The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 25, 1897, Page 1

. VOLUME LXXXIL—NO. 147. PRICE FIVE CENTS. SUFFERING ON TRAILS FROM DAWSON CITY Terrible Hardships Endured by a Party of Young Klondikers. JWANDERED FOR DAYS WITHOUT ANY FOOD. Adventurers Who Return From the Northern El Dorado Repeat the Story of Gold Galore and Impending Starvation. Special Dispatch to THE CALL SEATTLE, WASH., Oct. Dawson City. of Sheboygan, Mich. Lincoln, Nebr. days after starting. visions. They had a paci thence poled to Five Fingers, and C oot Pass. Nearly all the restaurants are closed at Dawson on account of a food shortage. ivanced over regular prices, but the company stores More than half of the food in the warehouses has been to distribute it, although it is paid for, until it is er more provisions will be brought up the river. more arrives the entire stock will be rationed out among the residents to prevent, if There has been no starvation yet, but there will surely be a Up to September 4 r1oo had started for Fort river to Circle City and thencs by steamer to the Prices of provisions are not ac are refusing to take orders. sold, but the company refu learned for certain wheth, possible, privation. shortage. People are le Yukon to try to get down t ited States: No new stri food for their men ing daily. —The steamer Farallon Skaguay at 1:30 this afternoon bringing 125 passeng: The party brought gold not exceeding in amount $20,000. party out from Dawson left there in September, and was headed by H. A. Stewart With him were J. C. Woolsey of Tacoma and Sam Henry of The party arrived at Haines Mi es have been made at Dawson, and only those owners who have I8 to do much met ten or twelve boats a day going down the river toward Dawson. travelers have enough provisions to last them through the winter. n of twelve horses and 180 pounds of pro- They came out on a small river steamer from Dawson to the Pelly River, shed their journey over the Dalton trail and They encountered severe snowstorms on the trail and suffered great arrived from Dyea "and , twelve of whom are from The last n, at Chilkat Inlet, thirty-two In case no work this winter. The Stewart party All of these | FLEEING FROM FAMINE’S SPECTER| | thirty pounds of provisions each and One of the Parties Coming Out Over the Daltén Trali Narrcw y Escapes Starvation. JUNEAU, Arasga, Oct. 15 (via steamer Farallon to Seattie Oct. 24).—Within the last four days four different parties fee- ing from fthe specter of hunger which baunts Dawson have arrived here by the overland route. I'woceme by way of the Dalton trail from Five Finger Rapida, one by way of Dyea, and one left Lake Bennett at the portage and came by way of the White Pass and Skagnay. They all left Dawson within a few days of each other and bring out the same story of gold ga- lore and not enough grub to go around. | The par mposed of Stuart Woods of Takoa, Archie Burns of Juneau and Charles Fries of Orti last to leave Dawsor last glimose of the ¢ of gold on Septem- ber 12. Mr. Woods said the people of Dawson had just about given up expect- Wasl., were the They took their ing the st 1 r Hamilton to arrive up the river with additional provisions. But se does not take a gioomy view of the situation. He has been into the Yukon country twice. draft steam barges will be utilized be Alaska Commercial Company in doubie-tripping provisions from Fort Yukon or other points to Daw- son. Dave Thompson and William Hare com- prised one of the other parties. Mr. Thompson is an experienced prospector. He bas spent several seasons in the in- @ terior. He says that if more provisions cannot be brought up by light-draught boats the grub on band at Dawson and the ropulation will be “sized” up, and all those who cannot be fed will be forced to go down the river to Forty Mile, Circle City, Fort Yukon and Rampart City, where there is plenty to eat, for the winter. One of the parties which came over the Daiton trail bad a terrible experience and escape: death from starvation only by a mira, This party was comvosed of F. Trippe and Julian Trippe of 326 ‘West Seventy-eighth street, New York; John Fry of Seattle; Charles Wilkes of Snobomish, Wash.; William Gillis, trapper of Fort Wrangel, Alaska, and Charles Dugas, traprer of Snohomish. The skilled wood:raft of Gillis saved the whole party from a grave in the snew at a time when even Giliis’ eyes were as large as silver dollars from hunger and he had scarcely enough strength lefitocrawl over the esnow. Thne first words that Fred Trippe spoke when he set foot ashore here were: *“Thank God wo’re back in God’s country.”” Each of his companions said in his