Omaha daily bee., 1883-02-24
LOST IN THE MOUNTAINS,
A Thrilling Story Of a Wanderine
Woman and a Man With a Heart,

Dan Sobe Mercufys
On q recent Wednesday, al 10 q. M,
Mrs. Ruger. who, with her husband
and two children, lives near the sum-
init of Mt. Day, the highest peak
which lies to the north of Mt. ,Hamil-
ton, left her home in search of her
COWS, which were but . short distance
away. It wa a cold, freezing day,
raining and showing alternately. The
woman was slightly near.sighted and
the stormy weather assisted in con-
fusing her and she became bewildered
and instead of going home, a. she
thought, she took the opposite direc-
tion and soon was -hopelessly lost.
About moo her husband became
alarmed at her prolonged absence and
went In search of her, and at night,
not getting any trace of her, aroused
the neighbors, who are cattle.ranchers
and choppers, who live In the
adjacent hills, and soon q dozen sturdy
mountaineers were searching the
rough mountain sides and deep porges
of Mt. Day.
Camp.i. es were built all along the
mountain sides and the lurid glare
shot up toward heaven, lighting up
the deep gorges to guide the wanderer
home. At daylight the following
morning a systematic plan Of search
was arranged and each party took its
course, with the understanding that
three signal guns should be fred In
case she was found. Like all persons
who are lost she crossed and rscrossed
her tracks 81 that it was impossible to
get q "hoy" trail, owing to the rough
nature Of the ground. The party
searched faithfully till late In the
afternoon, when n after another
dropped off and returned home, worn
out with hunger and fatigue, to re.
cuperate before renewing the search.
No person thought 1t possible for the
woman to live through the night, az
she was thinly clad and barehesded.
But there was one man In that
crowd, an old mountaineer, who do.
termined not to quit that search while
q ray of hope remained of finding her
alive, and, most wonderful to relate,
he ~ successful. About 5 .. m. OF
the second day of the search three
guns we're heard booming up the gorge
through which Smith creek runs, pro.
claiming the glad tidipgs that the lost
was found. I don't know whethe,
there was 'joy In heaven" or not,
but l do know there was joy in this
neighborhood, and many an eye glis-
tened with tears of gladnees. The
man of whom I speak is Mr.. j. r.
Kincaid, or "Bob" Kincaid a. he Ia
known all over the mountains, poor In
this worlds goods, but with q heart as
big as Mount Hamilton, whose latch
string always hangs out, q bait for
every tramp, dead beat and sponge of
the mountain, who never missed q
meal or paid a cent.
i. With the instinct Of an old hunter,
he OWNED her course and followed 1t
to a successful end. He, followed her
for FIVE miles from her home, through
the deep and almost impossible gorge
below the junction of Smith creek
with the San Isabella. Many places
she had slipped and rolled twenty or
thirty feet, and n place three hun.
dred. Yet, strange to relate, net a
bone In her body Was broken. When
found she wat just sinking into an In.
sensible sleep, which would have
known no waking. Kincsid took eff
HIS shoes and covered her naked feet,
and his clothes, and wrapped her In
them, built a fire and warmed and
rubbed her into semi.consciousuesu
and with the assistance which the sig-
nal guns had brought he carried her to
her home, which she reached at 10 D.
m, just SO hours from the time she
left 1t, in an insensible condition, but
In q fair way for recovery.