| Show A ROMANCE OF MOUNT TACOMA tacoma dec 3 charles E me keau kean is nursing a broken leg ut it the he fania paddock hospital after as Lh thrilling rilling an adventure as ver eni em the history of pioneer life he fie was accidentally accident illy shot on the morning of october 18 and after lying alone in the wilderness for thirty six hours while his companion went lor for help hell he was rescued and seven days later reached tacoma and a surgeon having been carried on the shoulders lem of stalwart settlers more than seventy miles A good part of the way lay through a forest so dense that a road had to be out so that the rude litter on which he lay JAY might have room to pass what he suffered ered me meant antImo mn in mind and body those who have had broken bones or who have felt themselves hopelessly lost or both can best guess in a very modest way lie he says of it the worst while I 1 was lying alone in the ralo rain I 1 h ad nt been married long and I 1 was determined to live to see my wife and baby again if I 1 could but I 1 had two cartridges saved up to put an end to it all if I 1 rescued within twenty four hours mckean is a typical pioneer he was born near basterville Mast erville seven miles from cadiz 0 thirty nine years ago since then be has lived in michigan minnesota aud and various parts of british columbia A little over two years ag aej lie he was married he and and his brother owned farms near en each ch oth other er I 1 in n th the e dominion but they like it very well over there and concluded to come back under the old flag they heard of the farms of western washington s rich valleys and concluded as soon as the yearns crop was gathered to hunt a new dew location on one of the rivers which have their rise in mount tacoma early in october in company with an old man named ogle and his son edward they left the railroad at chevalie Che Cheli halie alls about sixty miles south of here and struck out for the upper waters of the cowlitz river when they reached that river they followed edit it for away a way and then struck up tip the Tilton which is its principal branch coming in from the coith up near its source on the map it touch the grand valley of the squally Ne they found something hat suited them something with enough of the conditions that charm the adventurous pioneer to make it look homelike and attract tive live it was many miles from any other inhabitant it was absolutely wild and apparently never before trodden by the foot of white man the forest was so dense as al almost most to shut out the sun except just along the border of the stream where there was less big timber and diora jungle of stout vanc vinca wild ija blackberries cr and vine maple betoken ug a soil of inexhaustible rich nets rhe che land was but each made a claim the supposed corners of which they marked by blazing blaming a few trees then they built a shack and began to make some improvements enough to give notice to other prospectors that the land hao had been clait ned when these wore were done they planned to return for their families on OB saturday morning charles and young ogle resolved to go on an exploring expedition a little farther over o ver toward the squally Equally Ne than they had heretofore gone after eating a light breakfast they started out as soon as it was light enough to see pushed on up the tilton which had here dwindled to a mere brook after a time they left the stream and struck into the tangled woods bearing off toward the left and as they supposed supposed toward the larger river they ney were well up the base of mount tacoma probably or feet above the sea level the tou ground nd was hilly and they wound a about u t among the hills sometimes to save elim climbing bing their rugged sides finally about 9 they climbed a fallen tree to get a better view of their surroundings As they were getting down ogle slipped and fell his winchester in some way hit bit the log so as to discharge it and the ball crashed through mckeand Mc Keans right leg half way between the knee and ankle shattering both bones into splinters splint erf though the pain of the wound was great mckean at once realized that phin was the least of bis troubles he was many miles away from a surgeon if be ever reached one he must muse be carried to him hl m he weighed over pounds and there probably were not bot men enough enouch within thirty miles to airry him but whether there were or not and whether they could be found or not another matter of even greater import importance anee had bad to be attended to at once his leg was so badly shattered that it hung limp if he attempted to move it of the shivered bone protruded through the flesh he was some miles drw he be did not know from his bis abbe where his bis brother was cheit temporary help was and to lie he must send word as soon as possible how be was to do this seemed doubtful ogle was nearly frantic with what he had done although be had bad done it accidentally he believe he could find 11 nd the cabin mckean for a time thought it very doubtful if he could but the effort must be made and it must be made soon it was raining and the only shelter that could be found was the log on which the accident had bad occurred he had ogle move him into its ebee cheerless ci shelter belter then he told him how to cut away his boot and his clothing so they might in some seme way bandage the wound temporarily this was done and then he took the woodsman woods mans Is compass and gave ogle the direction of the river finding which he would be able to follow it to the shack aback and bring relief not atall at all confident that lie he would be able to find it ogle started out and mckean was left alone had he known how bow long he was to watch and wait before help could come his heart would possibly have failed him but happily he for the first hour or two he busied himself trying to dress his bis wound lovae splinters of bone protruded and with his pocket knife he picked them out then lie hp tied it up as we its as ho he could tt it was ans a tedious wait lie ho was wit wet to the skin and the rain from which lie he could not protect himself continued to fall fal the log afforded only a partial shelter from the wet and none from tho the wind whid iio was wan soon chilled fc i tiie hie marrow there was no way to make a fire hours went by and still no relief came achia A chipmunk scampered along a demtd limb near him bim in search of food stopped and looked at him curiously it disappeared returned and seemed to wonder who he was and why he remained there at last he fancied it seemed to pity him he and it seemed to he be the only living creatures on the earth and each was powerless to help or hurt the other neon came and afternoon began to wear still no help came he began to wonder if ogle had bad lost his bis way then he began to study his situation more carefully and its thoroughly desperate nature gradually unfolded itself ogle might find the shack he could not miss it after he be struck the river but how was he to find him again he was a mere speck in the vast wilderness there was no river to follow to where he lay he had taken the direction from him to the river but he had neglected to eug gest to him that he mark the way so he could follow it back in his state of mind he had bad every reason to believe ogle had not done so how would he and his father and george ever be able to find the precise spot of wilderness on which ho lay which must be found before he could he be rescued his rifle