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Show I f .,. , THE OGDEN'" STANDARD ... ll I H I 'ft0" m K ' -- - B I fflTHE MARTYRDOM; OF THE LOST PATROL 1 1 N all the matchless narratives of hero- Ism, suffering and gaunt privation un- 1 dergone by man at the call of duty, none H could he found to shadow the deeds of those H great, lion hearted men, the Canadian Mounted H Police, about whom this tale is told who con- H secratcd their lives to their iron law. Never Hl to turn back while hopo of success remains! H Was ever a grimmer codo made by thn sons of H mcnP It sont these with the mall through H the wilderness of the great Northwest, it H closed the barriers of return and brought about H tragedy, grim as imaginative genius has ever touched. It set them singly at grips with hun- ger, cold, disease, madness, death, and found i them invulncrablo and invinciblo in one thing H determination to succeed or perish. A corre- H i Rpondcnt in the Northwest has carefully vcri- 1 fled the route of death followed by these mnr- H tyrs to duty and obtained the photographic il- Hj lustrations accompanying tho story. H (Copjrlsht. 3911. by tbe New Tork Herald Co. All rlfrbU referred.) FIGHTING for seven days against an alliance of three invincible enemies cold, hunger and exhaustion ex-haustion ronr men perished Inst February In h the dreary wilderness of scrub and snow thau H stretches across Albert Province- between Fort H Macpherson and Dawson City. The world read about H the lost patrol of the Canadian mounted poller read. H and forgot, as is Its way but the Idea for which four H' tancb, iron nerved men gave their lives will be pr-r- HLf " CONSTABLE KINNEV XP B 2ej constable cart: M pcruated. It Is the Idea of duty and honor, the idea M which permeates the very life of the police of the M great Northwest and makes one of their number walk H Eingly and empty handed straight to the muzzles of a H hundred loaded rifles. H SIsoe h" Inauguration, in 1875, of the little band H of seven hundred men who hold In leash the wild- v ness and savagery of the whole Dominion, that same H Idea has ruled them. It is a matter of tradition that H they never quail, that they never turn back, and so it M was that the lost patrol, in easy reach of safety, re- H fnnwl to rntum to tlio lltrlo nnsf wlmnro ihnr H ' started and groped about for days, consuming prc- H clous provisions and more precious energy until their H &st resource was spent and they were left without M tbe means of subsistence for the return grind. H It was on December 21, 1910, tbat Inspector Fltz- H gerald, with three constables Carter, Kinney and H Taylor plunged into the wilderness on the way to H Dawson City, whence they were to go to Herschcl fl Island, on the Arctic coast, to take command there. H Carter, who had formerly resigned from the force, E H bad been sworn in as a guide, he stating that he was u' H familiar with tbe trails. U H To the man of civilization the task at first flush H. would seem Herculean. One hundred and fifty-six it H miles as the bee would fly, but interminable leagues nj M for tho men with their dog sledges, who must circle tl: fl and detour through oceans of snow and unchanging. bc fl i stunted vegetation. Mile after mile of trail, where M 1 had bleached tho bones of many a high hoped pros- ,n Hl pector whose hunt for the gold llelds of the Klondike d Jl hnd resulted in tragedy. sc M It is not in the nature of the big men of the big ll j , Northwest to hesitate, and although Fitzgerald bud H not been over the trail since the winter of 190C and U M Carter, the guide, had last travelled it In 1007, the lit- in M tie band packed their "duff," and, taking charge of sc H the mall, started away up the Peel Itlver. H South they travelled for days, past the flat country, (( H through the awesome, high towering canons, where in H the river rushes between dizzying walls of rock, and H'i only a ribbon of blue canopies tho rugged silt In tbe ? earth. So fiercely does the river rush through these tj, H great earth wounds that even In coldest winter It tl H i seldom freezes, and the formation of treacherous, bi H sodden snow bridges makes it dangerous to cross, ll L Indians, travelling by canoe, often leave tbe river H( at Trail Creek to avoid a part of tho rapids, but never tr Ht is this hazardous venture mado unless the party Is n Hj " 'well stocked with food For ninety miles a narrow, Hr r crooked trail skirts the west bank of the river through Sf H country barren of game, uninhabited' even by the j H hardiest, mobt