The Arizona sentinel., 1891-04-25
HEROIC JOHN FORD,
A Kansss Pioneer's Death Struggle with
 Cruel BliZEa-ds

bOlAOh1u 1uB SFdpnlC ShSCCA O4 d hauodS
 pioneer was given:
 remember when John Ford settled
 in Grant County in 1885 and built his
 dug-out on the Surprise Flats, with a
 little window in the end, and brougEt
 his wife and little baby to live sESere,
 and happy, yes, happy, were they; and
 noble man was John Ford, strong as
 an OK, withsa1ion's heart, and as true
 te his-*ife and baby and home as men
 are made to be, and the hardy settlers
 who passed him by watched his fine
 form and athletic movements, and
 envied- his tiFeless energy and his
 happy, careless air; z1S pounds he
 weighed, and was about thirty years
 of age, and in stature and proportion
 like Absalom, 0 perfect physical man;
 and in mind and will and courage, too,
 IS perfect as he was in form. Among
 the crowd of gallant men that have
 made this world what it is, you have
 never heard, and perhaps the world
 will ne#er know, what hero was John
 Ford.
 On the afternoon of January 4, 1886,
 he kissed his wife and baby goodbye,
 and left for Lakin. Driving his team,
 going for load of lumber, earning his
 daily bread, and he never came back
 any more. On the evening of January
 6, as it was after dark, he reached the
 prairie south of the sunk well with ar load of lumber and lump of coal for his family. As he pulled out onto the
 level prairie away over to the south
 west light fickered from window,
 and he knew his loved ones were safe,
 and then he logged on over the prai-
 rie half an houT~ steering toward that faint, fickering light, and his heart throbbed with thoughts of home. But that home was to be his never more, for out of the North came 8 wind from the far-off Manitoba, a wind which for 2,000 miles winged its way on the mys- terious mission of the Creator, winged its way to the mark, gathering force. as it followed on, till at last it swooped down on this giant on Surprise Flats and drove him before it like a little child; and the terrible blizzard was on, the shrieking wind was thick with snow, and it bullied and clustered and burned its way through every crevice, every hole, chilling and burning the worn team, driving before it man, team and all. He passed within two hundred yards of his door, where, strange to say, the wagon track turned sharply away and rolled zig-zag down the Cimarron. All night he fought against the bliz- gard on the wild prairie, and his strong arms and legs tugged away at his impossible task to reach his home. Over the Cimarron and back again, facing and fighting with his horses in the teeth of the storm till the frozen ice, as he tore it from his mouth, car. ried parts of his lips along and filtered tae snow with blood; but his heart throbbed with thoughts of home, and he tore fresh chunks of his lips away to get his breath and boldly faced the blizzard again. All night long he wandered; all day the next day, blinded by the snow, moving, moving | on, on, on. 'Was not that the light againP" and up, up, and he stumbled | on. His ankles froze and he had to lean on the lumber to follow the | wagon, his arm froze before his face, and in such position was he found with mute and frozen arm raised | stiff before him as if protesting to Heaven against his fate; his knees froze and he staggered, no longer could he hold to the wagon; so he wan dered by the side. This, too, was late | in the second night, more than twenty1 hours after the blizzard begun, but still he felt the fingers of his baby in his hair, and on, on he struggled, and the mad light from the window danced1 before him again, and using his yet unfrozen arm he tore the last sem- blance of his lips away and boldly bat tied alone with death. Over sand-hills- and sage-brush he tumbled and rolled. staggering to his feet, then falling over and over and up and on. trying to reach his;wife, his baby and his home, till struggling, fighting, crawling for more thsnstwo miles through the sand- hills after his knees froze, then beat- ing the sand and bush with his numb limbs after he could no longer stand, the great hero of our first civilization here at lastlay stiff upon the sand and the warm breezes from the celestial land warmed his spirit out of its frozen temple of clay, and good angel laid hold of the reins and guided him home.
 America has great Generals, great statesmen and great philanthropists, but doubt if she has truly greater hero than John Ford. Fighting for home against the implacable elements; suffering every pain, doubtless, which the body is subject to; wrestling like Jacob, as it were, alone with his God;1 dying in a protracted struggle of two nights and day-let me hear of him recorded that no nobler bones than his have christened the Cain-cursed soul of earth since the Son of God took his body with; Him into the clouds. Thus perished martyrof emigration, and be his name enrolled a4ong with that of Whitman and Spalding, who fell slourg. the Indians in Oregon after they drove ''The Old Wagon across- the plains; and thus he perished. thej herS as we'll of the first civilization of Southwestern Kansas! May he restin Inter Ocean.
 Bronson Alcott's dietetic views color these eniorams ir hia dou1b4arSs I