love that ever thrills the wGyward heart Of
humanity To the lasting honor of the miners,
be 1t said, the speculation proved a failure
Yes; these thousand men. many OF whom had
been for years absent from the softening
amenities OF female society, and the sweet,
restraining Influences OF pure womanhood-
these husbands OF fair young wives kneeling
daily al the altars of their holy homes TO pray
for their faT-of ones-these sons of gray
haired mothers, majestic in their sanctified
old age-these brothers OF virginia. sisters,
White and saint-like as the lilies OF their own
gardens-looked only with contempt or pity
upon those, oh so earnestly 70 be compassioned
10 one OF which the tenderest words that Jesus
ever spoke were uttered, LEFT in few weeks,
absolutely driven away by public opinion.
The disappointed gamblers sold the house to
It's present propr1etors Tor few hundred dol
lars.
One OF the three women at the Bar
when Mrs. c. came there was the wife of
the landl ord of the Empire. Her two
weeks old babe had been ushered into
the world with the help OF one
no sooner heard the child's first
cry than she was taken with the pangs
presaging a similar trial and compelled to
return to her own cabin, where her child
was born without the sympathetic pres
ence and aid of any woman friend. Mean
seriously i'll, was ministered to by miner
who lodged in the house, his services
being limited to providing bread and tea
morning and evening. For two days the
babe, which luckily was strong and
healthy as became prospective miner, re-
ceived no attention, remained unwashed
and undressed until the mother was able,
'by slow stages" TO administer a bath
and put on the first tiny robe. These were
the unadorned facts as Mrs. c.. learned
them from the landlaoy OF the Empire.
That they proved full Of suggestion to
writer of fiction is not at all remarkable.
Whatever of ommorpIace there was in
the incidents Harte very skillfully re-
moves, as follows:
Cherokee Sal, coarse, and it is to be feared,
a very sinful woman, was at that time
the only woman in Roaring Camp, and was
just at that time lying in sore extremity when
she needed most the minlstrations of her sex.
1t will be seen also that the situation was
novel. Deaths were by no means uncommon
but birth was new thing.
He makes one man go to the help OF the
woman, while 1.-TWO hundred stood with
out" OF course, TO make the story dra-
matte, she dies, and the miners have the
babe on their hands and make it their
mascot.
Cherokee Sal was only another name for
a large, coarse, loud-voiced, but not a bad
girI-one OF the four women in Rich Bar
after Mrs. C. advent. The miners called
her Indiana" but only because she came
from that State; still, the title was sug-
gestive. Thus, by mixing up the elements
found in Mrs. C.'s first letter, story was
evolved from facts which gained its pseudo
author worldwide reputation as an i'm
aglnative writer.
But it is in the "Outcasts of Poker Flat"
that the lead struck by Harte in Mrs. C.'s
letters is most evident. The iye-mile-long
hill leading down to the camp is distinc-
tive feature in the letters; it is also
strong point in the description of the
journey made by the outcasts in Novem-
Der storm. The place where they en-
camped was referred to more than once IN
the letters as "beautiful grove of oaks
but the difference between July and No
vember in the mountains made all the
difference in the aspect of the place. In
this story the banishment of the depraved
men and women was ordered by vigil
lance committee. Mrs. C.'s account OF the
expulsion of gamblers and courtesans also
relates that
An Englishman, the owner of a house OF the
vllest description, person VINO is salu 10
have been the cause of all the troubles OF the