heart, **Me 100.” These young men were connected with &: Trippe-Moore Paper Company, which bad offices in the American Tract build- ing, New York. Bella and Monarch spring, before the Klondike rush began, and went over the Chi Dawson early in Ju They prosrected b1 the country up Sixty.m le Creek, and say they bave found something worth baving. They became alarmed at the prospective scarcity of food, and decidea to get to the coast as rapidly as they could travel. They leit Dawson August 19, and arriving at ¥ort belkirk put in several oot Pass and into He says that the light- | They left New York last | i | | | | aj and trail. Every man became weaker | cach passing nour. Giilis and Dugas | walked in circles to tind the trail, ana | | days there picking up information about the Daiton trail. On Sepiember 18 they started from Fort Selkirk with ahout without blankets to come the several hun- dred miles to tide water. Fred Trinpe had a shawl and Julian Trippe a narrow rab- bit-skin robe, which was just long enough to leave his feet exposed to the wea:her when he lay cown at night. They did not want to exert themseives carrving biankets. All went well till they le!t Five Finger Rapids. At the rapids their grub was nearly gone, but thev met a party of Chicago hovs bound for Dawson, who in- v.ted them into their tent and gave them their breakfast. Julian Trinpe once worked for N. W. Harris & Co., bankers and broh- ers on La Salie street, Chicago. He found tnat one of the young men was sn employe of the same house. An incidental mention of the name of Man- ager Farr brou ht about this and the breakfast. Wiih only a few pounds o provisions they started inland. Two days out they met a packtrain. From a man who pretended to be a surveyor the Trippes obtained a sort of chart of the trail. Had this man been a surveyor or had the map been correct or had the Trippes not been tripped up and ost on the trail, they mizht not have enconn- tered the subsequent suffering. Trey blame it all on tne chart. The first day ont they hed eaten all their food, and the second day it suowel so fast and furious they could not see the mountains. All day and part of the night they traveled through the snow with not a bite toeat. Curled around a small fire they lay down hungry and arose hungry in the morn- ing—such honger as only protracted phy- sical exercise and severe cold could pro- duce. They did not reckon on the snow and cold. It haa been fine weather all summer. They sti!l stumbled on through the snow. The third day, in the morn- ing, tie other members of the whole party before mentioned caught up with them. They had a little grub and it was di- vided as long as it lasted. Three days later the whole party ran out of foed, and it was still snowing. Tu.e trail at this time became an Indian trail, between which and the wnite man’s trail there is a vast difference. The red man snaps off or breaks down a twiz or limb of a tree| here, there arnd yonder to mark the course. The snow soon became deep enough to hide these marks. Then the party was without botl food afier nearly balf a day’s traveling picked it up again. Again, hungry and weak, they plodded on and finaily saw smoke rising from a shack on the banks of Lake Hootc 'ie-Eye. From the Indian oc- cupant they obtained two and a half fish each. Being grea ly refreshed the tral was tuken up again. At a point on the divide where the c.art showed Dalton post is located they could not see or find the post. They concluded that they had either passed the post or were off the trail. A day was spent wandering through the valley searching for the post. It was snowing so thick and fast that a men could not bs se n 200 feet ahead. Return to camp on the evening of that day was the oniy alternative. All were very weak. Said Julian Trippe: *Qur legs shook and we could hardly stand, We simply staggered. It was easier to stagger on 1 ON THE AFGHAN FRONTIER.—NIGHT ATTACK O_N A BRITISH POST BY THE ORAKZAIS. This picture, which is reproduced from ‘‘Black and White,”” illustrates & new phase of warfare. By the use of “star shells,” which on burs:ing brillisntly illuminated the field around, the British troops uncovered the enem: up to the attack, and raked them with Maxim zuns and small arms almost as readily as in-daylight. ¥ as they crept TARDINESS OF THE GOVERNMENT COST A DOZEN LIVES Crew of the Caspar Might Have Been Saved Had the Point Arena Life- Saving Station Been in Service. POINT ARENA, Oct. 24.