Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-02-19

L ulV Hllu. u IObhuo q ebSh~I e-~
sharpened q board, and the snow / dug
from the doorway 1 beaped up in the fuel
room. / had not been digging over half al
hour when I made the discovery that the
first rush of the avalanch had brought
down a great lot of small trees, bushes and
rocks, with here and there a large tree.
They had been piled up helter-skelter, but
thew held mp the mass Of snow so that with
a little digging / could run a tunnel In
almost any direction. Great care was nee
esssrv, however, as the burden above was
yery heavy, and the displacement OF q sup
port might bring down a great weight OF
snow.
After / had run the tunnel straight out
from the door about twenty feet, turned
to the right, made my way under a lot OF
rubbish. end after going about thirty feet
came upon the body of an Indian. Here
the limbs and sticks made a sort CT bower,
under which he lay, and / knew that it
was his voice I heard calling. There was
no Indians about us except hostiles, and
inst before the snow came they hsd killed
two men belonging to our camp. We had
no fear of them after winter set in, know
lug that they stuck close to their vii
lagos: Here was q redskin, however,
and in full war paint; but I had no
sooner found him than l saw that he was
dead, though his body wa still warm. he
had been mauled in a terrible manner,
both legs being broken, his head all bloody
from an I'M and his right arm doubled
under him as if broken. / could see the
butt of his rife sticking out of the snow,
but when I pulled at it l fouDdt the barrel
missing. 1t bad been wrenched off. l
got his tomahawk and knife, however, to-
eether with powder-horn and bullet-pouch,
and when l had pulled the body along and
crept beyond it, / caught sight Of a moe
casin in the snow aud dirt. 1t took me an
hour to unearth the body, which was
that Of a second warrior. The life
had been crushed out Of him in q gee
ond. The mass of rock which had
come down with him had broken every
bone in his body, and a great share of his
face had been ground of. HIS rifle coulo
not find, while both knife and tomahawk
were broken. While searching his cold
aud battered body l found q bucksSin bag
containing about $500 worth OF small mug
gets of geld, and this gave me a hint to
overhaul the other. / also got from him a
bag containing about $500 worth Of dust
and nuggets, and in the search l found at
tached to his belt q white mans scalp,
which had not been off the victims head
over two days. They must have been IN
ambush part way up the mountain, lntept
upon taking the PERMITS scalp, Il but
for the avalanche they might have had
mine as well.
The day had gone by the time had
overhauled the second Indians body. be
ing at work, the hours had passed swiftly
away, and l had not given myself any time
to brood over the horrors of the situation.
After upper l sat in front OF the lire for
awhile, then wrote up my daily journal,
and when l went TO bed | left the door
wide OMEN. 1t seemed to me that the air
was getting foul down there, and by
opening the door the room was greatly
purified. It was midnight, as l after
ward came TO know, and the fire was all
out, when some noise in the room
startled me. l sat up in bed, and was
soon convinced that some one or some
living thing besides myself was present.
I could hear q Iabored breathing, together
with sounds as Of some one pulling him
self along the floor, aid | climbed over the
foot of the bed and lighted the candle.
Whist was my amusement TO find a third
sayane in the cabin! lie had quite reached
the side Of the bel, and had | got out hat
yay, as usual, be would have at least
wounded NE, for he had his naked knife
in his hand, and was bent on murder.
! The Ratchet was at hand but did not
need a weapon. The warrior had been
dresdfuily hurt, and, IS investigation
proved, mad been barred just beyond
the other two. When l left the
bodies hs had dug his way to my
tunnel, and then pulled himself along to
the door, intending 10 have my life as
slept. When bsfiled in this he glared at me
with all the hate a human heart can betIay.
He was crushed at the hips, and none bnt q
savage could have accomplished what he
did. | could have killed him at a single
blow, bat the horrible work was spared me.
Death was already teciie him, n as l
stood and looked down upon him, candle in
hand, he uttered u faint warwhoop and fell
over dead. When | was sure that life had
departed l dragged him into the tunnel,
and shut and barred the door, and 80 upset
had my nerves become by the adventure
that l did not sleep again that night.
In the morning | excavated a hole near
where the two bodies lay, and pushed the
three into it and packed the SHOW over
them. Then l began running a tunnel fJr
the ledge in front Of the cabin, and had
gone about 20 feet when the second night
come. Early in the third day | had to
abandon this tunuel on account Of a cave
in which nearly smothefed me. Then L
turned to the right to come down the
valley, and / was still at this work when
tho first week closed. Early In the
second week I was stopped by a bank
of rocks and earth, and when the
second week closed I was dIiItiDga unnel
to the left. 1t was slower work than you
would think for. The snow was packed
very solid, and all l dug out had to be
thrown behind me, and eventually carried
off and scattered in some hole under the
tree-tops. Every few ieet | met with q
big rock or the trunk of q tree, and it was
hard work to get around such Instructions
Again a pive-in would take place to hinder
farther progress for a day or two, and
finally came TO the conclusion that could
never get out By tunnelling'
started in on the third week more to
be at work than for any hope Of escape
All that week | tunnelled to the right
again. and at 6 o'clock on Saturday after
noou I broke into my WI tunnel. In
other words, l bad done as a man does
when lost in the woods. / made o half
circle, and came back on myself, while
all the time l felt sure was going
straight ahead. The fourth week wss
spent mostly in the house. l was o
becoming much weaker and was ready
10 give up. 1t was on the thirty-h'th
night that the cabin began groaning and
and cracking again, and I knew that the
snow was settling down around it. The
noises continued all night, giving me
many a fright, and at : o'clock next
morning, when I opened the door, l found
my tunnel filled up. l was lamenting
this when l noticed the fire was drawing
better than usual. Going over to the fire
place l took q look up the chimney, and
IL IL, &c baoy A tho esTnp