The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1892-07-23
LAST Of. the cAulounS.
An Old Kentucky Trapper's En-
counter With Alligators.

l
An Old Kentucky Trapper's En-.
counter With Alligators.
! A few miles below here, upon the
banks of the Green river, there lives
in a lonely cabin a gray haired mar
whose age is past three score and
ten. His once powerful frame is
bent with age, and wrinkles upon
his brow grow deeper year by year
His name is Hardin Calhoun, and
he il the last of bis race race Of
hardy frontiersmen who came here
with Daniel Boone, long, long time
ago. Hardin Calhoun, like his FORE
fathers, has led the life of hunter
and trapper. There is not the big
game here that there once was,
neither is the old trapper able to
take the hunts and make the fights
that characterized his early life. He
trapsSthe small game in his neigh
borhood now, and lives the quiet,
peaceful life becoming to one of his
age. He smokes q corn cob pipe,
and with his dog, his only compan-
ion, makes short excursions into
the timbers near his home.
"I've had many fight with bears,
panthers and wild CATS" said the
old gentleman to the scribe one day
recently, land I've had good many
close shaves and ugly times in my
day, but the most miserable night
of my life was spent on raft on
the old Mississippi river thirty years
or more ago. That was the night
that my hair turned white in a
night" and the old trapper told
once again of the most thrilling ad-
venture of his life. He and fellow
trapper made contract to take a
raft of logs down the river to New
Orleans. They met with no adven-
ture until they were far down the
Mississippi, near their destination.
Late one afternoon, while they were
slowly drifting down the stream,
the two men were startled by the
shrill cry of baby from the banks
of the river. Again and again the
infant wall went up from the shore,
and Calhoun finally determined to
pull out to the shore in a skiff and
see what was the matter with the
youngster. His partner was op-
posed TO him going, but the cry of
that baby was more than he could
stand. When he reached the shore
be found a chubby little baby boy
lying upon an old quilt, hollering
with all his might. The child was
alone in the forest, which was in
tested with wild beasts. It had evil
IDENTIFY been deserted by its cruel
parents, and the rough, kindhearted
trapper quickly made up his mind
what to do. He gathered up the
baby and the quilt in his arms, took
them into the skiff and pulled back
to the raft. The other raftsman was
greatly surprised when he saw the
youngster, but he fully agreed with
Calhoun that that was the only
thing to do under the circumstances.
They took the baby boy into the
little shanty on the raft and made
him as comfortable as possible. The
child soon fell asleep and all went
we'll until late that night. When
the baby did wake up he woke up
yelling, and the appearance of two
strange faces did not quiet him any.
In fact he yelled louder and louder
with every breath. A sudden lurch
Of the raft warned the raftsmen of
danger and they hastily left their
little charge to hollow alone and
went out upon the logs to see what
the trouble was. The sight that
met their eyes made their blood run
cold. There were alligators on every
side. The river appeared to be full
Of them.S Some of them were already
crawling upon the raft, with their
ugly jaws open showing long rows
Of white teeth in the starlight. The
,wo men grabbed up rails that were
lying upon the raft, and began to
knock the alligators back into the
water. 1t was a struggle for their
ives and the life of the little charge
who was the innocent cause of all
he trouble.
For two hours they pounded the
.lligators over the heads with the
heavy hickory rails. Their hands
we're torn and bleeding, but they
Kept bravely on in the fight. It was
ife or death with them, and the
natural feeling of self-preservation
vas strong with those two hardy |
,rappers.
After what seemed days to the
;wo men the baby stopped crying.
md one by one the alligators disap-
2eared. They had evidently been
attracted by the cries of the child.
II was broad daylight when the
ast one was gone, and the men
'ank down in their shanty complete
y exhausted. Long hours after
ward they landed and put the baby
n charge of nurse.
"Yes," concluded the old trapper,
my hair turned from black to gray
n that one night, and it's been gray
lvnr osnno -