—THE CaLL correspondent went to the scene of the Casrar wreck this morning and found the bat- tered hulk, driven nearer to the cliffs, lying bottom up, stem toward the shore. The stem is entirely gone and the bow is oven to the fore-foot wide enough to admit a horse into the bold. The kee! is aimost entirely gone, and though the bottom shows signs of rough usage there are only one or two holes visibie. Two blades of the propeller are gone. But very little wreckage came ashore. A tremendous sea is mniing and the wind is blowing a gale from the northwest. But one body has thus far come ashore. It is that of George Offerman, chief engineer. The face is scratched and there is a bad bruise on the forehead over the right eye. ‘Ihe body was clothed only in undershirt and socks and shoes. It is quite probable that it will b> rome time before the sea gives up the balance of it« dead, as the kelp will hold the bodies until there is nothing left but bones. The Caspar struck the reef inside the whistling buoy, and only a few yards from that danger signal, and, after capsizing, was carried over the rocks nearly a mile to the shore by heavy waves. This reef has been considered dangerous by all mari- ners, several vessels having struck there in the past few years. It is a narrow projection running far into the ocean. The steamer Point Arena once went ,over it, damaging her considerably. The Alcazar also struck it years ago, and so have scores of other vessels, but none were ever wrecked, the ocean havpening to be calm. The Caspar m ght have escaped destruction, but a heavy wave cast her cown with such force that the vessel refused to respona to her wheel, and was dashed against the reef. When the crew was thrown into the ragiug waters cries of distress were uttered by the men, but no heip came. For hours many of them clung to floating timbers until, becoming ex- hausted, they sauk into watery graves. The alarm was not given in town until 11 o’clock. All lifeboats at this point had the day before peen dashed to pieces by the sudden storm, and littie could b= aone. Every ove deprecates ihe slow movement of the Govern- ment in not baving the life-saving station in active service, as tbe appropriation was voted nine months ago. The patrol would have discov:red the wieck at daylight, no doubt, if not at the time of the disaster, and the lifeboat conld have reached the wreck in an hour’s time, and could have res- cued the men picked up by the boat from shore ani from the steamer Alcazar, and probably more. A number of persons are confident they saw two men on a log for an hour or two after the wreck was first discovered, but they disappeared before the boat from sbore was iaunched. The estabiishment of a life- saving and Government signal stxtion at Point Arena is some- thing that the leading daily pupers shou!d take up and push to a finish, Nothing can be learned from the two men supposed to have been picked up by the Alcazar, as that steamer is still at sea, not being able to come into port at Greenwood. Captain An- findsen and Seaman Chris Larsen have both fully recovered from their terrible ordeal of being in the water nearly fourteen hours, but can give nothing new, as the disaster occurred so suldenlv ti at they cannot remember anything but that within ten minutes. after “the steamer struck they were in the waier battling for their lives.” Had the sea been as rough as it was to-dav, none of them would have been aiive a( day- light. Too much praise cannot be given the braye rescuers of the captain and Larsen, as it seemed certain deatn to launch their frail skiff 1n such a sea. Adolph Peterson and Henry Anderson are o'd sailors, but are working on the landing at Rough and Readv, or Iversons Landing, and when they said they co: reach the men outside every one told them they would only increase the number of deaths by two. They were determined and Providence cer- tainly smiied on them, for had they been five minutes la‘er in starting or five minates earlier in going throush the breakers they would surely have been drowned. But fate favored them aud a lull came as they went and again as they returnea It was a noble act and bravely executed. Captain Anfindsen was master of the schooner Bobolink for a number of years, and has b:en captair of the Caspar for some time, as weil as serving in that capacity on other vessels, and this is the first accident he ever had while at sea. He takes the loss of bis ship and crew very much to heart and broods over it and can talk of nothing else. When tod that ic was thousht two more were saved by the Alcazar he s2id: *“Thank Goa for that, but there are eleven others.” than to try to stand. We h ld a council that morning. It was decided tuat my brother and L and all of the partv except Gillis and Dugas were to turn, if we conid, to the