Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1874-10-29

| had paddle in my hand, and left the
raft with it, Something told me had
| better go back. There was stack of
hay near the camp, and thought 1could
make bed with it between the legs of
the table, boxed up with boards. Final
| ly, went back and boarded up the table
and filled the space with hay for bed,
using some canvas that was in the camp
for covering. stand there the balance
of the day, and slept there Sunday night.
Then / came to the resolution not to
| quit, but if / was to die before help
came to pass away in that spot. Monday
and Monday night ! passed there wait
ing hopelessly, and Tuesday morn
ing l went out little dis
lance, and looked around. Toward
evening thought heard somebody hal
loo. 1 could not believe my ears, and
heard it again, and shouted back, with a
heard a gun fired, and cried, Help,
helpl / am lost, l am lostp was very
weak indeed; then | don't know what
followed Some men appeared coming
toward me- They were shouting joyful
great cry, and suppose / must have
tainted When / came to myself was
surrounded with kind faces. | was
saved. One of them shot a partridge
and they cooked it and gave it me to eat.
Another had brought wine, and gave to
me to drink" (here the poor fellow could
hardly speak for emotion), "and we
spent the night in the camp, and / as
sure you, gentlemen, it was the happiest
night / ever spent in my life"
In further conversation it appeared
that Saturday night. the occasion of the
bear adventure, the poor fellow really
gave himself up for dead, and wrote on
the back of his pass card: Please take
me to Menasha" The state of mind he
must have been in when he wrote these
words, calmly contemplating the other
world, must be pictured by the sympa-
thetic reader.
When the party left the logging shanty
to walk to the depot, as soon as they got
in sight of the railroad track, they saw a
hand-car on which was Joseph's father.
Both parties hurried to greet each other,
and in the general joy universal gum
firing told the people hunting up and
down the line that the lost was found.
Over 600 people, most of them old set
tiers, had gathered for regular scour
of the woods, nearly 300 of whom
were armed with guns and car
ried three or four days provisions
in knapsacks. The feeling of the
entire country was aroused; and it will
be readily believed that when Joseph and
his father came in sight old hunters, who
had not shed tear for thirty years, as
one of them said, wept like children.
Joseph's conduct, when found, was singu-
lar in the extreme. He dropped to the
ground, and when he recovered began
waving his hand and shouting as though
pursued He is said to be an affectionate
and model husband and father, and his
first inquiry was after his family. His
wife, who had been out since Saturday,
and was beside herself with grief, tainted
with Joy when she saw him. She looked
still weak and suffering when the party
arrived home; but she set about cooking
beefsteak for her husband with true
womanly forgetfulness of self, d.
rectly she saw Joseph comforta-
BILE in an armchair There is one
story connected with the affair that de-
serves mention. When the lost was
found he threw out his pocket book, say
ing There, boys, I've not got much, but
what is there is yours" and one chap
reached out his hand for the money.
With the gesture of a hero the old man
who had first answered Joseph's signals
drew his gun to position and on penalty
of death dared the man to touch a cent.
The fellow sheepishly dropped the book
as though it had been molten lead. An
other man had just paid eight dollars for
a pair of new boots which had been torn
to pieces In wading bottom full of
snags, and Joseph wanted to pay for
them, but the good fellow said that to
accept pay would be to tarnish one of
the brightest recollections of his life.
Scores of acts of similar good-nature are
recounted, and the writer's belief in hui
man nature has begun to return. 1t is to
be regretted that the name of the gallant
fellow who first discovered Robinson
could not be procured, although the re-
porter did considerable amount of tel
egraphing and walking to get it.