The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-09-22

in, on the food n committed an aW-
tai crime 20 get.
The circuit Of tie desert tramps who
START out from Ea--ett frequently runs
entirely around u~a,t Valley. From
Da42ett they 20 out t. tie China Ranch
or to Rest az Springs, thence on
across low laya hills into the Furnace
C"aaE coualry and down to the old
/ tor..N works at the north end of the
/ r&,l =. From there il is d short and
+ comparatively safe hike of couple
+ Of hant1ed miles into some one OF
/ Inc mining camps. 50 that their tramp,
all to!i, reaches very close to three
and sometimes four hundred miles
| On this Journey water holes are far
apart and very uncertain. ranches are
scattered and the network of trails so
interviewer by the feet of prospectors
and OF burros that they become a veri-
table maze to the man who does not
keep close watch on them year by
year. TO make this circuit requires
ar least nine months of the year-from
late September or October to the last
as has been said the tramp loafs
around some border town, where he
has to behave himself: ropes and tele-
graph poles and willing men are toe
near at hand for the committing OF
crimes
1t is the lonely ranches on the des-
ert that suffer most from this class
Of wanderers. Coming to the ranch
house they insolently demand food and
clothing, and they get it, too. If they
Go not the haystack is burned that
night, or even the house is set on fire.
If the family depends on a spring OF
water. as likely as not the water hole
vii! be filled with stones and earth:
frequently springs along the trail are
so treated when the tramp thinks that
one OF his enemies is likely to pass
that way in the near future and de-
pend on the presence of water in the
tank for himself and his stock
One incident of this kind may be
told to illustrate the devilsh schemes
these fellows cOncoct. A new manager
was sent to the boraX plant on the
northern rim of Death Valley He was
most excellent man for the work in
hand, but he knew nothing of the peo-
pie with whom he was to deal, and the
first tramp who came along was rough
ly ordered to get out and stay out"
Now the road over which the borate
from this particular plant was hauled
to the refinery was long and dry, and
the company had placed wooden tanks
at necessary intervals, keeping them
1illed with water and depending on
them for the use of the wagon teams
and their drivers. The tramp. an
sered and revengeful at his treatment.
set out along this road and for one
hundred miles emptied every tank. The
result can better be imagined than de-
scrlbed; the next wagon train out, two
huge desert wagons, drawn by twenty
mules and handled by two men COM
ing to the first tank and finding nc
water pushed on to the next; by the
time they reached that the men were
well nigh crazed with thirst, but nc
water awaited them there, and on they
dragged their weary bodies, until it is
presumed, abandoning the team, they
away and died
The wagons and the mules, the lat
ter quite dead, were found two weeks
later, but not even the skeletons OF
the men were ever SEEN The desert
keeps its secrets better than the sea
and this was one OF them. Men fol-
lowed the tramp. some say he was
taught. The men who followed him
still live on the desert l have seen
one Of them, but none can remember
whether they caught this particular
ramp or not. Possibly pile of bones
Gould tell if it could speak. for short
'hrift is melted to the man, be he
ramp or mine owner, who NEEDLES
With water on the desert. More val.
liable than gold it is. and worth many
human lives when thrown in the bal
lnce.
On the desert, too, there is another
lind of tramp, by no means Grim.
nal, and yet one of the most interest.
ng characters Of the whole west-the
ramp prospector. He makes the east.
st living of any man in the world, not
the promoter of wildcat
nines And, like the promoter. he
ives by fleeing the credulous. The
ramp prospector is forever discover
ng fabulously rich prospect. Bacl
rom the heart Of the desert he comes
aden with samples, supposedly from
is new discovery but really picked VI
n the dump of some established mine
armed with these it is little trouble
or him to enlist the help of some mar
nth more money than knowledge Of
he desert to deYelQn the "minan