Show CASTAWAY A Skeleton 1 Found in the jft olitllde fc a 4 of the Desert I I EDITOR HERALD A few days ago while traveling over the trackless track-less expanse of the American Desert about 50 feet from the surveyed i sur-veyed line of the Salt Lake S Western Railroad about fifteen miles from Fish Springs between the north end of Dugaway Mountain Moun-tain and the north end of the Fish Spring Canyon I came unexpectedly unexpect-edly across a strange object On close inspection I found it to be the remains of a young man The sudden discovery had a very startling effect upon myself and my companions who soon gathered around the lonely spot where lay the last of the mortal coil of a human being who must have perished in dreadful agonies tortured by hunger hun-ger and driven to despair by thirst The osseous frame of the nun was bleached to showy whiteness as were the clothes found on and about the skeleton In the coat we found besides numerous papers and letters a tooth brush lookingglass lead pencil razor and quite a number of pocket trinkets On unfolding the papers which were rendered quite brittle by exposure ex-posure and age and the writing on which partly in lead pencil partly in ink was almost illegible we came across piteous appeals of the wretched wretch-ed castaway in the inhospitable solitude sol-itude tender summons for succor in his helpless destitution Some of these cries from the depths of misery appeared to be directed to the address ad-dress of a lady presumably his wife Her name was given as Jane Badger Fairplay PO Grant county coun-ty Wis Some of the writing conveys the impression that the one who penned it was then laboring under the ban of that fearful mental derangement which is brought on by the torments of unqenched thirst and general privation combined with the horrors hor-rors of being thrown far away from all civilization One of the papers is a receipted bill and bears the only date furnishing furnish-ing a possible clue to the discovery of the identity of the victim of isolation iso-lation It is the year 1S63 which indicates that the remains must have lain there nearly a score of years unknown unwept unsung DF SALT MARSH Nov 12 Ofden Herald |