Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1896-01-02
DAzED 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 Lake of Fresh Water.
On tho 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 ere 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
o.. 1T tho o'ids, and only his whitening
/ lcs Glo lett TO bear witness TO the
tragedy.
dose Garcia, who makes living by
pedGliGg from ono little camp to anoth.
er on tbe desert, has returned from
trip which bogGn on Aug 20. He left
hc-'a at thgt time and engaged guide
ut ;ao ue,y placer camp at Los Pioachos,
below tho boundary line, to take him &c
mining camp in the Cocopah noun.
taiC5 IN the heart OF tho desert. The
guide was named Quirino Sosilio,
half brcod, and with them went also
Franz; Gotta, Mexican. They left Los
Pioachos in the afternoon, travelled al
night, and by the next morning were
far ont ON tho desert BY some miscal
culation they were without water, and
though not lost they were bewildered as
to the nearest way to 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 sid0 Of Great Salt lake or
Laguna Salada, that lies between the
4. .&.s.
Painted mountains on the west The
lake is about six miles wide and 30 or
80 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 n
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 placers some weeks ago.
Garcia continues the story as follows:
"The men came from Los Pioachos by
way of Niji 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 no
attention to my guide and wo had to
lay hold Of him TO make him drink. In
few hours he was all right The 9th
Nl.af.- ri oh Y,.fnAo hut ~.
terrible condition, and as l saw their
swollen tongues my own began 60 swell,
for had passed through the Same tor
ture only two days before, and even now
my tongue swells while / think Of IL.
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 direo-
tions where 20 find the next water.
"a few miles farther we came upon
the bones of a man lying stark ON the
sand about 25 yards from the lake
There was no flesh left. Tho coyotes had
found the body. One log was gone, but
the rest of the remains were there. The
head lay toward the north, face upward. |
The whisl1ers Were dark and turning |
gray, and the hair was the same The |
man had worn a blue jumper, red |
woolen undershirt, ono boot and a brown |
slouch hat. found cheap clasp purse |
in his jumper pocket which contained |
this paper, which is piece Of AN en-
velope on paper sack, addressed James |
Moore, paymaster A. II. and S. F.,
Topeka. In the purse was also part of
a greenbacl1 There was nothing else to |
identify the body. The boot was about
a No. 0, and the man did not seem to /,
have been large
II examined the fngers and found the
ends worn OFF, and there were Eve or six |
holes in tho ground around tho body, |
made by scratching for water. One of
the holes, farther away, rcemed to have
been made with a pick and shovel. |
There were no tools around the man, no
canteen and 10 sign Cf food. As we pro-
ceeded traced his barefoot tracks for
more than five miles. c5aiing from the
direction Of Yuma So H,w River and
going toward Coyote ~. -; Tue tracks
were irregular and frcqumltly crossed
and sometimes weEt ito the lake |
About 100 yards frorl ilie body, away
from the lake, we foy,..i a reservoir of
fine fresh water We found the body
on Sept. Y"
AS the body Is ia Mexico nothing can
bo done by tho officers here, and it will
in all probability rest where it was
found. Coroner Woodward will take
steps to ascertain who the man was
San DIEGO Cor. San Franeiseo Ezaminer.