The San Francisco call., 1898-09-23

~N~>S don't lie dOwn-don't lie down.
 And l kept saying this over and over to myself. l grasped the branches of bushes and trees. and pulled myself along, saying first to one leg, Come along here, old boy and then to the other, Come along here, old boy, don't go back on me now Thus I showed, through the foothill brush and bramble.
 God! how I did want a drink of water. My tongue was cracking for it. Little rlvulets were right before me, but I could not reach them. I felt that if l ever got down on the ground l would never be able to rise again. Once I tried it at what I thought was favorable brook. But as I stopped over there was an awful pressure on my head behind-the weight of weak ness. I barely caught myself in time and strengthened up. It Is a thousand times worse to see cool water ripping before ones lips without being able to sip it than 1t is to be cracked with thirst and no water in sight. We'll, I finally got down the river some miles to a white mans camp
 The police started right back up the river They found the boat we'll grounded on the point, but no Indians were sight. It seems that the oldest Indian, young buck of about 21 years, had been taken sick when the four reached the point. He picked up Me hans bag and some grub and went back to camp with the load Finding but one body in the boat the other three, as anticipated by Fox, started back up the river to find him or traces of what had become f him. The murderous whether Fox had fallen into the river or escaped. They found the broken log, they admitted afterward, and knew he had got ashore and was alive.
 In the meantime the police had ar rived at the Indian camp. The young buck who had pleaded sickness was in his tepee. He had two squaws, a young one and an old one. He denied having seen boat or even white man in the vicinity. The handcuffs were put on him and he was taken down the river.
 The officers started on a hunt for the other natives, but they returned to camp soon after the police left and learning from the squaws that the old est buck had been bagged they took to the woods instantly. The police en- gagged the services of another Indian and eventually all three were captured farther back in the mountains, making for the Cassiar. They had to depend on their guns for food and were thus tracked. The hired Indian went into their camp pretending friendship. He seized their guns at night and all were soon helpless in handcuffs and lariats. The youngest is only fifteen years old. The Indian captured with the squaws was taken before Fox as he lay in bed. Fox had been propped up into a sitting posture. The Indians eyes bulged out as soon as he saw Fox, as though he was suddenlj confronted by an appari- tton. He swayed first to one side then the other. He thought Fox had been killed and that he saw his ghost. He threw up both hands and exclaimed:
 "Klach!" Which, translated, means that he never saw Fox before.
 Fox identified all four of the natives at the trial in Dawson. The youngest one was recommended to mercy and will be imprisoned. The other three have been brought back to Tagish, near the scene of their crime, to be executed.
 The hanging will take place Novem- Der next-three at once from tho same gibbet. They are young renegades who captured the squaws and undertook the murder in order to have a supply of grub to last them through the winter. The coming hanging is already having the desired moral effect on the Indians of the coast and interior They are all talking about 1t and there will be hun dreds of them in attendance. Possibly there may De trouble, but 1t IS not thought probable. It is expected to have enough police present to put down any outbreak. Fox will be there
 Mehan was a hard-working prospec- tor. but he never had much luck. He. sold his only piece of property in Juneau, to Banker B. M. Behrends last winter and started out with a stake.
 Fox says he believes that something supernatural helped him out of that boat and pushed him along through the foothills when he was about to give up, and that the shade of old Bill Mehan will be present at the triple hanging Had he not been able to escape, almost as miracle, the natives would have destroyed the boat by fire, obliterated all other marks of Identification and their fate would probably have never been known.
 This is the first case known of Indians attacking gold-seekers for plunder. In the Lake Teslin basin and around the headwaters of the Pelly, Stewart, Big Salmon and other rivers of the vast water shed of the Yukon are isolated parties seeking tie golden fleece.
 Results at Great Falls, Mont.