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

Walter ]. Thompson. in San Francisco
Chronicle: 1t has osen said by some stu
dent of the melancholy theme that ninety
nine out of every hundred epItaphs that
have been written are not only serious
whatever the intentions of the writer's
were-but they are nonsensical and aD-
surd.
Cynically critical and exaggerated as
this statement may seem in connection
with a subject so closely allied to the ten
derest feelings of the human heart, there
is considerable truth in it, Cad il could
not be better eXemplified than by some
samples of these silent testimonials of
worth. or unworth. that have been per-
petrated in our own state. especially dur
ing the period known as the early DAYS"
Funeral ceremonies in those times were
woefully lacking in pomp ana impressive
ness, but grave-ooards and epitaphs were
strongly in evidence
Even he who was weighed with his
crime in the scales of justice. and found
wanting. If punished with the extreme
penalty was usually given a post mOrtem
send-off. obviously eulogistic though il
were. written probably by one of the
brawny hands that had assisted in haul
ing the fatal rope. But the monuments
placed over the last resting places of
those who fell under deaths ban in the
mad golden days were not of enduring
granite or imDerishable marble. Being
rough and rude in make and design most
Of them We're soon displaced by the ele-
ments or the careless hand of an irrever-
ent stranger. and their uniquely original
insert DtiOns became as lost to the world
as were those whose memory they COM
memorated.
Many yet remain either in their original
locations or preserved in the memories of
those who still survive the good old
days Some fairly good specimens of
these grewsome literary CD efforts of
bySone generation have been preserved
by Charles Wilson. an old miner himself
and now a resident of Santa Clara coun-
". For years he has INDUCED an odd
mortality" hobby of gathering these relics
rod ~rrre
his own memory and some he Eathered in
the course of prospecting tours and in
other ways. until his collection fills a
goOd-siZed scrap album-a priceless vol
ume. too. in the old chaps estima-
ton.
One of these treasures which Mr.. VIII
pasted in his album. for the good and
sufficient reason that it is a board about
two feet long by one foot wide. II has
been broken off al one end and has such
a weather-beaten and disTeputable ap-
Deararcc that 2 casual observer would
wonder why it had not long ago been
converted into kinding wood instead of
being hung up by a fancy ribbon on a
sittingroom wall.
A close inspection, however shows a
variety of deep scratches on one side, and
they can be deciphered to read:
This board was raised to mark the spot
Where Greaser Manuel was shot
a loaded shotgun s the tool:
Jacob Deadman, for the committee.
This graveboard was picked up on the
banks of the TuOlumne river over. 10 years
ago. 1t had been washed down from some
lons-forgotten grave. and tells its own
unvarnished tale of justice mated out in
miner fashion.
Another similar scene of trouble in
camp. although probably of another kind,
is outlined in the following. which was
copied from a wooden testimonial in Fl
Dorado county:
Camp Fairplay. June p 1851.
Nicholas Adams-five-ace card player
age unknown.
Underneath this. in another handwrit-
ing. was the following Kiplirgesque
verse:
Nick Adams lies here,
a gambler born.
Wiped ous by Judge Lynch
One fair summer morn
All OF which would apparently go to
show th.t there were others besides the
immortal but unfortunate An Sin who
tried to play II low down on the boys in
games o. chance.
An eaitath which still stands over
lonely mountain grave in Calaveras coun-
~ reads:
Beneath this dirt there lies some bones.
They're al that's left OF Simon .Tores:
He came out west to dig for gold
But only found SIX feet of mould.
j. G. H., 1854.
II was not always the vigilance commit
tee or injured miner that dealt out Justice
to eVil-dOers then. as is shown by an epi-
who was inclined to mix Ii
baldry (unoriginal at that with religious
sentiment:
To the memory of Patrick Flahertv.
drowned in the American river MAY 10
1858, while trying To escape from John An
derson and six others. lie vas accused
of stealing gold dust Lei God judge hlmi
Ashes to ashcs and Gust 10 dust
If the Lord won't have him the devil
mast
Want OF educational advantages and the
proper sort Of sa ear for rhythm often
handicapped an honest effort TO carry out
mans Unborn prediction to fold a poet-
ical mantle about deaths grisly mystery.
Full as the following is of power 10 CAUSE
a strangers rislbles 10 set into action.
there can he 70 question as 20 the sin
cerity which inspired the crude COMPOST
ton:
Sacred to the memory of James Mead
ows.
To make his pile poor. jim came all the
way from Maine r'---