Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1897-09-09

Man nies of I!irSt within one Hupdrrs
and Fifty Yards of a L4..,e sf sresb water.
On the bur, Z saiais of Cs~,upah e,es
ert beside u lokn 10 4 a,;xars 10 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 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.
er on the desert has returned from a
trip which began on Aug 20. He left
here at that time and engaged a guide
at the new placer camp at Los Pioaohos,
below the boundary line, TO take him to
a 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, Mexican. They left Los
Pioachos in the afternoon, travelled all
night, and by the next morning were
far out on the desert. By some miscal.
oulation they were without water. and
though not lost they were bewildered as
10 the nearest way to a we'll 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 30 or
30 in length, varying In size according
TO the season, indicating that it is fed
by the gulf of California. It is very
shallow and saltier than the waters Of
the ocean.
The three men proceeded southward
between the lake and Cocopahs for
distance of ten miles or SO and there en-
oountered two Mexicans and 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:
1.-THE men came from Los Picaohos 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 as post and wandered
around like a drunken man. He paid no
attention to my guide, and we had 10
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 q
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 1t.
We gave them water, and they soon re.
vived and continued ON their way. The,
were burdened with a 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 25 yards from the lake
LnOI0 was nO hCoA1 AoIG utbO
found the body. One leg was gone, but
the rest Of the remains were there. The
head lay toward the north, face upward.
The whiskers were dark and turning
gray, and the hair was the same The
man had worn blue jumper, red
woolen undershirt, one boot and brown
slouch hat. found cheap clasp purse
in his jumper pocket which contained
this paper. which is piece of an en-
velope or paper sack, addressed james
Moore, paymaster A. T. and s. f.,
Topeka In the purse was also part of
a greenback. There was nothing else to
identity the body. The boot was about
O No. 6, and the man did not seem to
have been large
Ormonde has arrived safely at his Cal
ifornia home and gained weight on the
trip. He has cost his owner $50, 900 in
travelling expenses.
1t is not generally known that Direc-
tum, 2:07, is owned by John Green, an
old Irishman of Dublin. Cal. who made
a fortune in the mines.