point where the trail was plainly biazed, and wait there for the return of the two trappers, who were to procwed, find the trail and bring assistance, if we could. Well, wa got buck to the plain trail, built a fire and ali sat around it. ' In expressing my feelings I also express the feelings. of the four of us. I became drowsy and saw beautiful pictures in the fire. We were so weak we had to take turns in cutiing down a small tree for fire- wood, We had ceased’ to bs hungry, though it was over four days since we had tasted food. We felt indifferent. I did not care much whether I lived or died. I thought how nice 1t would be to roll over in the snow and go to slcep, and that would end it. But my ‘will-power kept Contwnued on Second Page, DASHED DOWN TO THE WATERS OF THE RIVER New York Central Train From Buffalo Hurled Into the Hudson. TWENTY-EIGHT LIVES LOST IN THE DISASTER. Men Imprisoned ;;he Engulfed Cars Fight Like Demons in T heir Mad Effort to Escape—Many Rescued by Boatmen. Spectal Dispat: 30 3 s s e e e e ek ke e e A e st e ek e ek e ek ok ke ok e ok ek koA * eight lives were lost. weight of the train. Hodedk ke Aok Rk ok ok ke B e e e Following is a list of dead as far as ascer- | tained to-nizht: | Thomas Reilly, St. Louis. | Chinese, unidentified. Wong Gim, a Chinese. Seven Chinese, unidentifiad. E. A. Green, Chicago W. H. G. Myers, Tremont, N. Y. Two women, unidentified. Giussepp> Paduane, New York. W. 8. Becker, Newark, N. J. Unknown man, dicd while being res- cued. | A. G. McKay, private secretaury to General Superintendent Van Etten, body supposed to be in wreck. John Boyle, engineer, of Fast Albany, body not recovered. John Q. Tompkins, fireman, of East Albany, body not recovered. The total number of known dead nine- teen; estimated number of dead twenty- eight. 3 The injured: Condu of New York, knocked cious and | severely braised: Chinese, bad scalp wound and body bruise(; Chinese, face badly cut and legs sprained; Frank J. Degan, New York, body bruised and face cut; Long Lee, badly bruised and suffering from shock: Herman Acker of Peekskill, baggage man, bruised and head cut; — Shaw, express agent, New York, slightly bruised; John E. Ryan, Jersey City, badly lacerated arm and legs; Clarence Buchanan, John Smith and John Flood were taken to Flower Hospital, New York City. A number of others were injured, but up toa late hour to-night the list was incomplete. GARRISONS, N. Y., Oct. 24.—From the sleep thal means refreshment and rest to the eternal sleep that knows no waking, plunged in the twinkling of an eye thi- morning twenty-eight souls, men, women andg children. Into the slimy bed of the Huason river a train, laden with slnmbering humanity, plunged, dragging through the waters the passengers. There was nothing to presage the terrible acci- dent which so suddenly deprived these un- fortunates of life. The New York Central train left Buffalo last night and had progressed for nearly nine-tenths of the distance toward its destination. The engineer and his fire- man had just noted the grav dawn in the east and the light atreak of red, denot- ing the sun’s appearance, when the great engine, a seryvant on the rails, a devil off, plunged into the depths of the river. Neither engineer nor fireman will ever tell thestory of that terrible moment, for with his hand upon the throttle the | engineer plunged with his engine to the river bottom, and the fireman, too, was at bis post, behind them came the express car, the combination car and the sleepers, and these piled on top ot the enczine. Itis known that it was a trifle foggy, and the track was not visible, but if there | was any break in the lines of steel it must have been of very recent happening, for only an hour before there had passed overit a heavy passenger train laden with | human freight. Neither is an explanation ready. Allis conjecture. The section of road was supposed to be the very best on the entire division. There was a great, heavy retaining wall all along the bank, and while the ude was high yesterday it was not unprecedented. ! What sesms to have happened was that underneath the tracks ana ties the heavy wall bad given way, and when the great weight of the engine struck the unsup- portea tracks it went crashing through the rest of the wall and toppled over into the river. Then there happenei what on the raii- road at any other time wou'd hav~ caused disaster, but now proved a very biessing. As the train punged over the embank- ment the coupling that held the last three of the six sieepers broke and they miraculous!ly remained on the broken track. In that way some sixty lives were saved. Of eye-witnesses there were none except the crew of a tugboat passing with a tow. They saw the train with its lights as it came flasbing about the curves, and then i E nco, O. Parish | city at 7:30 o’clock this morning, was thrown from the track Hudson River, one and a half miles below Garrison’s Station. * * NEW YORK, Oct. 24.