The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-06-24
Stxan9esf CragedymMab' sBisfory

On Saturday, May %. ]. P Walsh. an
attorney, left Vernal, Utah, with a
mule and a cart. for Goff's ranch,
forty-five miles distant On June 4 his
dead body was found within six miles
of his destination. He had lost his
way and for four days had wandered
over the rugged country in the burning
sun, without food or water. He lived
for several days after he became too
weak to walk and died from thirst and
hunger.
Because of the peculiar circumstances
surrounding the case, it may be safely
said that the tragic death of the young
attorney, J. P Walsh, in the desolate
breaks between Green and White riv-
ers, has no parallel in the history of
Utah.
There is romance interviewer in the
sad tale, too, that makes it one of pc
culiar fascination and coupled with the
fate that seemed to direct the unfOrtu
nate man, keeps it alive in the minds
of many who. strive as they will, can
not Danish from their minds eye the
awful picture of this man in the morn
ing of his manhood wandering alone,
growing weaker every day from the
burning thirst and gnawing hunger I'M
til his footsteps became feebler and
feebler, until finally, after one last des-
perate struggle, he lay him down to rise
no more.
There is an added fascination in the
fact that all around the unfortunate
man and in easy distance was life.
Time and again his footsteps turned
toward that which meant his salvation,
but in every instance that awful fate
that seemed to lead him on turned him
from his course until finally, mad and
delirious from his awful sufferings, he
wandered aimlessIy to and fro, as a
soul lost in the wilderness of despair.
One can but imagine the feeling of
horror that was experienced by poor
Walsh when he began to realize that he
was doomed to die the most awful
friends who could have been at his side
in an hour.
1t is doubtful if the same tragedy
could happen again in a thousand years
even though a thousand men were lost
in the same section during that time.
There were men on horseback riding
through the country. Two teams passed
directly across the unfortunate mans
trail. Once he was within a mile and
a half of a prospectOr's camp. Several
times he was only a short distance
-
very, very near his destination at the
Golf ranch, as the diagram will show.
over at the Golf ranch was a lady to
whom Walsh was said to have been de-
vOtedly attached and dame rumOr had
it that the two were looking forward to
a happy union some time. There was
one thing stood between them-a hus-
band from whom the lady had no legal
separation. 1t was to see her that he
left VernaI on that Saturday morning,
no doubt to discuss their future plans
and prospects.
There is something very strange in it
all. Once the rescue party was within
thirty steps Of where the poor fellow
lay on the day before he was found.
Up till within a few hundred yards of
this spot there had been outriders
whose duty it was to look into every
place that afforded shade. What fate
was it that impelled these outriders to
just at that particular time ride away
to the wagon for water and not return
until the weary trailers were a long
way beyond where poor Walsh lay?
What was it that restrained the two
tired men who were patiently following
his winding footsteps from raising their
eyes at the particular time when he
could have been seen? There are many
who are of the opinion that he was still
alive, but helpless at that time. At one
point in the trail he could have been
seen but it was not to be, and the tired
reScuers plOdded on, little dreaming
that after many windings, covering
many miles, the trail would bring them
back to the same spot almost, where
the unfortunate man was then lying.
On the third day, which was Monday
the outlaws who were fleeing from the
scene of the Hill creek tragedy crossed
directly over the trail of the lost man,
and when he laid down on that night
the Vernal posse was camped at the K
ranch.
Ed. Coltharp, of Rangely, was riding
through the very hills where Walsh
was wandering to and fro, watching for
traces of the outlaws. This was on
Monday also. He saw the cart that
Walsh left on the second night, his
mule having left him during that night.
|Coltharp wondered at the cart, but little
dreamed what it meant And thus it
was from beginning to end. There
seemed no salvation. Poor Walsh was
doomed to perish alone, although help
was all around him.
Doomed to perish between two rivers
where every road and every wash led
to water. Had he mounted his mule
on the second day, the thirsty animal
would have taken him TO water in an
hour. A man accustomed to the Bad
Lands would if placed in the same