El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-06-20

| FAcher eVlOenGly wanted TO make
this depression. so he was asked TO do
| Their provisions soon gave out and
they lost their way in the in terminable
| snow drifts. In order to make any
progress one man went ahead and wal
lowed and houndered along in the spow
and cut path through by sheer
strength. The others followed, and as
fast as one leader gave out another
took mis- place. They were about to
| cast lots
At this point Packer hesitated. "For
what purpose?' was asked.
| ITO see which would make meat for
the Others" was his startling reply.
They were saved this. however, by q
strange chance. 10 winter time coy
ote will follow every trail in the hope
OF picking up food. One came upon
them at this opportune time and was
shot.
THE meat supplied food for several
days, when Lottsenheiser pushed on
ahead and came across q government
| cow lost and imbedded In the snow. In
the meantime herder was looking for
lost cattle and ran upon Lottsenheis-
er's trail. Following it. he caught up
with tho poor Dutchmsn, very nearly
dead. He took him to the camp of the
herders and they formed a party which
started back to rescue the other three.
They were found one after another
strung out along the path Lottsenheis-
err had cut ous, George Driver, with
the remains of toe coyote clasped tight
ly in his grasp, being the last. After
recruiting at the cattle camp they
made the remainder OF the way to the
agency through snow up to the arm
pits and SO difficult was the trip that
they tainted when they got there.
NOW I'll tell you how l started.
Knowing nothing of these things at
the time, another party IVES made up
shortly after Lottsenheiser left. It
was composed of Stawson Wilson Bell,
Israel Swan, James Humphrey, Frank
Wilson, George Noon and myself. At
ter talking it over with Ouray we de-
cided to take the upper trail, like the
fools we were, without snow Shoes"
Here Packer suddenly stopped, ri
veted his eyes upon the floor. and sat
rigid, lost 10 contemplation. There
WAS furrOw of anxiety in his fore
head, which deepened until ne gave
himself a snuddering shake, and, with
out wore of explanation, continued
his story.
STORY OF THE CRIME.
I'VE left some time in January, with
a little meat, flour and coffee, blankets,
coffee pot, TN cups, frying pans, and a
which was my Own, more like
a tomaf awk, for it was double-edged,
and gun. The Ratchet was used to
cut firewood. We calculated we had
food enough to last for seven days, but
soon saw from the nature of the ground
that it would take much more time to
reach the agency II we had only tax
en- the other trail.
"Three days after we left camp we
cut our meals down to one day, and |
On the ninth day we ate the last NOR |
sci. For over week we had been |
laundering over ridges and spurs and |
down into canyons and ravines, through |
snow most of the time and |
when the sun did shine blinded by its
glare. Some of us were for turning
back to camp-and l would to God we
Ill had been. But we would probably
nave been in as bad fix any way we
turned.
The snow was never less than three
DR. four feet deep and in some places IL
was over our heads. We avoided the
very deep places and kept on working
over the ridges and spurs until we fin
ally reached the timber line. 1t was
81 this time that we learned to eat rose
buds, which we took raw and cooked |
n our tin cups. In some places where |
The snow was badly packed we had |
10 cut our way through with the hat
chet. Old man Swan generally packed |
The cooking traps and the others took |
turns cutting path.
AT the edge of tim Der line we camp
I'd for awhile, but how long l do not |
1t was then we begau to |
Eat our mocassins. We tore Off por-
lions of the blankets TO wrap our feet. |
We then cut the moccasins into strips, |
ore off the hair, rolled up a string and |
,hewed On 1t until it was pretty we'll |
nasticated. For DAYS we wandered |
.long the timber line, trying to find an
easier way down the mountain. We
made up our minds to go down anyway,
or our moccasins were gone and no
more rose buds were to be seem We
had absolutely nothing to eat.
st is singular thing that the
strongest man among US was the first to
weaken, and the ifeeblest. Swan stood
he best of all, although it was evident
lie could not stand long on his legs.
Bell was beginning to show symptoms
If madness, but nothing had been said
bout drawing lots nor never was at
my time. But we were in a horrible
TX. The seeds of the rosebuds had cut
'ur insides and we commenced to bleed
uternally. Our matches were all gone
md we carried fire in the coffee pot.
I'VE finally made a landing at the
DOT OF the mountain, but by that time
Ill Of US were pretty wild. Bell was
ray, but apparently stupefied. About
wo days after we went into camp Bell
eebly asked me to go up on the hill to
ur right to see if 1 could discover the
gency anywhere about.
II took my gun and started out, leav-
ng them all on the ground beside the
re with their blankets pulled up over
heir heads.
Along the sides of the hill 1 found
,any erosebuds, and these helped me {
long. From the top, which l finally
aimed, there was nothing visible ex-
ept the wide expanse of white, and so