The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 31, 1899, Page 5

1 THE UNDAY CALL. Fode a Cyc/one for Ohree Quarters of a Yle and Lived to Oell the Gale o ‘Fer God's sake, is aay of v The letters and things were out in the 4 alive?’ For answ 1 some he woods, alongside of a nelghbor's was stickin’ out of the machine was Mr Mr “It took us quite a while to realize we were alive—and when I got to a neigh- bor's who had escaped, an’ looked into the blowed to. mirror 1 found myselt almost »oard didn’t the »ol-marm who w was mis N and dic T expec live ee months my halr was as = again, soon all is now. I was only . and I am standin’ t % volce thirty-eight now, and I have got no right coming’ from a pile that to sech a head of hair as thie. Y'u can the cyclone had st up for us, and see for yourself!” there she was, not hur mite. but fenced His hat came off with a sweep, disclos- and rails plled ing a closely cropped but almost perfectly It was s ¥ miracu- white hcad of hair, as fenced in there, and “It was the nervous strain, I suppese,” Pt a sprained ankle he said, “but there is one thing about 28— s ba t w . whole 1 OSQU a flock of . bunch of 'em layin' t n ground dead. STAND ) “We also found s v t y in STAND PL e way w FRNOWS b, ¥ € K there W€ but but e " evele was a rror C # l never stor t L gan and lost N “You needn no m much yc in writi be 4 \ vaen In the Center of the Storm. A / P R R wa he 1 mewhat begin to pelt me—it was the hail. Without e exaggeration, them hallstones war as big ; ¢ s was not disturbed goose-eggs, and some of ‘em bigger £ ks bork s A ey didn’'t come very thick, tho'. and 7 P 3 3 It when I bad two hi 1 -, ¥ ¢ knew enough to reall < * me on the top of the A ) K een all off, so I put my arms over my a® ¥ 1 k ¥ . x head, and nc sooner had I done so than t t 1 hailstone hit one of my hands I perfe ver my temple, and it broke one of ; TalBN b my fingers, split it wide open and ‘ : . N he 1 thar's the scar t wdown she g ONET 2 b = was—a long ugly k w ' 2 : 1 SRR £ lik the length of the 0 m 1 wou o - al, nex’ thing 1 knew, 1t come rt i rw 1 ! nbows turred Into a mass of dirt and f e o were boards, and waggin-wheels and thing=— } s t iy o nd 1 got a free ride of three-quarters of I never got the f ’ een ] thinxo &K s ity g0 a mile It must &' took some time. I - o ¥ : )3 b e A t was only conscious of being picked = T T 4 ¢ 1 gh. like a feather, and violently throwr : t again I couldn’ see anything, b aring 1 had my eyes shet had to for the the nex' thing I knew und, and went right dow 4 slush—sc th wa'nt m jone to me. 1 w th carri>d aw mud up to my knees ticed a funr A t xt 1 much the worse for my 1itt) tieal wheels, t K I w nt. 1 was kind of su the wheels appe 1 P " " ined, I think. When I knew t | spokes twisted off right tir 0 rour g t 1 look around, 1 see a great chg b around, and the hub was perfeckly un- one of { I was a K clone was tearin gre harme 1d the wheels on the of s K w W ©c that 1 a there wa'nt a hous SN TSR e saw Everything was swep’ away as n- a whistle, ‘cept the big barn o there lone—it had been built str aad et the cyclone just took the roof « S — only the shingles: it left the r and It was singular t bre substitoot it fed. There wa e, and the haystack bodily and put on in place of ngles, as even and nice as a bry I made for that barn, and when I passed by wh d been the hc t was a pile of ruins—and a very small pile n' at that. 1 was half crazy, and I yelled fuz?{y or //ot 52117{3/? 7wenty Years m San Quentin and Death at Last for a Survwor of the Famous Fremont & xpedition. a Frank Calmel said the gun was exploded n. by an accldentel touching of his t nt-it was against the hammer of the gun which he | . nusual cere- had dragged behind him A : {Te paced n The verdict of the law was enforced and the accused was sentenced to imprison- ment for so many years as he should live. The number chanced to be twenty. ; The other sixty years of Frank Cal- el's life were replete with historic ad ntures. He was a Frenchman. and at Age of 11 went into the French revo- tion as a drummer-boy, In the days of Charles X. The delight of his after years s ‘i‘]‘\"’_ was to relate his boylsh adventures in A Letter From General Fremont. were the French army fon, At the age of 24 he came to America to a sing t of unkindness or cruelty could I do? I have no home to go to and ph of @nd followed the business of trading with « ¥ ¥ He was known 4s I have not a friend or relative throughout empt to the Indians, among whom he was well “Fronct and was held In high respect the whole world. T am 80 years of age urdened, the Known and very popular. The tall, en- by t} who knew him and helpless. Life outside would offer me few simple CTgetic young Frenchman gathered about Then the misfortune of unhappy cir- No opportunities. 