The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-03-20

Butsnow he is dead and can never go
/ home again.
| Died by the mountain fever, a years
/ ola, ne said he was. and this Is put over
/ mis- grave by his pardner. Edward Will
kinsOn. and viii take his share home TO
his bereving widow and weeping children.
Another effusion comes from the chilIs-
and-fever atmosphere Of the Sierra foot
hills II is written by one who also
mournec the loss OF a partner. but the
writer's Pegasus was of a somewhat bet
ter breed, even il the weeds OF qrOsaic
facts are intertwined with the laurel
leaves OF the poetic wreath in a rather in
congruous fashion:
Stranger, go easy. and drop We a tear.
Ny pardner, Bill Talbot. lies buried here.
he was honest ard straight, without any
frills,
And was took down by nobody till he was
took down by the chills.
All sumner and this winter we worked
our claim.
And day after day Bill was always the
same
Few men there are with such natures as
Bills,
And lonely ] am since he was took with
A native Of New York City. aged II
years.
a token of respect from his old friend.
Richard Bagley. March p, 1851.
Poets and others endowed with the gift
of expression of thought in appropriate
ietll6u d5t nave often III serious OF llle mo-
ments composed their own eDitaphs. but
II is seldom that one is written under the
circumstances surrounding a specimen
which Mr.. Wilson possesses in the origin
al, nor can all the rhetorical hOurishes of
learning equal the intense western terse-
ness OF its wording II stands eminently
aloof from the absurd and ridiculous. The
epEaph in question consists OF some
trembling loosely scrawled words upon a
crumpled and stained sheet of paper torn
from a note book. 1t was found clenched
forhf in rha hCr a=frH hon -
skeleton discovered by prOspectors on the
Mojave. desert, south of the PanamiHt
mountains II speaks for itself. this frag-
ment of a thousand mysteries which the
arid desert hides:
Grub is gone. water is out. the whole
game is played out
Ny name is Rob -
His name. If in the last agonizing mo-
mepts his Darched and swollen tongue
breathed out in a hoarse whisper what his
nerveless fingers could not write. only the
hot wind and burning sands of the lonely
desert heard it. and they can never tell.
Included in the collection Is an eoita9h
which Mr.. Wilson. with the precision of
principle which animates the ardent hob
byiSt. has placed in an obscure corner. 1t
was printed in Il Book of Epita<hs.''
compiled by Charles NOrthend some years
ago as a sample of California grave le-
gends. Not having been able to verify il.
as ne has most Of the others. the collector
is doubtful of its authenticity 1t runs:
This we're is sacred to the memory of
William Henry Sharaken, who came to
his death by bein' shot by Colts revolver,
one of the old kind. bras mounted. and Of
sutch is the kingdom of hevin:
a fragment of an epitaph that is a
jewel in its way. but which in its entirety
would have proven Il gem OF Du-aSt ray
from a collectors point OF view. was
found in Calvary cemetery. San Fran
cisco. It came from the grave of John
Devine. alias Chicken. who was hanged
i quarter of a century ago for the murder
OF August Ramp near Bay View He was
buried in the pauper'S plot on the western
side of the cemetery. and only the lOwly
cross Of the pauDer dead with the num-
Der sos was placed over him. In this
grave mark some genius inscribed in lead
pencil an epitaph, only two lines of which
survived a winters rains:
Chicken Devine got his neck broke
For killing of another blcke-
Surely these lines prove that the ex-
igencleS of rhyme do not necessarily drive
a poet from the path of hard unalterable
truth into the realms of fancy.
But this is not an eDitaDh of argonaut
days. The following also bears the ear
marks of later days but it is significant:
Epitaph on a rope used at Niger Tent.
Yuba count-:
Mute relic of the days of old
When juries were not bought with gold
And trees grew strong enough to hold
An ornery cuss till he was cold.
The above epitaDhs are selected from
several hundred which may be found in
Mr.. Wilson's collection. each one possess
ing its individual Characteristic. and
though probably open TO the charge Of
being absurd and ridiculous. they vet
possess = pecUliar ir crest giving q SILENT
ms ght as they do INTO he deeds. rnO-ght
and manners OF those who lived in Jne
rough and ready days of CALIFORNIA;
Golden age.