Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1894-11-15
SHERIFF REDGRAVE.
STORIES OF A DISTINGUISHED BRIT
ISL COLUMBIAN.


ISL COLUMBIAN.
The Gloomy Anniversary of His Friends
Death-How the Bear Returned Bull
let-The Sheriff Isn't Doctor, but He
Stamped Out q Smallpox Epidemic.
Lying in the picturesque valley Of
the Columbia river in British Columbia,
with the Selkifk 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 a wide open town" but it is now
sedate little place of nearly 1000 in
habitants. 1t is the meeting place of
divisions Of the railroad, and from that
reas..n takes on commercial impor-
tance that other towns of the same size
along the railroad lack 1t 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 great distance
Sheriff Redgrave is a distinguished
man not only because he holds the chief
Office thereabouts for many miles, but
because he has notable past. He has
had many fierce campaigns with the In
dians, has fought his full share of dead
lyr rduels with desperadoes, has drop
ped" his man on more than one occa-
sion, knows what roughing it means in
q country the widest of the wild, and
for years before such thing as a rail-
road was thought of in that country was
a marked man.
Sheriff Redgrave is always amiable
and almost always cheerful Once a
year, however, he is manifestly trou-
bled and downcast. 1t is a custom in
Donald on these occasions to wait until
rived. and then this conversation usual
ly ensues:
"Good 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 response:
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 very sad day with me,
and never can shake off its remem-
brance =
.1'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:
1T was just 80 years ago today THAT
was up in the Caribou country with
the dearest friend ever had. He was a
noble fellow, one that 1 would have
gladly given my life to any day were
there occasion to do so. We were walk
ing through a gorge one afternoon, and
by lamentable oversight had only one
gun with MS. 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 | think had
been stung by some bees He showed
fight, and saw at glance that it was
either his life or ono or perhaps both OF
ours, He came right for us, roaring and
determined to kill us. e1
my friend was a nervous man, and
could see that he was little fright
ened Now, you know that never lose
my nerve, and SO l 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
to be glad to have the responsibility of
his hands. The bear came straight for
u.s. and took deliberate aim. He had
his mouth open, and l 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
off, ! pulled the trigger That bullet
went straight to its mark, of course, but
do you know, just as 1t 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
ways 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 1t 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 1t 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
the terrible disease. He and his friend
pondered over the situation for long
time. and at last plan came to them.
i'tHow do you suppose we stamped
that smallpox out?" the sheriff says as
he tells the story.
"Well, it was this way Neither of
us had any medical education, and if
we had it wouldn t have done any good,
for we had no remedies with us, and it
would have been impossible to make
those Indians take any medicine. What
do you think we did? We just rounded
up all the Indians that had the disease,
and when we were sure that we had ev-
cry one of them and had burned all
their effects we buried all the Indians up
to their necks in the ground and left them
there for the night. The next morning
we came around to see how they were
getting along, and-would you believe
it?-the wolves had come during the
night and had eaten off the heads Of ev-
cry one of thoss Indians. That stamped
out the epidemic in that whole section,
and to this day there has never been
case Of smallpox there. 1t was rather
rough treatment, but ever since then
that tribe of Indians have been among
my very best friends. New York Sun.
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