The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-02-10
THE BABY WAS NOT HURT
Exciting Rescue Of a Child Which
Was Carried Off by an
Eagle.
Found in the Great Birds Nest
Playing With the Eag-
leta. b
John Patton's Perilous Climb Up "satan's
Thumb" to Restore = Little One
to It's Mother.

TAHLEQUAH, /. r., Feb. 8.-The month
old baby of Mrs. Hosea Kempsr WAS recent
ly carried OF by q ~bald-headed eagle to its
rock, q few miles from town, known as
"Satan's Thumb" Thu child, it appears,
had been carried into a meadow, some dis
lance from its mothers house, by its broth
ers n sisters, aged respectively 8, Z and 4,
and WAS forgotten by them when they went
elsewhere to play, and left lying on the
shawl spread on the grass. The mother,
not hearing the children's voices. started
ont to SEQ what had become of them, and
WAS about 100 feet from the baby. when she
saw the eagle swoop down suddenly and
rise, fapping its wings. She noticed that
it clutched something in its talons, but had
not distinguished what it was until the
child's cap. falling off, was DO. ne by the
wind almost to her feet.
Knowing then that it was her baby which
the eagle, probably installing for q young
animal, had carried of, tine poor mother
ran screaming after the bird, but fearing
that she might startle it into dropping her
child. she ceased to cry and followed it in
silence till she saw it asighG on the top of
'Satan's Thumb" She then notified the
people of the town, who were at first dis
posed to be i~ncIedulous, but, moved by her
tears and prayers. a crowd soon gathered
about the base of the rock. Nothing could
be seen, however, but n of the eagles,
whose nest had been built there for years.
circiing about. .'3atan's Thumb has only
been scaled twice within the memory of the
oldest white settlers in the country, for, of
an irregular triangular shape, it is quite
perpendicular on one side, leans forward at
an angle of about eighty-fve degrees on the
second, and 80 affords a very slight incline
on the third. This slope. however, is COW
cred with a scanty accumulation of soil, in
which wild ivy and other vines, a few
hardy shrubs, and even q good sized sap
ling or two had grown.
The task of scaling the rock was one that
abashed the ~stoutest heart. for. measuring
something like 100 feet in height, the climb
was one of extreme danger, not only be-
cause OF tho chance OF an unbroken fall.
but from the fierceness and strength of the
eagles. The poor mother ran from one to
the other of the crowd, b~eseeching them to
attempt the feat, and at last despairing of
help, was about to make q start herself,
when John Patton. a young man, the son of
= well-to-do farmer of the vicinity. dis
suaded her from the mad attempt. declar-
ing il she would remain quietly on the
ground TINT he would himself endsavor to
rescue the child.
After providing himself with a closed
basket, which he strapped to his back, in
tending to bring the baby dow in 1t If he
succeeded in reaching ii, the young man
began the ascent, amid the applause Of the
crowd. For the distance Of some fifty feet
this was accomplished without much
difficulty. because Of the growth OF shrubs,
which gave some slight footing. hut
these were succeeded ~ q bare patch of
nearly twenty feet, covered only with fungi
and grass. Patton. however. discovered a
TINY niche in which he could Just inaert n
part of his foot, and about four feet further
up a larger hole, and by drawing himself
up inch by inch he managed Il reach a
ledge above. With caution he tried the