A Holy Terror by Ambrose Bierce
A destitute prospector named Jefferson Doman arrives alone at the abandoned mining camp of Hurdy-Gurdy, once populous but now deserted after the man whose false tales of gold had lured settlers there was shot by a citizen on the third day of the camp's existence. Doman stakes a hill claim on the camp's cemetery, "God's Location," following directions from a cryptic letter. Six years earlier, in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, Doman had left his sweetheart Mary Matthews to seek his fortune in California, promising to return for her. Mary later gave her affection instead to a gambler, Jo. Seeman, who was ultimately imprisoned for an assault that left her disfigured. She wrote Doman a letter of renunciation enclosing a photograph showing her scarred face, but Doman kept the photograph and remained faithful, treating the disfigurement as a matter of honor rather than deterrence. Her letters eventually stopped. Doman's other correspondent was Barney Bree, a drunken former grave digger at Hurdy-Gurdy who loved Doman for a past kindness. Bree sent Doman a slang-laden letter revealing he had struck a rich, unclaimed quartz ledge while digging a grave, and that he had concealed it by burying a woman named Scarry above it, proposing a partnership. Bree then went on a legendary drinking spree, spent some of the gold, and died, being buried by former townspeople in the same cemetery he once tended. Doman, having found this letter belatedly, locates Scarry's grave and digs down to the coffin, laboring into the night. Scarry, he recalls from campfire tales (though he never knew her personally), had a notorious reputation as a "holy terror," and a newspaper had once run a long comic obituary of her. The coffin, lacking handles, forces him to stand it upright in the grave. In the moonlight he is seized by mounting dread, imagining the corpse's disfigured face merging in his mind with Mary Matthews's scarred photograph. Overcome, he strikes the coffin plate with his knife hilt, breaking open the rotted lid, and is confronted face to face with the corpse. Some months later, a wealthy San Francisco party, including a former Hurdy-Gurdy gambler named Porfer and his invalid, scar-faced wife, pass through the ruined camp en route to Yosemite. Exploring the site, they find the skeleton of a burro and then an open grave containing a jumble of bones, two skulls, a coffin plate inscribed "Manuelita Murphy... Hell's full of such," and a fragment of gold-studded rock that Porfer dismisses as worthless iron pyrites. Mrs. Porfer, sitting apart at the foot of the hanging tree, discovers an old pocketbook in a fragment of coat containing letters postmarked from Elizabethtown, a lock of blonde hair, two photographs of the same girl (one disfigured) inscribed with the name Jefferson Doman. She is found dead at the tree's foot, a crushed photograph in her hand, revealed as Mary Matthews Porfer — her scarred face now marked also by death.
By Ambrose Bierce · First published 1868 · Genre: Gothic Fiction, Western, Dark Comedy · 5 chapters · 5,908 words
First lines
There was an entire lack of interest in the latest arrival at Hurdy-Gurdy. He was not even christened with the picturesquely descriptive nickname which is so frequently a mining camp's word of welcome to the newcomer. In almost any other camp thereabout this circumstance would of itself have secured him some such appellation as "The White-headed Conundrum," or "No Sarvey" -- an expression naively supposed to suggest to quick intelligences the Spanish quién sabe. He came without provoking a ripple of concern upon the social surface of Hurdy-Gurdy -- a place which to the general Californian contempt of men's personal history superadded a local indifference of its own. The time was long past when it was of any importance who came there, or if anybody came. No one was living at Hurdy-Gurdy.
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A Holy Terror is listed on Textopian as a short story by Ambrose Bierce, dated 1868 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: Ambrose Bierce
- Date: 1868 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Gothic Fiction, Western, Dark Comedy, Literary Fiction, Adventure
- Length: 5,908 words
- Structure: 5 chapters, 45 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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- Work identity for A Holy Terror by Ambrose Bierce
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Similar titles
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Genres
- Gothic Fiction — The story features dark themes, a graveyard setting, and elements of horror and the macabre, typical of Gothic literature.
- Western — Set in a mining camp during the California Gold Rush, it explores themes of frontier life, mining culture, and the harsh realities of the West.
- Dark Comedy — The narrative employs irony and humor in the face of death and despair, particularly through the character interactions and the absurdity of the situation.
- Literary Fiction — The work focuses on character development and thematic depth, exploring human emotions and societal commentary.
Tags
American Literature · Dark Humor · Satire · Social Commentary · Critique of Religion · Anti-War · War Fiction · Psychological Thriller · Gothic Fiction · Supernatural Elements · Mystery · Suspense