—Buffalo and New York special No. 4 on : the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, due to arrive in this : into the * Twenty- ; The retaining wall along the river had been un- : dermined by high water in the river, and the track caved under the ; * * ch to THE CALL et P LS PR RS R TP floated, and the tug, whistling for help, cast off its hawser and started to the res- cue. A porter jumped from one of the cars that remained on the track and ran into the vara.of Augustus Carr's bouse, near which the accident occurred, and stood screaming for help and moaning: “The train is in the river. All our passen- gers are drowned.” In a few minates Carr had dressed him- self, and getting a boat rowed with the porter to the scene. As they turned a pomt in the benk thev came upon the express-car and the combination-car float- ing about tweunty feet from shore, sinking every minute. One man was taken trom | the top of the car and efforts were made to rescue those inside. A few were gotten out, the passengers left upon the track making a human bridge to the shore to take the wounded on. The day coach and smoker had gone down in the deeper water and rescue was impossible. In the latter coach the conditions must rave been horrible. The car turned completely over, and the passenger end of it was deep 1n the water, while the baggage end stood up toward the surface. The men in that lower end must have fought like fiends for a brief period, for the bodies when taken out were a mass of wounds. Tue closing scene of the first day of this tragedy is drawn around a common car that stands near the scene of the accident, where nearly a score of baaly mutilated bodies, none of them yet claimed by friends, are lying in a long row, grewsome evidences of the disaster, the greatest that has ever occufred on this railroad. The wrecked train was known as the State express. Itleft Buffalo 2t 7 o’clock last night and was due in New Yorkat 7 o'clock this morning. The train was nauled by engine 872 and consisted of one American Express car, one combination baggage and smoking car, one day coach and six sleepers. Poughkeepsie was the last stopping-place of the train before the disaster, at 5:20. At this time there were in the smoker, in addition to the baggageman, Herman = NEW TO-DAY. When a woman fin. ally breaks down come . pletely—gives up the useless fight and goes to bed to die—her husband wakes up to a realization of his ties. ’ duWomen are proverbially careless of their health. They don’t like to pay out money for medicine; 3 The majority of women have some dis- ease or disorder of the organs distinctly feminine. Eventually it will drive them to death or insanity unless it is cured. There’s a cure for such ‘things. It is Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription. Don’t despair be- cause doctors have failed. Don’t think that a modest woman must be forced to undergo abhorrent local treatment. She can be cured right in the perfect privacy of her own home by that greatest of all great med- icines,—Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription. Rev. I J. Coppedge, of Elmo, Kaufman Co., Texas, writes: '‘About six years ago my wife be- came afflicted with displacement, causing inflam- mation and much pain. She could not stand on her feetor in any position but what she suffer- ed great pain. She was naturallya strong woman. Thad several different physiciansto treat herwith- out any permanent reliel. She despaired of ever again being well. She sawan advertisement of your * Favorite Prescription’ and spoke to me about it. I got her a bottle of the medicine which at first seemed to make her worse, but she found it was hel&nx her; so she kept on till she had taken six bottles. Since taking the last she has not suffered a moment with the old trouble. She has been well nearly twelve months.™ “The Common Sense Medical Adviser,” Dr. Pierce’s 1000 page family doctor book with over 300 illustrations “and colored plates, will be sent for a limited time only, absolutely free, paper-bound, on receipt of twenty-one cents in one-cent stamps to pay the cost of mailing only. Address, Dr. R. V. Pierce, Buffalo, N. Y. For hand- saw the greater part of it go into the river. Some of the cars with closed windows some, cloth binding, send ten cents extra (thirty-one cents in all), *