| Show flGUT fOR LIVES IN RAGING WATER TWO MEN HAVE NARROW ESCAPE ES-CAPE FROM DEATH BOAT OVERTURNED IN RIVER Occupants Manage to Grasp Branch of Tree to Which They Are Forced to Cling for Three Hours St Paulor nearly three hours the other night Charlie White and Johnny King halfbreeds living nt Mendota fought for their lives In the I Icy waters of the Mississippi river finally being res i I near Fort Suelllng cued by Mounted Patrolman Tom Mooney of the Prior avenue night detail de-tail and John Carpenter an experienced experi-enced river man For three hours the men struggled with the cunent managing to keep their heads above water by clinging to a slender limb of a river willow which threatened to snap at any mill ute When rescued they were on the verge of exhaustion and were Unable un-able to stand About six oclock In the evening White and King were rowing downtime down-time river after an afternoons fishing 1 t I t k = kA f ll c I MOOVBV DHAnGEI THE I ALMOST OlD iiAirimiis INTO THE HOAT and had reached the halfsubmerged Island just below the Fort Snelllns m bridge when the boat floated Into on eddy Instantly the boardbottonw1 1j heavy flatboat was twirled about as though It were a feather and the next liihtant It overturned White and King made a desperate lTort to reach the boat but It was swept beyond them by the current By a hard swim against the current the men managed to reach a willow tree growing on the Island and of which the upper limbs alone were visible King seized one branch and While another but Whites branch was unable un-able to bear his weight and snapped None of the remaining branches was heavy enough to sustain his weight and he was obliged to cling to the branch to which King was u I L han combined The slender bough bent Undergt weight of the amen nnn hut e Clinging for IIfo to the branch the water snrglig about tbelr iiI t e k White and King strug irf tor hours with time T e waters of the which swollen by I time heavY eWeS ° were rising I Shouting was of ralnsJ Ro avail and they were about r d to up In despair when ling c1 iii b man walking along the bhiit nOllce UlL east side of the river nth on < Bietf L shouted desperately and succEeded 11mpita t attracting his attention i e I Calling Jo the drowning Tte hold on the man on the bank Inen Tho t B11 I rtra Keough who lives near Fort Snelhhn I ran to tho head of the bridge for ht le ge There he found Mounted Patrols a Mooney and John Carpenter Moon iiltngh started across the bridge at a sugh followed by Carpenter side Ig I l h1 mId the men raced to the Portside Snel1in Th et Port-side and down ftc steep hlull to th t je a ferry where they were sure or Ing a boat find iHiodli c It was the work of an Instant I1II1 launch a small rowboat and In VB t ted a r seconds the small craft was spofdirB it I kC toward the lower end of the IshnB1 The darkness was Intense and nf wind and rain together with the rlve lntle the spray rendered the trip precarloaJ But for the fact that a man who ha t tpent most of his life Get on the lllnai sola river was nt the helm the tw 11 a r probably would have capsized IlmB10 t and again It ran into eddies r an threatened totlp only to be righted mbl Guided by the shouts e of the stranded strand-ed men the boat slowly fought I way through the water gliding plow p-low river bushes and through lotB F t i stretches of willows At a shsrB ore 1 bend In the river the boat roundeB m I I the southern point of the Island an rt r I a few feet ahead wer King and Whlty1E I hands still clinging to the willow ed I the boat approached it could be reef lot < < j that tho water had risen to the m7n3jis1 In d chins and ruffled by the wind treB M quently dashed over their heads Ebe King seemed on the point of sink mar Ing when the boat reached him an mlt grabbed madly at the oar nearest t th n him Throwing off lila coat and us Patrolman Mooney knelt In the rem of the boat as It swept by Kin seized him by the collar and dragge him Into the boat The halfbred sank limply and the boat swun sharply against the current and headed head-ed In towards the Island a secon time White on the verge of falntln became frantic with fear and crjini out that he was drowning sudden released his grasp anfl sank Into Ii waters Even as the man loosene u his hold Patrolman Mooney lurched forward and burying his arm beneat the water managed to grasp Whltd by the hair In another second hd was hauled Into the rear of the boatj where he lay fainting The rescue was now partially ao compllshed but the fight to land wu still to be made and the boat wa overladen In the open channel th fight was a desperate one the wlnJ and water seeming to combine to worlfi the destruction of the crew Finally the nose of the craft grated on ttsf shore and the rescue was complete King and White were hurried to i svltchmans shanty near by and polj to bed Both wero exhausted and In T a state of collapse ie |
