The San Francisco call., 1898-12-12
SEA
 AND GALE, BUT NOT ID LIVE Horrible Suffering of
 John Hicks. JUMPS FROM BURNING SHIP GAINS THE BEACH FIFTEEN
 MILES AWAY. Clad Only in Underclothes He Wan ders for Days in an Alaskan
 Storm and Dies After Be-
 ing Found by Indians.
GAINS THE BEACH FIFTEEN
 MILES AWAY.
BY HAL HOFFMAN.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

JUNEAU, Alaska, Dec. 5. (by Steam ship Farallon to Port Townsend. Dec 1D.-John Hicks, the passenger lost from the steamer Utopia. while she was afire off Cape Fanshaw, in Frederick Sound. on the night of November F. reached shore in safety, after a battle with heavy sea and icy water that is almost incredible His awful experience is al most without precedent.
 The story comes from S. R. Moon. missionary at the Rake Indian village. in letter sent by Indians to Wrangel. Hicks and two other men occupied room next to the captains. The fire broke into the room, and they rushed out in their underclothes. Hicks jumped into a boat that was hanging over the side by one rope, the other line hav- ing been burned away. It was cap- sized, and went adrift. There were no oars. Hicks, by good fortune. got hold of the boat again in few minutes. Sometimes he held to the keel and sometimes sat astride of it until pitched into the water.
 Thus he battled with an angry sea for nearly twelve hours, being washed off every few minutes. Eventually he
 
 near Portage Bay, a distance of about fifteen miles from the place in Fred erick Sound where the boat went adrift.
 Hicks had no idea where he was. He was a stranger in strange land. and dressed only in his underclothes. Wringing the water out of them. he set out to find some habitation. when there was nowhere habitation of any kind within at least 100 miles. The y1d ha Sfi howled. The mercury was down to 30 or 40.
 Hicks travelled for eight days under these conditions, crawling In his naked ness, and with bleeding feet. over bar nacled rocks and cliffs. At night he buried his feet in wet moss to keep them warm. In the morning the moss was frozen. He stood in sea water to thaw the frost out, the water being little warmer than the atmosphere
 He finally gave up in despair. and lay down to die on the beach. where the high tide would carry his body away He did not want his body torn to pieces by wild beasts.
 Before he lost consciousness he heard singing. Had the heavens opened and the voice of a rescuing angel come down, it would not have been more astonishing to him. Indians in Alaska sing to keep themselves warm. It has peculiar stimulating effect upon the circulation and vital organs.
 He stood up and saw a canoe laden with Indians coming around a point. They took him with them into camp. and provided him with blankets and food. His feet were badly frozen.
 The Indians took him to the Rake village. There he was cared for by Missionary Moon, but soon after being put to bed lost consciousness. He was sent to Wrangel in a canoe in care of Indians, for that was the best thing to do under the circumstances. but he died on the way, and the Indians buried him on the beach, where his grave was marked.
 Hicks believed that the Utopia was destroyed by fire, and that he was the only survivor. He was tall. dark and about 26 years of age. He gave his mothers name as Lizzie Hicks, and her residence Tacoma, Wash.
 Tonight a crew arrived on the Cot tage City for the Utopia, and she will leave for the Sound as soon as she can be beached and the propeller attached.