Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1896-10-14
pAzEp ON The DESERT.
A Man Dies of Thirst Within One Hundred
and Fifty Yards of Lake of Fresh Water.

A Man Dies of Thirst Within One Hundred
and Fifty Yards of a Lake of Fresh Water.
On the burning sands of Cocopah des-
ert beside a 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 i'll depth,
which he dug with his finger nails in a
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 living by
peddling from one little camp to anoth-
er ON the desert, has returned from
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 to
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-
culatiCn they were without water, and
though not lost they were bewildered as
to the nearest way to a 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
80 in length, varying III 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 a
distance of ten miles or so and there en-
countercd two Mcxicans and a white
man. The two former were named Mar
garlic An3ulo and Felipe Moreno, and
the Americans name was not learned,
but from the description he is thought
to he Fred Wassum, who left this city
for the Cocopah placers some weeks ago.
Garcia continues the story as follows:
1.-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 us a 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
few hours he was all right. The 9TH
ers were in their right minds, but in
terrible condition, and as l 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 it0
We gave them water, and they soon re.
vived and continued on their way. They
were burdened with dry washer and
many tools and moved slowly, SO we
left them, my guide giving them direc-
tions where to find the next water.
"a few miles farther we came upon
the bones of a man lying stark ON the
sand about 30 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 whislicrs wero dark and turning
gray, and the hair was the same. The
man had worn q blue jumper, q red
WOODEN undershirt, one boot and brown
slouch hat. 1 found cheap clasp purse
in his jumper pocket which contained
this paper, which is pieco Of an en-
velope CT paper sack, addressed James
Moore, paymaster A. T. and S. F.,
Topeka. In the purse was also part of
greehbacl. There was nothing else to
identity the body The boot was about
a No. q, and the man did not seem to
have been large.
ses Ee Gave 1t the Shake.
Uncle Allen mad dropped into cob
bler's shop for repairs. AS ne rose up
after putting on the mended shoe hU
pulled the chair up with him.
"That lump of wax" said the shoe
maker, "seems to have formed a strong
attachment for you"
~ don't reciprocate," replied Uncle
Allen, "but confess I'm a good deal
stuck on the chair. ~ Chicago Tribune