The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1894-11-15
SHERIFF REDGRAVE.

HHEKlET kEUGKAVE u.
eToRlEs OF A DISTINCT lsHEp BRIT
1871 COLUMBIAN.
me Gloomy Anniversary Of His Friend'l
Death-How the Bear Returned . Bull.
let-The Sheriff Isn't Doctor, but He
stamped Out . Smallpox Epidemic.
Lying in the picturesque valley Of
The Columbia river in British Columbia,
with the Selkirk mountains on one side
and the Rocky mountains on the other,
ls the town Of Donald, on the Canadian
Paciflo railroad. It used to be known
- wide open town" but 1t is now
. sedate little place Of nearly 2, 900 in
habitants. It is the meeting place Of
divisions Of the railroad, and from that
seasm takes on commercial impor-
tanoe that other towns Of the same size
along the railroad lack. It also has an
added Importance from the fact that it
b the home Of Sheriff Redgrave, the
chief official Of all that country around
tor great distance.
Sheriff Redgrave is a distinguished
man not only because he holds the chief
Office Whereabouts for many miles, but
because he has q notable past. He has
had many fierce campaigns with the In
dams, has fought his full share Of dead
" duels with desperadoes, has drop
ped" his man on more than one occa-
sion, knows what roughing it means in
country the widest of the wild, and
for years before such thing as rail
road was thought Of in that country was
. marked man.
"a Sheriff Redgrave is always amiable
and almost always cheerful. Once q
year, however, he is manifestly trou-
bled and downcast. / 1t is custom in
Donald on these occasions to wait until
q goodly collection Of citizens have ar
rived, and then this conversation usual
~ ensues:
'sGood morning, sheriff. You seem a
little troubled this morning. You look
blue. Nothing gone wrong, has there?'
some one will say, and the sheriff will
make this responses:
"Oh, no, with an apparent effort to
throw off his careworn look, nothing
is the matter, but the fact is this is the
anniversary Of a very sad day with me-,
and I.never can shake off its remem-
brance' -
''Indeed?" some one will say, and at
that invitation the sheriff will tell this
story of an eventful day in his career,
one that annually fills his soul with sad
ness:
''It was just 80 years ago today that
j was up in the Caribou country with
the dearest friend ever had He was
noble fellow, one that would have
gladly given my life to any day were
ing through gorge one afternoon, and
Iby a lamentable oversight had only one
gun with us. My friend had that. Sud
denly we came face to face with an
enormous grizzly bear, one of the old
time bears, tremendous fellows, such as
we used to have in these mountains.
The bear was angry, and I think had
been stung by some bees. He showed
fight, and ! saw at a glance that it was
either his life or one or perhaps both Of
ours. He came right for us, roaring and
determined to kill us.
MY friend was a nervous man, and
] could see that he was a little fright j
ened. Now, you know that I never lose !
my nerve, and so said to him that |
thought he had better give me the gun
and let me kill the bear, SO as to make
sure Of the job He agreed and seemed
70 be glad to have the responsibility of |
his hands The bear came straight for |
Us, and took deliberate aim. He had :
his mouth open, and I aimed to shoot |
him there and let the bullet penetrate
the brain. and thus make neat job Of |
It. When the bear was about ten PAGES !
of, I pulled the trigger. That bullet |
went straight to it's mark, Of course, but |
do you know, just as it struck the bear
In the mouth, that animal for some rea- /
son or other turned on his heels. The
bullet passed through his head, and the
bear, turning just as it was passing
through, DETECTED the bullet, so that
It few back to us and killed my friend
instantly by my side. Yes, this is al i
ways a very sad day with me, and am
sure You will excuse me if don t show
my accustomed cheerfulness. -
Sheriff Redgrave has another thrill
ing experience that he relates occasion
ally, and it illustrates his fertility of
resource in time Of great emergency
and reveals to some extent the reasons
For his popularity and advancement in
the estimation of his fellow citizens.
He was up in the Caribou country many
years ago and stumbled into camp of
Indians where there was an epidemic of
smallpox raging. Tt would never do for
him to return home after having been
exposed to that contagion. and it also
was incumbent on him as man with
) sympathetic heart to try to stamp out
the terrible disease. He and his friend
pondered oyer. the situation for long
time, and at last plan came to them
How do you suppose we stamped
that smallpox out?" the sheriff says as
ae tells the story.
"Well, it was this way. Neither of
as had any medical education, and if
We had it wonldn' have done any good.
!or we had no remedies with us, and it
would have been impossible to make
hose Indians take any medicine. What
10 You think we did? We just rounded
up all the Indians that had the disease,