Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1885-10-15


ter is that our sanity competitor tried to
crawl out Of one lie by telling another
and is caught IN both.
The liaps aud Mishaps Of u Hunting
Party.
Last Saturday fore noon, after consid-
erab)e skirmlshing about town for the
members of the hunting party, equip
ments, etcetera-etcetera in such cases is
susceptible Of various dltin,tions, owing
to who compose the party. In this case
the party being composed of John MCGEE,
Henry Griffin, j. j. Nierling and the
editor Of the Alert, there will be no diff
Guilty In arriving al the correct definition
of the term etcetcra.
This party, armed and equipped with
wild geese paralyzers, wended its way
through continuous cloud of dust about
eighteen miles toward the north pole
where chain of lakes slgnalcd the end
OF the journey and commencement of
war OF determination upon the thous-
ands OF wild geese that abound in and
about those lakes TIE onslaught was
not perhaps as triumphant to the party
nor as distressing TO the geese as it was
gratifying to those who keep ammunition
to sell, for the earth over an area Of about
q section was filled 80 full Of lead that
some sappers and miners are liable to
stake it Oft IN mineral claims. The grand
picket line onslaught was made on the
banks of lake about sundown as the
round. up of the geese into the lake for
The night was made, and 80 intent were
the members Of the party in this amuse
ment tha: they needed not the porten-
tous cloue, which was heraldlng its
coming from the south with lightning
and thunder, until the drops of ram bee an
to fall thicker and faster-and here is
where trouble that mad not been antici-
pated commenced
Vino ever heard OF it raining on the
night of the 10th of October, and as it
had not rained for a month how could
this party have anticipated it! But there
is decidedly unanimous impression
among the members of the party that it
did rain that night and any effort to make
them believe it was only the precipitation
of Dakota ozone in the farm of dew Will
be futile. Their minds are mad up and
made up to stay. The party didn't 60 10
camp out, dldn't want to camp out, but,
beng creatures of circumstances, they
did camp out, as the sequel will show.
After the first shower was over coun-
Gil was held and 1t was decided to hitch
up The team and head for some friendly
shack where shelter for the night could
be obtained, and accordingly the break
was made. The prairie having recently
burned over it was painless to human
vision, and the heavens being overhung
with clouds presented an aspect of ebony
hue. Under these circumstances the par
ty started on the lookout for flickerlng
light in some rural shack, and after pro-
ceeding perhaps mile, TWO of the buggy
springs snapped-who ever knew a bug
gy spring to break at any other time than
when you didn't want it to break? This
mlshap, which was borne with as much
christian fort,tude as could reasonably
be expected, necessltatcd a change of
programme, that of Immediately deciding
upon camping ground, which, after
some rcconnoitering, was found on the
borders Of lake.
Just as the team had been anchored to
the buggy the rain began to fall and the
party who had not eaten a mouthful since
early morn peremptorily dismissed the
idea of supper and sought shelter by
crawling under the buggy which gathered
the rain drops and sent them down
through the crevlces in elongated streams
about WIDE enough apart so that when
we lodged them at one place they would
strike us IN another, usually in the ear or
on the neck just above the collar and
then slowly m"ander along the inside
of our neither garments TO our boots where
not drop was lost by leakage.
Under these felicitous circumstances
the party turned in for repose. The lay
out under that buggy was not IN accord
ance with any fixed rules of bedroom
etiquette, but was altogether promiscuous.
A painting of that groupe would at least
be unique. The fore part ef the evening
was passed without anything more serious
than the little aanoyances described
above, but about midnight a deluge of
rain set in which not only gave the party
shower bath from above but flooded the
ground, which was their ted for the
night, to the depth of about two inches,
the wind in the meantime veering to the
northwest, increasing In velocity and let
ting down several degrees in temperature.
To remain in this position for the five or
six hours till daylight, or get up and have
the water with which our clothes were
saturated driven into the bone by the cold
night wind, were the alternatives pre-.
sented and we had the privilege of max
ing choice. The former was almost I'M
bearable but the latter absolutely unen-
durable.
Things had become serious. The pos
sibility that the shifting wind would dc.
velop into a blizzard before morning ad-
ded soleanity to the situation. The
question whether the coroner would make
any effort to find our bodies until the
thar reYf anrinr WAS considered. and