Cincinnatus Heine Miller

“ The whole country is a cloud of alkali dust—you are half-suffocated and wholly blinded—you shut your eyes and compress your lips—you hold your hat with both hands, lean resolutely against the wind, and bravely wait for it to go by. ”

“ Scott and English had reached a station on the road with their horses badly jaded. They were unknown to the keeper of the station, who had the Express-horses in charge; and not wishing to do violence to get a change of horses, resorted to strategy. They talked loudly to each other concerning the merits of their stock, and quietly telling the keeper they were connected with the Express, and were stocking the road— acting as road agents—ordered him to saddle the two best horses at the station, and take the best possible care of theirs till their return. ”

“ These women are not bad women. For my part, I begin to find so much that is evil in that which the world calls good, and so much that is good in what the world calls evil, that I refuse to draw a distinction where God has not." Then he fired a double-barreled volley at society through his nose, and throwing out volume after volume of smoke as a sort of redoubt between himself and the world he hated, drifted silently into a tropical, golden land of dreams. ”

“ English was a thick-set, powerful man, with black beard and commanding manner. One of his gray eyes appeared to be askew, but, other than that, he was a fine-looking man. He was usually goodnatured; but when roused, was terrible.
Scott was tall, slim, brown-haired, and had a face fine and delicate as a woman's. Both men, as well as their four followers —one of whom was once well known to circus -goers of California as Billy Peoples— were young.
Knowing their object, I asked them if Old Baboon had left camp. ”

“ Our trail had closed like a grave behind us, and our horses were now floundering helplessly in the snow. Again English struggled on; but at three in the evening, standing up to the waist in the snow beside his prostrate horse, he shouted for us to approach. We did so, but could scarcely see each other's faces as we pushed against the storm. We held our heads bowed and necks bent, as you have seen cattle at such times in a barnyard.
"H——'s to pay, boys! I tell you, h——'s to pay; and if we don't keep our heads level, we'll go up the flume like a spring salmon. ”

“ When the rope was around the neck of English, he was respectfully asked by his executioners to invoke his God. He held down his head a moment, muttered something, then straightened himself up, and turning to Scott, said:
"Nelse, pray for me a little, can't you, while I hang? D—— if I can pray."
He looked over to where Peoples sat, still as a stone, and continued, "D—— if I can pray, Billy; can you?"
Peoples died without a word or struggle. When they came to Scott, and put the rope about his neck, he was still praying most devoutly. ”

“ On the 3d day of December, in the fierce storm we read the prophecy of the fearful winter of 1862-3. Thousands of homeless and helpless men began to pour out over the horseshoe in the direction of Lewiston. Going into the camp late one night with the express, I met Baboon and his party quietly making their way over the mountain. Each man had a horse loaded with gold. Promising to return and overtake them, I rode on, and soon met a party headed by the notorious Dave English and Nelse Scott. ”

“ Every man seemed to have given up all hope, save this fierce man of iron. He moved as if in his element. He madea track in the snow around us, and kept constantly moving and shouting. In less than an hour we saw the good effects of his action: the animal heat from the horses warmed us as it rose.
Suddenly English ceased to shout, and uttered an oath of surprise. The storm had lifted like a curtain ”

“ But it will not go by; it increases in fierceness; it fills your hair and your nostrils with dust; it discharges volleys of little pebbles, flints, and quartz into your face till it smarts and bleeds, and then, all suddenly, goes down with the setting sun. ”

“ Here they found signs of game, and being entirely out of provisions, they determined to turn out their horses on the grass and replenish with their rifles. Baboon was left to keep camp. Their blankets were spread by a little spring stream that hugged a dénse growth of tamarack at the edge of the prairie. The prairie lay near the centre of an immense, snow-crested, horseshoe opening to the south, of about thirty miles in diameter. A farm on the Ohio could have produced as many "indications" to the California gold-hunter as the site of this camp ”

“ There is not truth enough in the United States to keep his tongue going forever as it does." One evening a young candidate told him he was going to make a speech, and very patronizingly asked him to come out and hear him. ”

“ That night was born the first Vigilance Committee of the north. It consisted of but six men, mostly Expressmen. About midnight, under pretense of furnishing the guard with refreshments, they got hold of their arms, and told the prisoners they must die. Scott asked time to pray; English swore furiously, but Peoples was silent. Soon one of the Vigilantes approached Scott ”