tenacious animals of the' Arctic.1' ' ' U H ', Iuto'thIs trail, the long portage, the detachmont of ,u H . pollde, veritably -plunged. Bacon 'and flour were'" Hl abundant and no doubt they hud no expectation of H dJfflculty on the waj-. So far as can De learned from tl Al TRAGEDY of the Wilderness of the Great Northwest Where Four Mem- !k5 bers of the Canadian Mounted Police Grimly Did Their Duty as the Unwrit- vM M ten Lazu of the Force, Commanded, Until Famine and Cold Claimed Their Lives L& Fitzgerald's diary, which was accurately kept until probably the day before his death, the long portage was successfully negotiated. A few miles south of the portnge n large tributary Joins the Peel IClvor, and up this lies the road to Dawson City. Countless little creeks, veins and arteries of the forest form a tangled tan-gled network to confuse the traveller, and even If the proper trail Is located at the mouth of the Wind River the country traversed Is sterile, cruel, shunned even by nature. The Indians, deeming It abounding In evil spirts, avoid It as they would a plague. Such arc the conditions which would have been faced by the patrol pa-trol In the most favorable of circumstances. Until they reached the Wind Itlvcr, on January 10, the men endured only the ordinary hardships of forest life. Then began the search for the Heart Wind Divide, Di-vide, the short trail luto Dawson City. There Carter seemingly became bewildered. Search as they would, they could not strike the trail. Men less stanch would have turned back Immcdl-lely. Immcdl-lely. Men of courage would have deemed It folly to nftempt a blind search In n mystic maze of snow decked hills. Rut Fitzgerald and his three companions compan-ions were carrying the mall, the ttntlsu mall. It was a matter of honor not alone the honor of the men themselves but that of the great Dominion. The law of the Mounted Police is tradltlou, but It Is Ironclad, stronger than any tersely worded regulations. regula-tions. Behind lay safety, hut ahead lay duly, mortl-less. mortl-less. Inexorable. So for sever, days l..c men wan-lcrcd wan-lcrcd about through the hills looking for the lost trail. Sils Inspector Fitzgerald ach day the little store of food dwindled and the cold It deeper as there was less of proper nourishment for red bodies. J True to Fatal Precedents. There must have been a struggle In the minds of ic men, but the diaries do not raow It. It bcciucd t)t to have entered the head of Inspector Fitzgcraid iat he could return to Fort Macpherson and find ifety. Yet, as he saw his men grow weaker nnd coker, saw the dogs which drew the provision edges waste, and knew that Carter was becoming ore and more confused, he must have longed to juble on his tracks and pound down Into Macpuer-n, Macpuer-n, where there were life and friends and food. But lere were always the mall and thp tradition of the iree There was the precedent of "Big Jack" Collins, ho had faced threescore of Indian rifles alone and narmed, and of Sergeant Colbrook, who had looked to the muzzle of "Red Jack'3" revolver and died ioncr than withhold the words: "In the name of the law I arrest you." It was not In Fitzgerald's make-up to retreat, nor )C3 his diary, oven at the last, hold a word of condem-ltion condem-ltion or reproach for Carter. The meu had evidently determined to per.slstlu their Torts to And the Hcnrt "Wind Divide until almost the ,st scrap of fowl was consumed. Not until then could icy with honor and decency turn back to the way icy had come. On January 17, with ten pounds of icon and eight pounds of flour to carry four men irongh a threo weeks' battle against death, the pa-ol pa-ol turned back. To quote from Fitzgerald's diary: "Carter seems uttprly bcwlldcied, he does not seomr ) be able to recognize ouo river from another. Must Jluetantly return to Peel Itlvcr." (Peel Itlvcr Is a common namo for Fort Macphor- ' in, the only post on that river.) - The detachment was in desperate straits and It was operative to make the small quantity of nourishing sod extend over as long .1 tlriio a,s possible. On the, rst day of the return Journey the first of the dogs 'as killed and the men made their dinner of the car-isk. car-isk. The dogs refused to eat the flesh of their klfi'd, nd, Fitzgerald thought It Justifiable 'to feed them from lie scant larder rather than have them weaken from starvation until they could not drag the sledges. Unwisely Un-wisely the men devoured the livers, and that night all , were frightfully HI. To multiply their discomfiture the dogs