The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-08-28
A KL0NDIkER HERE
The Fearful Story Told
by J. w. Barry.
Sick In His Cabin for Month With
the Body Of His Com
panion.

j. w. Barry of San Francisco ar
rived yesterday by the bark Mohican.
He will remain in this city for some
weeks. He is a returned KlOndiker
and his experiences in that frozen re-
giOn may be of interest and serve as
a warming to those who may contract
the gold fever:
Mr.. Barry was for twelve years fore
man of the Spreckels Sugar Refinery,
and went to Alaska in search of for
tune two years ago in company with
w. w. Duffield, an employee of the
same corporation. He has re-
turned with tale of suffering which
perhaps has not parallel in the his
tory of the frozen North. The re-
turned goldseeker is hardly the same
man who left San Francisco in 1897.
At that time he was buoyant with hope
and health, weighing in the neighbor-
hood of 200 pounds. Today he is a
mere Semblance of his former self,
having, through hardship and suffer-
ing, lost eighty pounds. Yet this man,
whose story is replete with sensational
passages, declares that he is going
back to the Klondike regions with two
kObjects in view: to bring back gold
and the body of his partner, which is
buried in a forsaken cabin at the up
per end Of the Triangle river.
u 1t is just two years since Barry and
Duffield, the latter now dead, started
over the White Pass with two other
San Francisco men-W. Roster and
w. Duff. The party experienced the
usual rough trip, the unfortunate Duff
field becoming snow-blind for short
period. On reaching Fort Yukon, Bar
ry and Duffield separated from their
companions, going up the Porcupine
river as far as Black river From
there they proceeded up the Triangle
river and encamped at the foot of the
mountains. For weeks they toiled in
an effort to locate the yellow metal.
At this point Duffield was taken sick
with scurvy and finally had to go
around on crutches. His illness be-
came so critical that Barry had to
stop work and devote all his attention
to the sufferer Shortly before mid
hight on April % Duffield died. Barry
was Frustrated from sorrow and over
work, and while scarcely able to crawl
around, through weakness, he man
aged to dig a pit in the center OF the
cabin and place DuffieldS body in 1t.
The hole not being deep enough, the
knees of the dead man, which had not
been Strengthened out after his de-
mise, prOtruded.
For one whole month Barry lived in
the cabin, sick and distressed, his only
company being the body of his part
ner, whose knees emphasized his pres
ence The loneliness of his condition
becoming past endurance, Barry made
a supreme effort to get away. Although
the river was only fifty yards from his
cabin, it took him two days to crawl
on his hands and knees back and
forth with blankets and provisions for
his trip. He then craWled into his
canoe and cast himself adrift, but it
was not long before he was caught in
an ice-jam For three days he re-
manned in the boat, suffering untold
horrors. When found a few days Ia
ter by an Indian he was in an uncon-
scious condition. The friendly native
packed Barry to Fort Yukon, and from
there he was sent to Circle City, where
DR.. Partridge, of 733 Shotwen street,
San Francisco, is located Under his
kindly ministrations Barry recovered
and was enabled to leave Alaska and
return to San Francisco.
Despite these hardships Barry in
tends returning to that cherries coun-
try, and hopes to bring back gold and
the body of his partner.