Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1898-07-04
bAzrD ON THE DESERT
A Man Dies Of Thirst within One Hundr
aud Fifty Yards of y Lake of Fresh watai

A Man Dies Of Thirst within One Hundred
and Fifty Yards of y Lake of Fresh Water.
On the burning sands of Cocopah des-
ert beside lake that appears to be of
the coolest and the purest of fresh wa
ter lie the bones Of All American who
died Of thirst, and around him are FIVE
or six holes of two or three feot in depth,
which he dug with lis finger nails In
frenzy of thirst His fingers are worn
of at the ends, and only bis whitening
bones are left to boar witness to the
tragedy.
Jose Garcia, who makes living by
peddling from one little camp to anoth-
or ON the desert, has returned from q
trip which began on Aug. 20. He left
hero at that time and engaged a guide
at the new placer camp at Los Picachos,
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
Pioaohos 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
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 side of Great Salt lake, or
Laguna Salada, that lies between the
Cooopah mountains on the east and the
Painted mountains ON the west. The
lake is about six miles wide and 30 OF
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 southwark
between the lake and Cocopahs for
distance of ten miles or SO and there en-
countered two Mexioans 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 Cooopah placers some weeks ago.
Garcia continues the story as follows:
1.-THE men came from Los Picaohos by
way Of Mil 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 drunken man. He paid no
attention to my guide, and we had to
lay hold Of him to make him drink. In
q few hours he was all right The 9TH
ers were in their right minds, but In a
terrible condition, and as 1 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 l think of 1t.
We gave them water, and they soon re-
vfved and continued ON their way. They
were burdened with a dry washer and
many tools and moved slowly, so we
left them, my guide giving them direo-
tions where to find the next water.
"a few miles farther we came upon
the bones Of man lying stark ON the
sand about 20 yards from the lake.
There was no flesh left The coyotes had
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 q blue jumper. q red
woolen undershirt, one boot and brown
slouoh 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 greenbaok. There was nothing else to
identify the body. The boot was about
q No. 9, and the man did not seem to
have been large
MILK m HOT WEATHER.