Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1902-07-10
Was The Hermit James Dunhamp

From a recent issue of the San Fran
cisco Examiner we take the following
sketch, which will be perused with
great interest by the REGISTERS read
ers, as it refers to the murderer of the
McGlincy family, who were known
here:
BOULDER CREEK, CAL, June 81.
On little plateau, in the heart of the
| Cowell timber lands, and inaccessible
except by artificial means, has been
! found a cabin which was vacated after
| May -. There are persons who believe
| that the occupant was James Dun
ham, the McGlincy murderer and fugi-
tive.
1t was on May % that II. Duval, fore
man in charge of the Cowell reservation,
was prospecting in the most difficult
part of the district. While casting
| about for timber he saw little column
| of smoke rising from level spot on the
| side of precipitous slope which fell
away to ravine some ninety feet deep.
| He recognized the spot as one which
the climbers had given up as impossible
of ascent. Thinking, however, that it
might be the lodge Of some hunter, he
| called across the ravine. No answer
was given, but the column of smoke
suddenly ceased to curl upwards. Du-
val then crossed around TO the norther-
| ly face of the plateau and arrived there
! lust in time to see the end of a rope lad
der being drawn up over the face of the
cliff. He fastened away, somewhat
startled, and said nothing about his dis
covery for several days.
1t was about a week later that Duval
took into his confidence Charles Hart
man, an old miner and now owner of a
road-house in the neighborhood, and
told him Of smoke that ceased TO rise
when mans eyes were turned toward
it. Together they raised a hunting
party and started to seek the man be-
hind the mysterious evidences of civil
ization.
The party reached the bottom Of the
cliff below the plateau, and found the
rope ladder in place. This time it hung
motionless. Hartman grasped it and
started to climb. When he had gone up
some twenty feet the ropes broke. Hart
man was picked up by the other mem
bers of the party and taken home. He
had been quite seriously bruised.
Then the explorers returned, this time
armed with hatchets and iron pegs. a
series of steps was cut in the rock, and
the party arrived in safety upon the
plateau.
The entire plateau, which is about
quarter of mile wide, is covered with
dense growth Of chaparral from six to
nine feet high, and it was only by crawl
ing on ones hands and knees through a
couple of hundred yards Of an almost
tropical underground that the home OF
the hermit was found. 1t was a cabin,
situated in a slight depression in the
ground, made of rough-hewn slabs, and
painted a vivid green, that harmonized
perfectly with the surroundings, max
ing it impossible Of discovery at dis
lance. The door was broken in but no
one was found. Inside everything was
in perfect order. The contents includ-
ed gasoline stove and oven, flour and
canned fruits, a couple Of dead quail
and Il rabbit For reading matter there
were a number Of interesting books and
complete file of the San Francisco
Examiner, containing accounts of the
Durham murders, and continuing from
that time until May q, the day on
which Duval disturbed the occupant Of
the cabin on the cliff