OCR Text |
Show TERRIBLE HARDSHIPS I ENDURED BY LOST U. S. ! BALLOONISTS IN WILDS ; HEARST. Ont, Jan .". Tales of terrible hardships . n..liiiftl with the utmogj fortitude by the three stranded American naval bal-1 loonists from Rockaway, N. Y.. in the frozen wilds of t lie Canadian! north, were related bere today by Indian trappers arriving from the j lower Hudson bay district. . Their stories in the main norrohnr-l Their stories in the main corrobor-luted corrobor-luted reports from Cochrane that the! I airmen were on the verge of starva-1 tlon and were forced to eat their two I remaining tarrjer pigeons to keep i alive. The men are now slowly wend-1 j ing their way back lo civilization by dog train with the thermometer registering reg-istering 30 degrees below zero. Unless Un-less unusual storms are encountered, Jhey should reach Mattice no later than Friday. A Pullman roach will be placed at their disposal when they leave the trail there.- HOWLING OF DOG According to the stories of the In-; dians, the howling of a moose dog caught in B trap at Bhipsands, the or-; Iginal trading post of the Hudson Bay company, was responsible for the safi - j I ty of the airmen last Sunday. Whenj j they heard the dog's cries, tho balloon-I balloon-I ists decided to land. The great bal-1 I loon struck in a clump of trees ten miles south of the post, and its occu-I occu-I pants were almost stripped of their! ! clothing In the perilous descent. TIN BELOW ZERO, At the time of the landing the iner-1 ( cury was only 10 degrees below zero,' I he mildest weather for this season of the year in tho history of the trading trad-ing post. When the men extricated ' themselves from the wreckage, the! first words were uttered by Llouten-j i ant Walter liiulon. a vetcrau of the I historic trans-Atlantic flight In the i NC-4, who extended "gracious thiriks" I to the Almighty for llieir existence. IMERIC INS mm k ii viii The next thought of the airmen was to express thanks to the unfortunate dog. whose howls caused them to dc- scend For almost forty hours the Americans had mocked death in a rag-I rag-I Ing storm high In the air and for the time being, thev were too exhausted to do anything but congratulate themselves them-selves upon their safe landing, The airmen had been drenched to ! the skin and Icicles hung over their j torn clothing. For four days they I I wandered aimlessly in the wilderness! and were at the point of despair when I they were discovered by a frightened Indian trapper. TOSSED Bl snuiM Before attempting a descent, the balloonists Jockeyed for eight hours toi find a safe place. During that time they were tossed by u raging gale that' at times reached a velocity of 7G miles Ian hour. They decided to chance it w hen they, heard the howling dog and as thi". di -. scended. Lieutenant Stephen Farrcllj spied a smokestack in the distance. It disappeared from view as the struck I the tree tops, and when they crawled from the balloon there was no sign of I a habitation. WAIT 1 OR MORNING. I They at last made camp for thei night and waited for daylight. With I renewed spirits thoy set out In thei morning in a southerly direction until th, again saw the smokegtock In the distance. Making for it they met the CCd Indian, Tom Marian. II took to i his heels, pursue, by Lieutenant Kloor i who caught the old man and induced him to lead them to a refuge He took them to his hut and from there sent his wife to Moose Factory to notify Hudson Bay company men of tho ap-! ap-! pearance of the three strangers. GIVEN DRY OIXX1 Ill. Company employes then came toj i their aid and took charge of them. Warmed, fed and dressed In dry' clothing, the men told tho thrilling Story of their flight The men are tin good health, although Farrell suf-'fered suf-'fered from frost bite and shod;. After their departure from Itocka-way, Itocka-way, N. Y-. they said, the balloon drlft-jed drlft-jed northward toward the Adirondack! ! until in the vicinity of Fork Mountain,, near Wells, N. Y., where It was caught by a terrific storm. The officers felt jno alarm, however, and decided not j to send out any of the pigeons. reserv-J 'ing them for a more serious situation. MEN IN RAGS. They expected to take a westerly ; course after reaching the St. lxuls river, but before arriving there they! .were .aught by a southea-si gale which i swept them toward Canada. No ef-1 ' iort was made to effect a landing uu-i til they leached Southlands. There three attempts were made before suc-j rests was attained. At times they float-' ed at a high elevation and at others' they dropped close to the tree tops in' the hope of finding an open space. When the men landed their clothing was In rags and thoy were without I food, the second of the pigeons having j previously been eaten. |