Los Angeles herald., 1908-08-17
RANCHER MEETS
FEARFUL DEATH
ON THE DESERT
FAMILY SAVED BY HERMIT
FROM LIKE FATE
WIFE GUARDS CORPSE AGAINST
COYOTES ONSLAUGHT
Little Child, Aged q, Travels Across
Burning Sands and Saves Life
of Sole Remaining
Horse

Charles S. Wilson, prominent young
Los Angeles attorney, who has just re-
turned from the Imperial valley coun-
try. brings a narrowing and tragic ac-
count of the death near Coyote wells
of Robert Pulley of Riverside, who,
with his wife and two little children,
suffered one of the most terrible ex-
periences that has ever befallen
nomad of the desert.
According to Mr.. wilson, Pulley
traded his home in Riverside for
melon ranch at Ell Centro, where, as II
was represented to him, he, like many
other melon raisers, could soon make
his fortune from the fertile lands. But
Pulley, it is said, like many others,
failed to ms ke the promised fortune,
for, although the Ell Centre region is
considered one of the finest melon
countries in the world, there have been
so many melons raised there the last
two seasons that the over-production
has reduced prices to a minimum.
The seasons crop netted him but
little, and, disheartened and money
less, Pulley managed to trade off some
of his ranch belongings for a wagon
and two horses. Equipping the outfit
with barely enough food, hay and water
to last him across the desert, he started
back to Riverside, where he hoped
again to recuperate his vanished pos
sessions. OF water Pulley could carry
only enough to last him from one
desert well to another, or what could
be held in two barrels, one strapped on
each side of his covered wagon.
Looking eagerly forward to their ar
rival in Riverside, though dreading the
horrors of the slow journey across the
desert in the terrible heat of the
August sun, the family settled them
selves In the wagon and the rather,
on the wagon seat with his Oldest
child, boy about 9 years old, started
the team at snaillike pace through the
scorching heat and binding sands.
Victim of Neglect
Pulley was another victim of the
wretched neglect of which Southern
California has been guilty in failing to
furnish guide posts for the desert" said
Mr., Wilson. HAD there been signs
along the way to direct him he never
would have perished, and his family
would not have suffered from the fear
full experiences that followed. But
there were no signs-no guiding posts
to warn him of the terrible dangers to
his right or left-nothing by which he
might ascertain his way to any of the
many wells with which the desert is
plentifully supplied, If travellers only
could locate them.
att was a o'clock in the morning when
the ill-fated Pulley family left Ell Cen
tro They Travelled until a. M, when
they arrived at a sort of oasis, where
their water barrels were filled, and
they were compelled to rest until the
fierce heat had subsided. Then they
continued on their journey.
Neither the horses nor the drivers
were familiar with the desert, or In any
degree accustomed to its terrible heat;
hence ignorance of what they were
venturing into, of course, was parity
responsible for what resulted.
"Pully was a strong man and his
horses were big and powerful, so there
was no fear concerning his safety. Set
tiers at his last stop begged him TO
take extra water and warned MN OF
what might follow, but he refused con-
fidently. They directed him to Coyote
wells. as clearly as they could, but
directions on the desert, especially
when one has no compass, are merely
bewildering.
Horses Break Down
"From the time Pulley replenished his
water barrels at the last stop until
death overlook him, the suns neat
seemed to pursue him with added ven
geance. The horses, within few
hours, according to the subsequent
story of the wife, became but skin and
bones, emaciated to an almost in
credible degree by the intensity of the
heat and several times fell down IN
their harness; so pulley was compelled
frequently-much too frequently-to
give them water. They were strengtn-
ened for short time and managed to
null their load little farther, but,
with the family, they had consumed
the last of the water. The father be-
leved he was much closer to the wells
than was the case.
''He was off his course several miles.
Ahead of him lay the great Sahara
sand-stretches of the southwest-white
and dazzling to the eye, with the heat
waves dancing in undulating currents
against the colorless horizon. In the
hot parched earth at his feet even the
reptiles of the desert painted amid the
semi shade OF the Wltnered cactus ana
yucca stubs.
s'Then, suddenly, the horses fell
again, and he was compelled to remove
the harness. After some effort, the
animals managed to stand up, and fin
ally, getting what he supposed were his
bearings. Pulley started to lead the
team toward Coyote Wells but went in
an almost opposite direction.
mot far from this fatal point, where
the desert is almost as formidable as
the awful vastness of Death valley,
many skeletons of men have been
found bleaching on the white sands,
and many have perished and been
buried under the drifts by the autumn
winds, never to be seen again. All this
because the people of California have
neglected TO place sign posts Wnlcn VIII
guide the famished travellers to the va
rious watering places.
''In the heart of this deathlike land,
about mile from where Pulley's wag-
on stopped for the last time, and ad-
joining the little oasis known as Coyote
Wells, lives one of the most interesting
characters of the desert, hermit
homesteader named Charles o. Hamp-
ton, who knows the region like book,
from years of residence there. He has
a most picturesque homestead and
cabin, and enjoys the distinction of
having saved probably more human
lives than any other man in the world.
His only company is team of horses,
the rowing bands of coyotes which
haunt the vicinity of the wells and the
desert reptiles.
Hermit Goes to Rescue
"Peering from the door of his cabin,
which was almost against the sun and
N such position that 1t was not seen
rDme~