The Delawarean., 1900-08-18
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! ROSE OF WASHOE.
BY NJ. QUAD.
COPYRIGHT, 1900, BT c. Il. LEWIS.
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One day in the early spring a pio-
neer's wagon approached within mile
of Black Hill diggings and a rough
looking man got out and started to
climb the trail. He was vet half Il
mile away when he fell down exhaust
ed, and half dozen miners hurried
down TO succor him. He struggled up
before they reached him, and waving
them back, he shouted:
Don't come near me, for I've got
smallpox, but for Gods sake bring me
some provisions! Me and my gal hev
not had bite to eat fur these two
daysr'
Smallpox was the dread of the
camps. When a miner was taken
down with the loathsome disease, he
was as good as dead. The miners stop
ped dead in their tracks as they heard
the pioneers words, and after a brief
consultation he was warned to remain
where he was while they returned and
gathered up liberal lot of provisions.
These were placed ON the trail, and
when he had picked them up they
threatened him with their pistols to
hurry him away. The man neither re-
turned thanks nor berated them for
their seeming harshness. They saw
him reach his wagon, they saw him
feebly climb up beside a child on the
seat, and when the vehicle slowly roll
ed on they heaved sighs Of relief That
night Joe of Washoe arrived at Black
Hill. 1t was dark, with cold rain fall
ing, when he heard of the incident of
the day. His face went stern and his
eyes grew hard as the story was told,
and when it was finished he rose up
and asked:
did the man say thar was a gal
with him 2"
Yes"
"And you saw her in the wagon?
"Yes."
"And you driv 'em off to die when
you could hev lowed 'em to camp at
the foot of the hill! If that's the kind
o. men you ar at Black Hill, 1 want to
git out quick"
'But it is smallpox" persisted one
of the men.
"NIore's the pity. Think o. that sick
man drivin away with that leetle gal
alongside @ him-drivin away to his
death! There may hey bin n wife and
mother-other children. AIebbe they
was dead in the wagon. Men, you did
a cruel, wicked thingr'
But think of the 90 men the small
poX took out O. the camp at Red Rock
last fallv'
'But l amt thinkin O. that. I'm
thinkin O. man drivin off to die, with
a leetle gal sittin up alongside o. himl'
He packed up some provisions, rolled
up his blankets, and, picking up a wa
ter jug and his rifle, he said
I'm goin to overhaul 'em and stand
by 'em unless find both dead"'
A score of protests We're hurled at
him, but the man stepped forth into
the black night without a word in re-
ply and almost instantly disappeared
from sight. At noon next day the wag-
on reappeared. Joe of Washoe was
driving, and on the seat beside him was
a child. When the wagon halted, he
Embarrassed and turned loose the
horses, made a fire, and then climbing
half way up the hill, he called to the
men 20 rods above him:
'When l found the wagon last night.
the man was dead and the leetle gal
was prayin to God. Thar was a moth
er and two more children. but they ar
dead. Don't come a-nigh us. The leetle
gals touched, and I'm sure to come
down.
That night the fever came to the
child, and men who crept down the
trail heard her crying out and heard
Joe talking and singing to her. The
next day he reported her as dreadfully
sick, and so it went on for days and
days. 1t was time for him to develop
the disease, and each morning as the
men crept down the trail to leave pro-
visions on the fiat rock they feared he
would not show up. But, strangely
enough, the danger passed him by.
One morning, when he stood up on the
wagon with the girl in his arms, it was
taken as a sign that the crisis had
passed, and 300 men gathered on the
hill above and cheered the pair. 1t
was a week after that when he set fire
to the wagon, called for fresh clothes
and came up the trail into camp with
the girl wrapped in a blanket. No
body was permitted even to see the tip
of her nose until she had been dressed
up as a boy from old garments cut
over. Thea she was placed on the
head of a, barrel in the center Of camp
and half the men cheered and the other
half wept She was girl of about Z,
pale and wan from her sickness, but
there was never pit or scar to show
how she had suffered. By that we
knew thirt> Joe of Washoe had watched
over her with more than a fathers
care. She was fatherless and mother
less among strangers. Fright and i'll |
mess had so benumbed her brain that |
she could remember nothing, not even |
the family name. She said that they |
had Travelled for days and days, but |
from whence she could not tell The |