The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1890-03-01
DEAD FOR THREE DAYS.
Startling Expsrisuos of San Francisco
Barber
As Many Livss a. Cat--A Tonsorial Ke0ia.
~ Wac Falls TO the Bottom OF Deep
0ulch and Was Supposed to b. Dad

In the winter of 1886 / was hunting
near Grizzly Flat In FL Dorado county.
with Tom Herland. AS you may know
that country is all set on edge, and we
were In almost the worst part OF II.
The mountains were covered with
frozen snow, and | tell you we had TO
go pretty easy TO keep from breaking
our necks Well, we were scaling
along the sides OF IA steep gulch. and
Tom was "a hundred yards ahead OF me.
when ! slipped. Ii was 100 feet 10 the
bottom. and knew | was going the
whole distance. | tried TO veil, but |
was going too fast IL was only "A sec
ond or two before | reached the bot
tom. but II seemed n long time.
saw the jagged rocks below me, and I
felt dead sure that wnen | reached
them Il would be all day with me.
knew | was torn and cut with rocks
while ! was falling. but every time
mt the bank ! seemed less conscious
i reached out my hand. and then |
struck bottom. 1 felt my arm break
lit didn't hurt but felt the shock
and then something hit me across the
eyes, and that was all The last SEN
sation remember was feeling OF
nausea that was worse than ali my
bruises
IL had gone out hunting Friday; IL
was Monday night when | found my
senses before the fire. What happened
In the mean time ! gathered after |
got well. | wouldn't believe IL for a
long time, but they proved IL TO me in
one way or another. and at last had
To acknowledge th.t | had been dead
more than three days and three nights.
This Is what they told me:
at seems that Herland did not hear
or see me go down the precipice, but
after he had gone half mile he
shouted for me, and not getting any re-
ply went back looking for me. He
found my tracks in the snow and fol-
lowed them until he came 10 slide in
the snow. That was where | slipped
In going down ! left "a regular trench.
lie followed 1t with his eye and saw NJ
the end my body jammed In, head
down, among the boulders. He tried
10 get 20 me, but could not without go
ing around great many miles. He
watched me for an hour. but as | made
no motion and the slide where / came
down was all bloody he AT last con-
cluded that | was dead. and he left me
and went along. We were a long way
out and he could not have reached mo
till after dark 1t was night when he
got 10 an Italian goat ranch, where he
camped.
During the night he told the ranch
ers of my death. They suggested that
possibly they could get my body out.
though IL would be hard job. and the
next morning they started out with n
burrO and n lot OF ropes. There was
no way OF driving the burro TO where
1 lay; so they tied rope around the
waist OF the smallest man In the party
and lowered him down TO me. He tied
the rope around my ankles and gave
the word TO hoist. They pulled. but
my body was frozen TO the ground so
solidly that they had to quit for fear
OF tearing my legs out. They threw
prospector's pick down 10 the man in
the canyon, and he dns my body
nearly clear Of the snow and ice.
Then he gave the word 90 pull again.
They hitched the burro TO the other
end of tine rope and started him up.
They pulled me clear Of the frozen
stun. though my coat stuck there. and
dragged me this way by the ankles up
tho hillside n hundred feet or more.
Then they threw me across the pack
saddle with which the jaclkass was
provided. strapped me on like sack
OF -four and started for camp across
tho hills. There was no trouble until
the party reached the river. IL was
frozen over but the Ice was quite thin.
and they were afraid that the combin-
ed weight OF me and the jack would
be likely TO break through. so they
unpaclSed me and drove the burro
across alone. Then they tied me 90
the end OF RATA again and hauled me
across the ice. On the other side they
loaded me onto the burro again and
began 20 climb the hills toward the
camp. There are lots OF ticlsllsh
places along that part OF the country
and there were lots Of narrow escapes
"Oncc the hitch slipped aud ! fell
of. They packed me on again, how
ever. and went on until we were with
In five miles OF camp. Then they struck
just such nasty place rs went over.
The burro got scared and baked. They
licked him and poxod him until he
started on. but no had hardly gone n
dozen stops when he slipped and went
rolling over and over until we reached
the middle OF the gorge The fall kill
cd the burro. but they cut mo loose and
hoisted me up 10 the trail again.
"By that time IL was nearly night
and they could not 60 TO camp for an-
other animal and return for me. While
they were discussing what to do they
heard the howl OF a coyote They
knew that Ii they left my body on the
trail the coyotes would not leave