The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-12-29

Everybody was WELCOME. There was
smell of red liquor in the frosty night air.
The violin at the NJ. & NJ. began to hic-
cough before midnight, but the dancers
kept better step to the uneven measure
than they had been able to do before.
Niger" Jim can dance. He is as grace
full as was the elder Fritz Emmett, and
the fiddle and the piano seemed to dis
cover a likeness as he waltzed with the
little blonde that came over the trail
with "Snohomish joe" his trim legs
dressed in knickerbockers and german
socks and moccasins. Softly the Cuckoo
Is Calling Now they jolted through,
time after time, during the night, quit
ting it to go and take a drink at Jim's
expense but returning to it Immediately
as the next waltz was called. The
leather-lunged man who calls the dances
developed new register in his voice.
The Mamaluke Wolf dogs rested this
night while they listened to that STAG
cato. 1t should be said to the credit of
'Nigger" Jim that he tried not to play
favorites tonight, but the other blonde
the taller one-became jealous of her
mate, and longtime friendship was in
terrupted, for the little one was very
successful in her attentions to the lion
Of the night and danced the companion
part to the Fritz waltz most frequently.
But blondes and brunettes alike danced
every dance with somebody; a line of
familiar faces stood along the bar hour
after hour. the atmosphere thickened
with the fumes of alcohol and smoke
The blondes and brunettes tried as they
danced to join in the drunken songs that
ricochetted in from the bar-room. The
candles burned out and were renewed.
'Nigger" jim gave over dancing and
sat down by the roulette wheel with the
little blonde to watch beside him while
he lost over two thousand dollars in an
hour. One by one the crowd staggered
out into the bitter cold and the next day
began.
Saturday, October 30.-The Waterman
on guard at the barracks Of the mounted
police reported having seen the frozen
body of a man pass down the river on
an ice foe at Gaybreak
Sunday, October 31.-Thermometer eight
degrees below. Went by way of the
shore ice to the Indian village a few
miles down the river for the purpose of
buying moccasins. there being none to
be had at the store. Found nearly all
the Indians sick with pneumonia, the
men particularly.
A young, jauntily dressed Episcopalian
minister, accompanied by a doctor, was
moving from tent to tent, doing what he
could for them. The round tepees made
of skins were fringed with icicles on the
outside, caused by the snow melting from
the top, where the smoke escaped. The
fire in the tepee made 1t quite warm and
very smoky within, but the crevices
about the edges admitted cold air. With
feet to the fire and head in line with the
tepee vents, the Indians coughed and
moaned. ! helped the priest to carry an
old fellow from one of these faulty tents
to log cabin, where he would have some
| chance. All the way down the shore L
! found small boats frozen up in the ice,
| where those who could come in then I'M
able to land at the city, had succeeded in
! getting in through the agency perhaps of
| the eddy in the river that is formed
! there. A number had remained where
! they managed to land and built their
| cabins
Wednesday, November "a raft with
| forty head of dressed beef went down the
| river before daylight this morning 1t
| belonged to Charles Perdue, who, with
! another man, was on it at the time. Not
knowing where they were, they attempt
ed to make a landing about ten miles
| above the city. John Peterson got ashore
over the floating ice with a line and tried
i to make 1t fast The line slipped and
he ran ahead and tried again. 1t slipped
or broke and he ran ahead again and
! failed again. He continued this run
i along the shore over the smooth ice, I'M
| able to make the rope hold the tremen-
! dous swing of the raft, until wholly ex-
| hausted, he was compelled to let the rope
! go.
| He was without hat or coat or means
/ of making a fire and had no notion of
! his whereabouts. With no other purpose
! than to prevent freezing, he kept on
| down the river. A turn of the stream
| brought a light into view. He thought
! it was some camper and hurried forward.
! AS he travelled more lights appeared and
! he finally realized that he was within
sight of Dawson. The raft will probably
| go on to Circle City. Thermometer eight
! below
! Thursday, November A boat with a
! party of six, chiefly hailing from Che
| halls, Wash, made a landing to-day. 1t
/ was coated inside and out with ice. 1t
| was the last to arrive of three boats be-
! longing to one party and was so far over
due that it had been given up for lost.
! With the party was H. B. NJ. Miller of
| San Francisco. who was picked up by the
others In a shipwrecked condition at the
canyon. He left San Francisco with a
] party of four, two of whom went back
! leaving him and a young man named
! Crane in possession of an elaborate out
fit for four. They were joined by two
! other men named Darling and Johnson.
| Their boat ran into the walls of the can
| yOH anu WAS Stove III N1lIl0T ana lar
! ling sprang into the river with a rope
| in an effort to reach a sandbar near
! there. They became tangled in the rope
! and were compelled to let it go. They
/ reached the bar in time to see their boat
turn over, and Johnson and Crane go
with il. johnson climbed on to the bot
/ tom of the boat and threw rope over
| Crane and pulled him UP also. The mast
! of the boat is supposed to have struck
! bottom and retarded its progress to-
wards the rapids below. They were fair
| ly entering them, however, to certain
death when another boat came by and
! the two men sprang into it as it passed.
| Miller and Darling were taken off the
bar and carried through the rapids by
another boat. All they had was carried
| away and lost. Leaving a $4,000 equip
ment, Mr. Miller says he arrives here
with nothing but a suit of clothes and
his nerve. He may employ the latter to
carry him out again.
Friday, November SIT has just de-
veloped that among the people who float
ed down stream during the period when
the ice was running light was man and
woman doing an elopement. The man
and the woman and the deserted hus-