lay near he might perhaps use it to attract their attention any way he would try and he did hut but his shots brought no response night comes on aud his situation becomes even more miserable he was so co cold that he be could hardly use his rifle yet he knew the search for him was going on if ogle had not himself got lost and that help might now pass within a few yards of him at any moment and miss him unless he did something to attract it to him so through the long watches of the night he be kept up his fusillade fusi lade without result morning came at last and he still lived his leg now pained him terribly if he moved he could feel the shattered ends of the bones grate agatine each other his foot was swollen and was black from thebold the cold in spite of pain and anxiety lie he be gau gara to be hungry he be had bad shot a grouse the be day before just before he was wounded but he had dropped it when he be fell from the log it lay beyond his reach he began to wonder if he could reach it or if he could manage to male a fire and cook a part of it if he could get it or if he be could eat it raw if he could not some of the bushes around him were covered with berries EOW in that altitude beginning to have a shrivelled shrivel led look aurther down a few days ago he had noticed that the huckleberry bushes were still loaded with excellent fruit and he wish he could reach some of those these abolt hirn him but blit he could not the chipmunk came came again and he fancied pitied hirr hirn in his almost hopeless misery at 9 he had lain there bei helpless pless for twenty four hours he took his bis gun and fired aa occasional shot but his ammunition began to torun run low and he was reminded that the time was near when he could do nothing to attract his big brother whom he knew must now bo be anxiously searching for him if ever a mans situation was thoroughly desperate his was it was then he says that he remembered that he had bad been married just two years and six months to a day and be resolved to live to see his wife and baby once more if such a thing was possible as ts the day advanced he got a little warmer lut his situation was cheerless it still rained he was wet as a when he fell not a sound broke the eternal stillness of the forest save eave the patt patter r of the rain on the sodden ground the chipmunk was his only companion finally after all these seemingly unendurable hours of waiting night began to close in again and with the gathering gloom his spirits began to frit foil him he was starving chilled and dying by anchal inch only a few a very few cartr cartil cartile fles 9 remained to call help with or defend him against a possible attack of wild animals when they were goue what then thell only one grim resource remained he placed two cartridges cartridge gin in the breast of his shirt to be used last when these were reached one of them would aut put an end to pain to hope and to 0 espair the second day of his misery had gone by and the second night had bad well started cartridges were running low and yet they must be used about he be fired one of the few remaining and it brought an answering shot nobody who has not been to the very bottom of the depths of despair will ever know the music of that answering shot ts to charles mckeand Mc Keans ear he fired again and again the answer came and in a few minutes his brother stood before him in time yet none too soon to save thle the little life that remained the meeting of the brothers under such circumstances was doubtless touching enough but no time was wasted in congratulations A fire was made and a leg of the grouse was roasted the first food charles had tasted since he had left trie tiie cabin at daylight the day before the rest of the bird was set to cook for georges supper but he be never got it the welcome fire soon grew too welcome for charles chilled and now thoroughly numbed limbs his clothes took me fire and in the flurry of saving him hlin from burning after rescuing him from perishing with cold the supper was left to burn to cinders warmed and fed charles mckean and his brother began begando to realize that a great problem sall confronted them the wounded leg now swollen to immense size else and intensely painful more than ever prevented charles from doing the least thing to help himself it was seventy miles to tacoma whither hp he must je be carried in fame wv way to a surgeon through a forist for cst such as aa is found only in western washington it would acquire several men me n to carry him anti and for a long way a trail must be cut to permit the litter to pa pass ss tho tuen men to carry it must be hunted up and all this would take time lime as 88 tile the att s tillers in this region were few and hard bard to find nevertheless old man ogle and liis his son were hurried off to find them while george began the work of making a litter blankets had bad been brought and a temporary shelter arraD arranged ged so that the wounded man was now comfortable ina in a few hours enough help was secured to cut a trail back to the shack and bear the rude litter thither the patient bore the trip heroically it was a rough one for a man in his predicament every time one of the carriers stumbled or tripped over a tough vine or fallen limb he felt the broken bones of his wound grate against each other gi giving v him intense pain but he was better than when alone and desperate eln in the woods he was n his way back to life and to his wife and baby and he was even happy in his pain at the shack the party rented over night and had bad supper and a breakfast on baked potatoes they had now been too busy for nearly three days to think of looking for grouse aul ani potatoes were all they bad they also made some splints by charleys charles direction and by dint of much whittling and adjusting managed to tie up the broken member so 80 it would be less affected by the vicissitudes of travel ina in a country where there were no roads and scarcely a trail that would allow the litter and its bearers to pass A rubber blanket was also secure dand with it a cover was made for the litter to protect it from the rain which at times continued by this time also more help had arrived the settlers for miles down the river as soon as they heard what had happened hurried up to lend assistance at times during the march there were as many as twenty five either belp helping to carry the litter cutting brush out of the trail or building little bridges where necessary over the rougher places and narrow Vun IF u fordable streams some of them came for more than forty miles to assist in this charitable work thus showing the devotion of the settlers to a fellow mortal in distress generally eight of them hem bore the litter on their shoulders while the others worked ahead preparing the way for them by the they reached the settlements near tacoma and progress was easier on the they struck one of the suburban motor lines to the south of the city and that day just juit a week from the day lie was hurt he reached the hospital a surgeon anu rge and a bed his leg was set at once and he is ip now doing nic nicely rely dr hicks U house surgeon says the break w bad orie one but will heal all right a air some day be as good as new char charles mckean is 18 as grateful for his del delivery IV as aa any man could be he tel tells Is his story simply 1 I was just aspeck in n ahe he great woods he says and it is a wonder when you think of it that I 1 was found at all 11 X aa Y su sun n |
