The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-15
HEMMED IN BY FOREST FIRE.
TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE OF TWO
CALIFORNIANS ON A MOUNTAIN.

| through 10 SAFETY.
From the San Francisco Examiner.
eve were completely surrounded by the
raging fire and agreed that rather than
be burned to death we would blow each
others brains out" said George Hely-
mann of San Diego to an Examiner repre-
sentative.
Young Heylmann and his companion,
Fletcher Courtney, have just returned
from and outing on Palomar mountain, in
San Diego county. where they had an ex-
perience that would have caused the hair
on an ordinary mans head 10 turn gray.
Courtney and left the city about two
weeks ago." said Heylmann" for the pur-
pose of taking an outing and prospecting
trip on Palomar mountain. We bought
buro to carry our provisions and outfit
and walked all the way. distance Of
about sixty-five miles. We arrived at the
mountain without mishap and stayed for
a day or two with party Of campers who
had pitched their tents in Doaue's valley,
on the south side of the mountain. We de-
cided to push on up the mountain and,
leaving some of our clothes with the
camping party, started out.
| Crossing French valley, we came to
Hootacoot canyon, where we struck camp.
This was far UP on the side of the noun
| tain. Fierce forest fires were raging on
the other side and were crawling nearer
to the top every moment. That morning
! the flames appeared on the summit and
presented a grand spectacle as they shot
up the pine trees 100 feet or more. Jump
ing from tree to tree and through the
dense brush, the fire swept on with roar
| that would have drowned the thunder Of
the ocean. The mass of flames was crown
ed by dense volume of smoke.
Getting Nearer to Danger.
"In order to get better view of the
magnificent sight we decided TO climb fur
Their up the mountain. Thinking that the
flames would scare out the game in the
brush, we took cur guns along, perhaps TO
brng down a deer or mountain lion. We
left our tents, provisions and burro be-
hind and started on the ascent. The brush
was so thick that it was necessary for us
to crawl on our hands and knees the
| greater part of the way. Occasionally We
| would stand up TO get our bearings, but
as the fire appeared to be a considerable
distance away we did not think of dan
ger.
Imagine our horror when, after a crawl
of about thirty yards, We rose to our feet
| and saw that We were completely sur
rounded by fire. The wind had carried the
burning brands over our heads into the
brush below. The unburned area in which
we were imprisoned was about $50 feet in
diameter and was being lessened every
moment. AS the flames drew nearer the
heat became intense and the smoke suffo-
| eating. We did not know which way to
turn. The devouring flames hemmed US
in on all sides and there was no avenue
of escape Nearer and nearer drew our
hope of getting out of our trap alive.
1.-The heat became unbeatable. We had
to cover our faces TO keep them from bis
tering. The smoke was so dense that we
could hardly see. 1 was ready to give up in
despair and shouted to Courtney
Let's shoot each other rather than be
burned 1 had much rather die suddenly
than be tortured
Courtney had wild, scared expression
on his face as he shouted back
" Wen blow out each others brains.
Path That Led to Safety.
1--WE were in earnest. I cannot describe
our feelings at that moment. l thought
that death was near and / grew frantic.
The flames drove US back but we had to
go slowly on account of the density of the
brush. We had not retreated more than a
| few feet when to our joy we came upon
narrow trail, leading down the side of the
mountain. We could see the flames shoot
ing across it from both sides some dis
lance below, but it offered us an oppor
tunity to run for our lives, which we could
not have done in the thick brush. 1t was
the only hope of escape and we decided to
take It, We realized that we might be
roasted by the flames, but we valued life
dearly and were not going to give up with
out an effort TO get free.
eve had to act quickly, as there was no
time TO be lost. Hastily pulling off our
coats we tied them about our heads, leav-
ing only an opening large enough for us to
see the way This took only moment
and we started at the top of our speed
down the traiI I was in the lead and
Courtney was close behind. 1t was only
a short distance to the flames, and as we
drew near we were almost roasted by the
heat We kept right on through, and if
anything increased our speed. There was
no turning back then. Closing my eyes,
I plunged into the midst of the fire.
at was all over in moment. For
+unatelv I had on a canvas suit, and 1
think this saved my life. 1t caught hre
In one or two places, but was easily eX-
tinguished. II was so badly scorched
however, that the whole cloth turned
brown I was in place OF safety, ana
thanked heaven for the deiiverance.
One Fugitive Badly burned.
"Courtney was not quite so successful |
When about to dash through the flames |
he stumbled over a rock and fell to the |
ground. His hands were badly scorched |
nv the burning embers and his gun was |
broken on a rock He did not stop to pick |
up his gun, but jumped to his feet in a |
moment and was off through the flames. |
He was soon by my side and, save for |
his burned hands. was uninjured. Just |
before we entered that line of fire a tall |
pine tree fell near us and scattered burn |
ing brands all over us, and think Ii was |
miraculous that our clothes did not burn |
more than they did. We got out just in |
time. too, for three minutes afterward the |
whole area had been swept over by fire.
1--WE lost no time in getting down to our
camp, but found that the fire had been
there. too our tent and provisions were
a nile of ashes and our burro was no
where in sight. The animal either broke
the rope with which it was picketed or
the fire released 1t.
"There was nothing to keep us there, so
we went over to Doane's valley, got the
clothes which we left there, and started on