The side of the box crushed as easily as if it
had been an egg-shell. The wonderful fact connected with this relic,
however, is that Mr. Graves said, before the box was crushed, that his
mother kept oil of hemlock in this box, and that upon examination a
distinct odor of oil of hemlock was found remaining in the box.
A whetstone, or what might more properly be called an oil-stone, was
discovered at the Breen cabin. On this stone were the initials "J. F.
R.," which had evidently been cut into its surface with a knife-blade.
Mrs. V. E. Murphy and Mrs. Frank Lewis, the daughters of James F. Reed,
at once remembered this whetstone as having belonged to their father,
and fully identified it upon examination.
A great many pins have been found, most of which are the old-fashioned
round-headed ones. A strange feature in regard to these pins is that
although bright and clean, they crumble and break at almost the
slightest touch. The metal of which they are made appears to be entirely
decomposed. One of the most touching relics, in view of the sad, sad
history, is the sole of an infant's shoe. The tiny babe who wore the
shoe was probably among the number who perished of starvation.
The big rock against which the Murphy cabin stood is half hidden by
willows and by fallen tamaracks, whose branches are interlaced so as to
form a perfect net-work above the place where the cabin stood.
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