wcrc so emaciated that It became a necessity to utilize the livers In order lo make them last until the.) should reach Fort Macpherson. The trackless snow made going heavy. With the temperature from y.r to oT below zero tho cold bit cruelly Into the poorly nourished bodies, and the men dragged painfully on their way. Illness weakened them and dragged at their heels like a nightmare. A growing horror of the foodless, mcicl-less mcicl-less forest must hate goaded them to superhuman efforts bill bone and muscle and sheer nerve cannot do beyond their limit. Three long days, that seemed but a single horrid dream, the patrol fought their way through never ending end-ing stretches of scrub oak and scraggy, monotonous, stunted timber, and they knew day and night that death hovered over them, wings spread, ready to swoop upon them y The mall , was carefully -packed on one of the sledges. It was being taken back, but not until every resource had been tried and failed, and there was no! the vcstlgo of, a possibility that the men could be.it through to Dawson City. Until almost their last pound of food was gone they had striven and sought for the lost trail. Judging from the diaries, Carter wandered hen-and hen-and there, completely lost In the tangle of streams and the monotony of woods. Hour by hour he became more worried, hopeless confused, until, as Fitzgerald put It. he scorned dazed, only partly conscious Taylor suffered most, at least he showed It most The diet of dog flesh sickened him and caused physical pain CONSTABLE TAYLOR, ( 1 On January CO, the third day of the return tramp. 1 the last of the bacon aud flour was eaten, and the men, with dog flesh alone to depend upon for sub 1 slstence, realized, with nwful fulness, the terrible s circumstances they wecc facing. The race against 1 death had begun in earnest. Almost three weeks to i go under the most adverse physical conditions and 1 not a scrap of proper food. ' And still Fitzgerald. In command of the patrol, kept his diary, neatly, fully, concisely. Scarcely a word I of the terrible conditions under which they were htrug- 1 gllng appears. Tho fact that the men were 111 froin ( eating dog liver was stated simply, coldly, with not a I word of complaint. 1 Slowly, relentlessly, the diet of dog meat sapped the health and power of the men. Their faces swelled. 1 the skin broke Into Irrltutlng rashes, dried and peeled, i Taylor seemed lo be affected the worst, fie could 1 scarcely trudge through the snow. He shivered con- t tlnuully and none of the men seemed able to resist the awful cold. Just when they succumbed Is not .' known. ' . I Fitzgerald'? diary was kept until February . the lat-t camp before the one iwbero the bodies pf Taylo'- ' .' nijd Kinney were found. 'How the death of thqe (wo comrd'deS affected the survivors Is a matter of con- 1 Jecture, but it must hnvo been a sad blow to them. J Taylor, it Is presumed,, took his own life, goaded to . the action by his untold sufferings, it must have cast 1 a spirit of gloom over Fitzgerald and Carter that did 1 much to take tho heart and hope out of their plucky fight. . s On January 27, with he thermometer registering IS t degrees below zero, the'men left camp at half-past ' seven In the morning. Until ' noon they dragged thiough endless wastes of snow. It must have seemed as though they had travelled miles upon miles. The going was heavy, and the effort to put one foot before the other required every elTort of the men. At noon, utterly worn out, they rested In the snow for an hour. A little camp known as Waugh's tent was but .1 few miles away, and In hope of finding food there the men did not kill one of the remaining ten dogs Coveted Cache Empty. All morning long, through the heavy, almost obliterated oblit-erated trail, they dreamed of Waugh's tent and of food that would In all probability have been hidden by the last party stopping there. The Idea of a good meal, food that would to them bc luxurious, cheered the men and helped them In their weary battle. Refreshed Re-freshed in a manner after the rest at 110011. they tooic the trail and pushed on for Waugh's tent They travelled trav-elled faster now, yearning and groaning Inwardly for the anticipated refreshment. At two o'clock the yellow yel-low od canvas of the tent showed between the warped branchs of the scrub trees, and with a last despairing effort the men goaded themselves Into haste. At the lent they searched furiously for food, but none was found. The cach6 likewise was empty, and the little band mentally