The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1898-08-04
FIELDS OF ADVENTURE.
THRILLING INCIDENTS AND DARING
i DEEDS ON LAND AND SEA.
a Pennsylvania Tells of His Experience
in the Chilkoot Avalanche-A Miracu-
Ious Escape From Death-An English
mans Neryy Ride Out of Russia.

IL
in the Chilkoot Avalanche-A Miracu-
Ious Escape From Death-An English
mans Nervy Ride Out of Russia.
Milton Black, who lives near
Punxsutawney, Penn, returned home
recently from a journey to the gold
fields of Alaska. He was caught, with
200 others, in the great snow slide
in Chilkoot Pass April 3, in which
Mrs. Maxson, of the same town, lost
her life, and had a thrilling experience
and an almost miraculous escape from
death. He was buried under twenty
five feet of snow for eight hours, and
was finally dug out alive, but so much
the worse for the accident that he
found it impossible to proceed on his
journey, the long interment under the
snow having so injured his lungs as to
produce violent hemorrhages.
1t is interesting to hear Mr.. Black
tell of his experience, and of the
wickedness of the average klondiker.
Gas soon as you get on the TRAIL" he
says, "Sunday-school is out. There's
no further use for hymn books, and
prayer meetings are not in it.
There were about two hundred peo-
pie in the party with whom Mr.. Black
entered the Chilkoot Pass. They had
pitched their tents to rest and re-
cuperate when a snow slide came
down upon them, covering their tents.
After considerable labor they all man.
aged to get out. They concluded to
get through the pass as quickly as
possible, and for that purpose all
took hold of long rope, with the
guide in front. Mrs. Maxson, who
had been covered up with snow once,
was discouraged and hysterical. She
said she would go no further. She
would lie right down there and die
rather than attempt to go through the
pass. She was urged to take hold OF
the rope. but would not. Two or
three stalwart men offered to carry
her, saying that they would not go on
and leave woman to die. She would
not be carried While they parleyed
for ten minutes the second slide came,
which they would have escaped had
there been no delay. About hundred
of them were covered beneath twenty
five and thirty feet of snow.
Those who were not caught by the
slide went to work at once to dig the
others out. 1t was a slow and ardu-
ous task, and out of ninety-one per-
sons thus buried, only seven were
taken out alive. One of these was
Milton Black.
The slide occurred at 9 o'clock in
the morning, and he remained buried
until ) o'clock in the evening. One
popularity of the situation when COW
cred up with the snow, Mr.. Black says,
was that he could hear just as well as
though he had been in the open air.
The groans, prayers. lamentations,
and curses of those beneath the av-
alanche were plainly audible. Some
prayed fervently, bade good-by to
their near friends, and gave up. Others
cufSSu buclE ldle, duti uoCN lhSAi ioSe
breath to utter profanity.
'sl made up my mlnd," says Black,
"that would die as 1 had lived, and
that it was no use to pray at that stage
of the game. 1t seemed to me that 1
got breath about every five minutes.
[ had little hope of ESCAPE, but re-
solved to live as long rs L could. The
snow was packed SO tightly about me
that Z could not move a fraction Of an
inch. 1 thought every time / got a
breath OF air that that WAS my last
one, but | never became unconscious,
and it seemed to me that / had been
there AZ least a week when shovel
struck my shoulder and 1 heard a
voice saying:
81 have struck a man.
els he dead or alive?" said another
voice.
Il don't know" answered the man
with the shovel, and he soon had my
head uncovered. When 1 got a good
breath of air l felt that 1 was all right,
and l said: "There is woman right
in front of me. Dig her out. have
air now and can wait. They then pro-
ceeded to uncover Mrs. Maxson. But
she was dead. You can form some
idea of how solldly the snow was
packed" continued Mr.. Black, "when
/ tell you that when they had me all
uncovered but one leg up to the shin
I could not get it out until the snow
was all shovelled away from it.
would not go through that experience
again for all the gold on the Klondike. .
"Ride For Your Life.''