The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-02
THE CAMP REDEEMED ITS noNoR
Last Survivors, story or the Man who Was
Buried Twice In One Grave.

Buried Twice In Ono Grave.
Not many miles west Of what is known as the
continental divide. on the line of the Great
Northern Railroad, there is. or was. a few years
ago a rock that marks the place where n name
less man is buried. An X inartistically chiselled
was the only mark on the stone for a long time.
Fewer than a dozen men knew what 1t meant,
and that number has been reduced.
Ten years ago n stage driver pointed 1t out to
the writer and said:
lie was planted twict."
The driver shut up after this delivcrance. and
1t was only three years ago that ono OF the
planters" told the story to n lawyer who had
been retained to make out the planters" last
will. and the lawyer told it at a private dinner
on Christmas eve. unaware that one of the
company had seen the place where the name
less dead was held down by n mountain boulder.
A mining camp. not unlike others. is the start
ing point. One of the miners. as is usually tho
case, was a mysterious fellow who was n filter.
He would be in camp two months and then dis
appear. After he had knocked out the teeth of
a curious miner no one ~venturcd to ask him
after that where he had been. He was never
seen under the influence of liquor. He refused
to sit in at the game, but was often appealed to
as referee.
One morning he did not come up to breakfast.
He was found back of a cabin, his face turned
down on one arm. " ncn NO ulu not TcSpUnu Ii
caller reversed the body with his boot, and saw
that the mysterious man was dead. That which
caused the most comment in the camp was that
one Of their number should have died naturally
and quietly. Contrary to the custom, the body
lay where it was found three days. One or the
camp remained on watch. But there was not a
man in the camp who could have told why tho
body was Kept. Ono OF the number had sug-
gcsted it, and IL was agreed to.
At the close OF the third day the body was car
ried to n grave that had been made on the sido
OF a mountain. About it g~listened the everlast-
ing snow. below it were valleys and streams
and blooms. The body was strapped TO a board
and carried on the mems shoulders. It was put
in the grave and the earth was rounded above
1t by the hands of some of the camp, The mon
returned to the gulch. and that night there was
no game. There Vas no talk. at least none
about the missing man.
The usual routine was renewed the following
day. and it continued until some of the trees ON
the mountains were brown and the SHOWS ON
Of th .Ri Season a fbSupckboard rumbicd into camp:
The occupants were a woman and a boy. III
the memory OF the man Who to!G the lawyer
to be believed, as lawyers nlar, often be. me
woman was "as purty as me country az
talkin'." She was the first vision Of the kind
that had ever come to me camp; dhorG was
East often read. The men stood bareheadeo
and bowed.
had had the most trouble. No one moved for .
minute. The man who did speak finally asked'
- hat KIND OF tTOublc 7
The woman asked, Has any ono of you lost .
The spokesman replied, lost one. Ican's
say nOthin' about these men,
The result of this breaking Of the ice" was
that the woman and the man retired to one OF
the cabins and conferred. When it was over
the woman and the man walked away together
up tho mountain to the grave of the mysterious
man. Those who remained in camp looked into
the cabin where the conference had taken place
and shifted the atmosphere That stlli retained
a bit of perfume TO which they were nnaccus-
Toned. hui which was grateful 10 tnelF Stnbeos
Tho boy who had driven the buckhonrh was noe
ggi%zGd; rs he you'd have hay, oy vcnn si In SSIn a places
The woman and the man returned, ana al.
though the day was done and the night w a
woman climbed uIon tho puckooard, ana tho
n9y drove Gway; M9t d,g 9n ~ m me noise stir OF the rbs
man who had lost ono wife called the men ABOUT
""Tiaii lis wilder" pointing in the direction
THAT accounts for his bein' away 30 much"
"Thnts what orter accounted for his bein'
away so much. but reckon you're playin 10
wrong said the man who had the secret:
We'll. what WAS itf asked tho man who had
'|"Thcr. ]coUidn't berbut one thing, could theri
diIn'T 10 10 SEQ her when he was away on them
long trim, Of his'n. why.-you don't spose he
hi statciiGon' went to the, bottom. There
"Did he leave her any pay.dirtF
which one 90 you meant
The wilder, course"
"Not a 500; Didn't give her er1ngh to uANA
q hroH-tpin."
And We buried him as II he was white ana
sQuAr''. -, W.
was huncoed by the diseased, said a man who
had remained silent,
81 far ~ any stranger in the camp might have
believed, The campers turned in upon their
hunks.
The next morning the body of a man whose
clulic, wore widowed danglcd from the limb
OF a tree which had Swallowed "A grave on tho
side of the mountain. The grave was empty.
when lholo.y was cut down IL VAS put back
whence Il WIS taken and = stone rolled upon
IL on which some one chiscllCi an y.
The mln "nO made his last VIII to the law.
yer" was tho last survivor OF the cAny' whLoh
had redeemed Its honor.