staggered under this fresh blow. The hope which had buoyed them over eleven miles At Noon, Utterly Vorn Out, They Rested in the Snow for an Hour. of forest waste was suddenly shattered The stomach revolted at the very thought of another meal such as they had been forcing themselves to endure. There was nothing left for the dogs to eat One of them was taken a distance from the camp and killed. A portion of the meat was frozen and burled where the other ilogs would find It, and under these conditions they seemed not to recognise the flesh. It was the only way they could be Induced to eat the meat. The'uien ate sparingly, the Illness which followed In part neutralizing neu-tralizing the benefit of the nourishment. The night was spent at Waugh's tent and an early start made next daj The men suffered terribly fiom the cold In their emaciated condition and the temperature tempera-ture had sunk to 34 degrees below zero. Until three j'clock in the afternoon they battled their way then :nmped for the night, having negotiated twelve miles. Fitzgerald mentioned In his diary that Taylor was extremely 111. The old trail was hardly distinguishable distinguish-able and hope grew fainter and fainter. Next day a cabin was found and the men had a chance to enjoy a little warmth One of the sleds nnd ieven single dog harnesses were cached, but the ircclous mall was not left Everything the men could ilspcnse with was cast aside, but the mail meant more to them than life. It meant honor, Its loss meant failure. So these strong, undaunted men trudged on, wallowing wal-lowing In snow, sometimes blinded by driving flakes, llways hungry, weary and suffering with the bitter :oId. On February r Fitzgerald made the last fntry .11 his diary. The next day Taylor and Kinney died. Probably the inspector had uot the heart to further :hnmlcle the sufferings of the little band. To one mowing the circumstances and the outcome of It all he simple diary tells a tragic story. Between the lues ore written sufferings Indescribable, hopes )lustcd fears that the men could not, daro not, ex-lress. ex-lress. Only eight terrible miles were covered on Saturday, and on Sunday Fitzgerald wrote In his note-)Ook: note-)Ook: ? "Forty-eight below, Sunday, February 3: fiue strong iouth wind. Loft camp at quarter-past seven. Nooned me hour aud camped about eight miles down. Just ueforc noon I broke through Ice and found one foot dozen and had to make fire. Killed another dog tonight. to-night. Can only go few miles a day. JEverybuay i)rakhig out on the body and skin peeling off. Klght ujlcs " ' In the next camp Corporal Dempster, who J eft Daw-ion Daw-ion City, late In December with n party of men, found he bodies of Kinney and Taylor. A diary kept by "aylor bore entries dated February S and February 9, four dnys later than Fitzgerald's last entry, what jjtfi the men did In the Interim Is a mystery. They roust tf$fl huve wandered bewildered possibly day and night, not Vij$ knowing where they were or which woy to turn. The last pages of Taylor's diary, written on scrnpd Sjgi of puper In which salt bad been kept, tell of the awful ggl sufferings he endured and how It was that he wan Kfe? driven and houuded into taking his own life. lid WfiJ wrote: ftfrl "February S. Forgive me, little Queen. rgjg said r wouldn't live long. It hardly seems jgjti I. good God. what have I done that I should be snuffed out like that? It's Joke. Fifty IjjVj more miles on cursed dog meat? Like hell. - (t Fink." ' m "February f). your knowledge, take it. jkjB keep It. Christ help me for why suffer j when I have the means? Bye." luj, It will never be known with certainty whether FItz- ! 54 gcrald and Carter bunked with their friends on that bt last nlcht or not. Kinney and Taylor, who were found - gj dead In the same place, were stretched out with two 1 jLj sleeping bags under them and above them. Kinney 1' Kj is supposed 10 have died first, killed by starvation. ftM suffering and poisoning from the dog liver. Ills feet had been terribly frozen, aud the skin, livid and dls- H eased, was peeling from his body. Ig Taylor could stand It no longer. Agonies he must have suffered that last terrible night. Men like him ; tiei1 do not snuff out their own lives Impulsively. It must 2K have been a matter of pride with him. as It was with j the others, to exhaust every ounce of energy before ; ?f turning back. But the suffering and the Illuess proved ' jH too strong for him. Frenzied, ho placed the muzzle '. m Last-Resting Place of the Lost Patrol - 1 J lurch and