Durango semi-weekly herald., 1905-03-23
BURIED HIS MONEY.

There have been white men living
among the Yakima indians out in
| Washington great many years, gen.
orally old hunters and trappers who
went into TIE country and married
indian wives long before civilization
crept over the mountains. One oi
these, old Joe Towser, was a celebral.
ed character. Hs had been hunter.
trapper miner aud scout In his time
was OF avaricious and miserly dispo-
sition and had the reputation of being
very rich. lie had plenty of nors &
and cattle. but most of his wealth was
in gold and silver coin, which he bur.
| led in glass Jars and bottles around
his farm Joe could not read, aud the
limit OF his literary attainments was
| 10 sign his name This accompli IL
| ment finally led to ais destruction. Tor
| ne was induced to go on the bond OF
the sherin OF the county II was the
hrst time Joe had ever signed a tlnan
cial obligation OF any kind and ne did
that when be was drunk The sherin
proved dctaulter for y2U. 600 or sIH
| oou. and wnen Joe learned that he
was expected to make up The dehcicn.
cy he He'd
No one knew where he went. bui
from the tales he told after his re-
turn, several years later. 1t was in-
terred that he wandered first over
into the Idaho mines, thence to Colo
RADIO and Arizona and as far south as
Mexico. but Joe came back con
irmed drunkard and never worked
any more Occasionally ne went
hunting. and would be gone in the
woods several days At time. with no
companion but his dog He always
returned when mis- supply OF whskey
gave out.
one day he went on on one of these
trips and never came back In cou-
pie of weeks his dog returned alone
nearly starved Although the poor
brute could tell no tales OF ais mas
ter. II was assumed that Joe had met
with some misfortune. and q party ol
neigbhors went out to look for him
Ine search was in vain; not even
trace OF the Old hunter could be found
But when spring came the mystery
was solved. a hunting party acct
dentally found Joe's body lying under
the shelter OF some logs In the noun
,ains, wrapped in blankets, and n
raw bearsldn. evidently the hide oi
an animal he had killed.
No bones were broken, and there
was no sign on mis- body OF a wound
so 1t Ia believed that he died OF pneu
monia or congestiye chills, to which
he mad been subject. He had eyi-
could gather fuel; two whiskey bot
ties were on the ground beside him
empty; mis- pipe, half full of ashes,
was in his pocket, together with plen-
~ OF tobacco. and he mad taken one
OF his stockings on his foot and tied
IL around his neck, which Is com
mon remedy among frontiersmen for
sore throat or bad cold. There were
no signs OF food near him, but tnat
did not signify anything, for the dog
would have eaten II and carried on
tne bones II was considered rather
strange that the body VIZ untouched
by animals or birds of prey. which
are plenty in those mountains, but II
had not been disturbed since old Joe
mad wrapped his blankets around him
and then crawled under the bearskin
to protect his body from an unnatural
cold.
Nobody knows wnere Joe's money
Is buried-not even his squaw wife;
poor, miserable creature who was
nothing more than his slave but she
has had sense enough to nire law
yer to protect her from the sharks
that would ike to plow mp the place
In search of the glass Jars and bot
ties that held old Joe Towser's for
tune.