Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-06-09

few could stay on the ice at a time and
then it would sink and sway under our
feet. The man in the water was a
good swimmer and made a desperate
struggle to keep his head above water
and did SO until the line of boards
was in 20 or 80 feet of him, when he
went under, but his head came above
the surface again and he made a brief
struggle only to go down again. He
did this twice, then disappeared and
we saw him alive no more. Gould he
have held out a few seconds longer a
board would have been thrown across
the hole and his life saved. Just be-
fore he went down he said: "Hurry
up, boys; Pm almost under"
We now turned our attention to the
two men who were standing on the
ice. We tied rope enough to a sled to
reach from the shore to the men. The
lightest man in the party lay down on
the sled, pushing and pulling himself
along with his hands and feet. When
he reached the two men and they were
ready We pulled them In as fast as
possible and landed them safely. They
had been standig there for about a half
an hour expecting to go down every
moment, but their nerve held out until
they got into the tent, when both of
them cried like children.
One of them told me afterward that
it almost broke his heart to hear his
companion appealing co him for help
when he couldn't move without GER
tain death to himself and no possible
help to the man in the water. Both
bodies we're recovered after much
dredging (the water was 40 feet deep)
and buried on an island near here.
We hear many reports of people being
drowned, but some of them turn out
to be false.
I suppose you have heard of "Swift-
water Bill" He and his party of q
camped right near us for awhile and
moved on down. We heard that he
and two of his party were drowned
down there, but it turns out that the
mounted police got after him for
smuggling and he left the country.
Now, / don't want you all to think
that 1 am going to get drowned or
anything else happen to me, for I am
just about as safe here as any place
and am going to get along all right.
We have been getting papers here for
35c, but since the trail got bad they
| charge SOC for a daily. We get papers
from Seattle in about five days.
Whenever a boat arrives at Dyea or
| Skaguay the news men start over the
trail with a load of papers and dispose
of them very rapidly, especially since
the war with Spain began, which, by
the way, seem to be rather a one
| sided affair.
Am sorry I did not get your letter
of March 1 and the ones you SEN by
private parties, but powerful glad to
get the one 1 did. The mail service
is some better here now since Uncle
Sam established a Post Office at Sheep
| Camp and the Canadian Government
one at Bennett.
Daylight is very plentiful here. In
fact, it doesn't get dark at adjust a
sort of twilight for a few hours. 1t
seems rather odd to go to bed while
the u is shining, and in the morning
OIL getting up one feels that he has
over slept himself entirely.
The trees are budding and the flow
ers beginning to bloom. Was glad
that Andrew and the others wrote
some, too. 1 like to hear from them.
A man just came by crying papers of
the 18th and 1 dug up SOC and took
one. He said he left Dyea with 900
and only had a few left.
Well, Joe, 1 expect this letter will
make you tired. 1t is a long one for
me to write, but l hope something in
1t will interest you all, although a good
deal of it seems to me to be hardly
worth writing. 1t is quite likely that
1 wont write again before / get settled
somewhere, but think a letter directed
to Dawson will reach me. So please
write when you get this and direct to
Dawson, Northwest Territory, via st.
Michaels. l want to write to Thede
and cousin Jimmie before I leave here.
Love to Sallie and Ruth and all the
rest. Kindly remember me to MIR.
Barnes. Yours faithfully,
E. M. LAKENAN.