Graveyard at Fort Macpherson of his rifle between his eyes as he lny on the ground. B How long he struggled against himself can only bj (p guessed, but some time In the darknoss, after, per- Pj haps, he had tossed awake for endless, nightmare ; o hours, he pulled the trigger and blew off the top of his j, head. Mfl 1 rirS If Fitzgerald and Carter were there they could not i"P stop to attempt to bury their comrades In the frozen gj snow, It was purely a matter of life nnd death to i jjQj them, and thoy knew that every rod travelled meant that safety was nearer and that every ounce of fflM' strength expended lessened their chauccs In the race. R Toward (he Jast they were obliged to chew the Ijjh; tough leather sledge wrappers for food. The greatest g wonder I that they persisted in their awful fight as H long ns they did. H Taylor and Kinney were found thirty-five miles jj jjj from Fort Mncphen-on, whore they would have found Ofd help. ' & Their Dying Effort. E Ton miles furl her on tho trail Fitzgerald and Carter -. bunked together for the last time. Their feet were k frozen, their bodies worn almost to skeletons, and they 4? showed signs of having suffered terribly from illness. JH They must have floundered through the snow all day ?WL 111 the hope of finding help at night, for Fitzgerald had jffl calculated that they had only a few miles to go and JJ B; they had averaged almost ten miles a day. ii ufi The wide detours they had been forced to make had j; K confused him or he may have become so bewildered Sjj toward the last that he was not capable of reckoning H whero he was. Often the trail had been complctelj ,' WfL lost, and In their searching for it the men must have ' "Jadl been bereft of nil sense of distunce and direction. It !' Coa cannot be told exactly when the last two of tho party ; R: died, but It is certain that even when hope had been ' W crushed out of them at the end of that last awful day, j; gft when the goal of all their efforts seemed so near at f '!; hand, and when thoughts of warmth and comfort and j &3' plenty must have tantalized them, they fought on and jj"?j on with their last breath of strength. k fr Not even a dog was left for fowl. They had chewed mr the nauseating wiappers of the sleds and sapped from j' fclii these what little nourishment had sustained them. J & They had fought their bitter fight right through to the " cruel finish, ns Is the custom of the Mounted Police. and they had not won, but they had done their duty as lhs thoy saw It. They wore courageous men and true to ' Jill their Ideals to he very last, and they helped to grip ' 2J$ the power of the Canadian police on the great Do- ? minion. ,' S: Side by side thoy lay down to sleep that last cold. cog relentless' night, and uelther went a step further. lie! Twenty-live short miles were between them aud Fort jj .Macpherson when Corpoial Deraster's party found J their frozen bodies. yf Carter had evidently died first. Fitzgerald knew IjjC. it, fox he hW done what was In his power to bury the IB body but the task was loo much. It must have been ' Bfl a grewsomc and weird sight the lank, sturved man r Rt of Iron working there In the tree filtered moonlight, the k4 desolation of rub wood and pallid snow stretching IRS endlessly In all directions. Not even the dismal howl ! HE of a wolf or the cheerless hoot of an owl to break the - ffj stillness or lo remind the suffering laborer that there W&. was life, other than bis own feeble spark, anywhere f Bry1 In thut vast wilderness. ? gj The Inspector may have staggered from his work to fe die( or. perhaps, utterly exhausted from his efforts, he ' Lgjl lay down to rest and never stood upon his feet again. Rc A Httle way from his last stanch comrade he was 5 ftl found, thy mall for which he had fought to persist- Jllh cntly rolled In a little packet by his side. ' jj And so tho lost patrol perished, and the four men . jfc$ who had died for an Idea were btorled In a little church ," jj yaid In the midst of the barren waste of land which Wri had made them hard and big and brave. - g Other men huve done it and other men of tho " L Mounted Police will do It that tho great Empire may Kjri be perpetuated, but the lost patrol aroused the sym- . fij pathy and theifceling of Canada.' and In vivid coutrast lff to tho plain little graves at Fort Macpherson a mon- - t5Jt ument wll boerected, probably at Hegina. Saskatche- Wjk wnnt the headquarters of the western division of the ", Rig foico, by the combined action of tbe leading clubs of Hq Canada. ' Ijj7 |