1 am happy and c with the him a number of companions and organ- cumstances came to him. Mis life among tent.” fzed a company for the purpose of driv- the oaks d for that He paused as he finished speaking, then Ing bull teams to Mexico In the interest of the prison yard, and his bursting into te claimed: *No, I am of traffic. In the wild, gay Iife of the comf garb for that of hid- NOt, and I never will be until the world i spent on frontiersman and cowboy Calmel pros- eous o knows me to be innocent. If you write praver, con Kern was chi n walls, in pered and became a leader among his fel- The years dragged on until he had been 4bOUt me say that I swear by all T hold with his dying lows. John C. Fremont, who was then an fnmatc San Quentin for eleven SAcred that I am fnnocent. If T thought t commit at the head of an exploring party in Mex- years: then one day a letter came to DAt my Innocence was established I could people of the ico. met him and prevalled upon him to him and X of the prisoner was 4dle -ontent Frank Calmel join the expedition. They became fast buoyed up witl for it was from his _ The old man w Kol '”""}”"‘;’ ! the verdict that friends, and when, on the famous 13th of old friend, General Fremont. who had alid old wod. 0l 1h O _"}”“ i Sl w g The degree August, 1848, General Fremont, with Com- only then heard of his misfortune. The ~A8¢d <-:n\|- “-..x }-A l)l}lb a Tl:l“l' ‘:: u‘um:-*{ gr tence for modore Stockton, captured Monterey, letter promise of help, and ".' "‘"1?’".“'"; : !'nl“\:h)r mm»v-{ nl.n';‘ me That was in the year Calmel was among the foremost in the coming ) influential a source bore ‘l"‘ tall, sinewy cowboy of pl e 3 o the s d 8 he robust miner of ‘49—or the daring company., He remalned with Fremont @ Str t addened and un- At of the' faniods . Framopt. PAStE:. res i X Tl xS ek Slhavety0f 1, tn- cominugicative. prishner, encd to an inevitable fate he was tran- e banks of Fish Creek, In fused the fever of gold-hunting in his But circums ces once more played a ;“:-m\‘ a‘,;lung by SOING. of . deatn=-ana sperous char- veing, Then he went fortune-seeking in 9lsastrous part In the affairs of Frank fe:hisdl “‘”( long to wait ”""dhdur,’"" the foothilla of the Sierras—into the ',"""“ By ekl ’\,"",‘:,", b "; A few days later, while the sentries “)-'".‘ r:a}’l”;::l placer diggings of Mariposs County. ‘1:;1“"1‘{“ iz ) 'x'\n‘x Wis death van- Were golng thelr rounds, they saw the With the rest of the old “forty-niners” ¢¥ e for the unfortunate Calmel. ©!/d man eitting, thinking, in the sunshi : ¢ July he went he made and lost fortunes, sought for the ' nyo " » years ago, and no doubt his 1ong white hair over his shoulders, - g ing with his gun, ob- Preclous gold du-y and with his findings e bave ged a very weary length @nd a little later they found him Iying in- of leaving his Pald for flour at $50 per sack, participated for Frar mel. A stroke of paralysis Sensible on the hard floor. It was a Calmel had a store of good In the awift-dealing of early lynching- prought the 1 release and he now rests Stroke of paralysis. and with the coming cab! und the motive ot bee justice, and dropped into obscurity in his allo in the erimin: of another sun the troubled soul had fled, he immediately ascribed to When the fever had subsided and the gold ne Island which That was the way the life of the last S fame of Callfornia had given place to an ne for the last twenty years, Survivor of the famous Fremont expedi- orsteps, dragging Active appreciation of Its fertility in A short time be fore the old Frenchman tion was ended—in loneliness, friendle ¢ man, who had Other lines. died he was asked if he would like to ness and cisgrace. The other members 150, reappeared in He went Into the charcoal diggings of leave the prison. His reply was: “No, of the expedition have long since been & he did so there was Kern County and settled down to dally why should 1? T have plenty to eat, com- laid to rest and their graves are marked 1 comfortable little walls and bears only his name, his num- that it t ber and the date of his death. should be punish It has peen sald that it is better that cent m a hundred guilty should re unpun- They would offe 1 the intruder dropped labor and qulet thinking. He was some- fortable bed, clean clothes every week, with costly stones of more or less elab- Ished than that one innocent man shouid of judi IS BOVe . The sald Frank Calmel shot what reticent and kept to himself, but all 1 want to smoke and read and kind orateness of inscription, but the burial suffer; but It has also been said by wise are right—at | tt him, there were none who could bear witnegs treatment. If I were set free-to-day what place of Frank Calmel is within P! n commentators on the dignity of the law it Is th