The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-11-28
SHERIFF. REDGRAVE.
STORIES or A DISTINGUISHED BRIT
lSH COLUMBIAN.

Stamped Out q 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,
is the town of Donald, on the Canadian
Pacific railroad. 1t used to be known
as o wide open town, but it is now
a sedate little place of nearly Z, 200 in
habitants. 1t is the meeting place Of
divisions of the railroad, and from that
reason takes ON q commercial impor-
tance that other towns of the same size
along the railroad lack. It also has an
added importance from the fact that it
is the home of Sheriff Redgrave, the
chief official Of all that country around
for a great distance.
Sheriff Redgrave is q distinguished
man not only because he holds the chief
Office thereabouts for many miles, but
because he has a notable past. He has
had many fierce campaigns with the In
dams, has fought his full share of dead
ly duels with desperadoes, has drop
ped his man On more than one occa-
sion, knows what roughing ii means in
q country the widest of the wild, and
for years before such a thing as a rail
road was thought of in that country was
q marked man.
Sheriff Redgrave is always amiable
and almost always cheerful. Once q
year, however, he is m~anifestly trou-
blsd and downcast. It is o custom in
Donald ON these occasions to wait until
o goodly collection of citizens have ar
rived, and then this conversation usual
ly ensues:
Good morning. sheriff. You seem q
little troubled this morning. You look
blue. Nothing gone wrong, has there?"
some one will say, and the sheriff will
make this response: .s.a
"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 / never a shake off its emem-
brance."
''Indeed?" some one will say, and at
that invitation the sheriff will tell this
story of an eventful day i'm his career,
one that annually fills his soul with sad,
ness:
1T was just 80 years ago today that
I was up in the Caribou country with
the dearest friend / even had. He was o
noble fellow, one that i would have
gladly given my life to any day were
there occasion to do SO. We were walk
ing through a gorge n afternoon, and
by 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, n 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 I saw at a glance that IL was
either his life or n or perhaps both Of
ours. He came right for us, roaring and
determined to kill ms. :
MY friend was q nervous man, and
/ could see that he was q little fright
ened. Now, you know that I never lose
my nerve, and 90 I said to him that /
thought he had better give me the gun
and let me kill tine bear, 80 az TO make
sure of the job. He agreed and seemed
to be glad to have the responsibility of
his hands. The bear came straight for
us, and i 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 q neat job OF
it. When the bear was about ten PAGES
of, i pulled the trigger: That bullet
went straightatoi it's mark, of course, but
do you know, just asitsstruck 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, 90 that
1t flew back to us and killed my friend
instantly by my side. Yes, this il al
ways a very sad day with me, and ] arm
sure you will excuse me III I 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 i'm 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 q camp OF
Indians where there was an epidemic OF
smallpox raging. It would never do for
him to return home after having been
exposed TO that contagion, and it also
was incumbent ON him as a man with
. sympathetic heart to try 10 stamp out
the terrible disease He and his friend
pondered over the situation for o long
time, and at last . plan came 70 them.
{ How do you suppose we stamped
that smallpox ont?'' the sheriff says as
he tells the story.
well, il was this way. Neither OF
Ms had any medical education, and II
we had it wouldn't have done amy good,
for we had no remedies with us, and it
would have been impossible 20 make
those Indians take amy medicine. What
do you think we did? We inst rounded
mp all the Indians that had the disease,
and when we were sure that we had Q
cry one of them and had burned all
their effects we buried all the Indians ~