ggestion for The Outcasts of Poker Flat was found therein by Bret
Harte, as previously noted. On page 354 the Doctor says,--

A "majestic-looking Spaniard" had quarreled with an Irishman about
a Mexican girl ("Shirley" for the first time, I think, thus showing
a knowledge of the presence at Indian Bar of those women who seem,
in the bright and orderly days of her first arrival, to have been
actually unknown in the camp). The Mexican, having at last stabbed
and killed the other, fled to the hills.

It does not appear from the letter that a girl of any kind was involved
in this stabbing and death. Shirley distinguishes between the Spaniard
and the Mexican; the Doctor does not. As to the presence of "those
women," Shirley, without commenting, sheds much light upon that
subject, as will be perceived from the following extracts. Dr. Royce's
review does not coincide with the facts.

Seven miners from Old Spain, enraged at the cruel treatment which
their countrymen had received on the Fourth,... had united for the
purpose of taking revenge on seven Americans. All well armed,...
intending to challenge each one his man,... on arriving at Indian
Bar ... they drank a most enormous quantity of champagne and
claret. Afterwards they proceeded to [a vile resort kept by an
Englishman], when one of them commenced a playful conversation with
one of his countrywomen. This enraged the Englishman, who instantly
struck the Spaniard a violent blow.... Thereupon ensued a spirited
fight, which ... ended without bloodshed.... Soon after,... Tom
Somers, who is said always to have been a dangerous person when in
liquor, without any apparent provocation struck Domingo (one of the
original seven) a violent blow.... The latter,... mad with wine,
rage, and revenge, without an instant's pause drew his knife and
inflicted a fatal wound upon his insulter. [Post, p. 271.]

In the bakeshop, which stands next door to our cabin, young Tom
Somers lay straightened for the grave (he lived but fifteen minutes
after he was wounded), while over his dead body a Spanish woman was
weeping and moaning in the most piteous and heartrending manner.
[Post, p. 264.]

Domingo, with a Mexicana hanging upon his arm, and brandishing
threateningly the long, bloody knife,... was parading up and down
the street unmolested.... The [Americans] rallied and made a r