The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-02-16
COLD THAT DRIVES MEN MAD.
m Celebrated Father Pat q Victim or
the Canadian winter.

HULL, Canada, Feb. i5.-The recent
severe weather has been terribly trying
In the pine districts to the northward.
In the woods. owing to the shelter given
by the trees from the winds. the cold Is not
seriously felt.
On the other hand, TO emerge from the
protection of the trees and encounter the
violence Of the wind on a lake is 70 face
physical danger. As a rule, too, the winter
log and provision roads are made TO cross
as many lakes as possible, in order to save
~chopping and clearing.
A string OF provision teams last week
pulled up at a shanty which stood on the
shore OF the Yellow Beaver Lake. Noticing
thai; the teamster on the last load did not
dismount, the other men went TO him and
found him crouched forward, dead. Acute
pneumonia, the travelling foreman dag
nosed it, and probably he well described
IN that term the sudden effect Of the biting
wild IN lungs already weak.
There was trouble before that in the
same shanty A middle-aged man had
over-taxed himself one cold Sunday while
hunting for some game to make a stew
for a weakening comrade, and had barely
managed TO stagger back again, with hands
and face frostbitten. Thu lumberers had
Immediately plunged his hands into cold
water and rubbed his face with snow; but
although this was the best of all things TO
do for him, the poor fellow, screaming
with pain, went of into delirium, from
which he drfted into what it is feared will
be incurable lunacy.
Much the same thing happened last month
TO the weli-knovn SKY Pilot Of the Rockies
the Rev Henry Irwin, a Church Of Egg
- - 80. TO-
Pat. OF kossland, British Columbia OF the
unconventional habits and romantic ath-
letic Christianity Of this unsellsh clergy
man innufnerable stories are told.
Father Pat was as fearless rs he was
charitab be. On one occasion, near Donald
on the Canadian Pacific Railroad. three
Italian aborers we're caught under an ava
lanche OF snow while clearing the road.
Father Pat had been. detained by the
slide and his first thought was 10 get to the
men and carry them to the engine for con-
veyance to the hospital at Donald. II was
only 300 yards but every yard was in danger.
Another slide might come down to where
the men we're prisoners, at any time.
But with his athletic frame and a life In
danger, Father Pat was ca pa bic Of almost
anything. II took him half an hour to get
] inc uTel lNdlldl OuNf lHth II'Ec a. ANo
other end, recognizing his form. went out to
meet him. Many volunteered to go back
with him. but he refused any assistance
with a CHEEKY:
That's all right, boys, I'll pack 'em over.
sure enough
Three times he went across that slide
loaded with his living burden, and three
times the yard engine went TO Donald with
| d. l.lf l.al .,ho,L.aI Italian npVDirO hack
twice TO find another waiting. Father Pat
went on with the last one, tired out, but
happy, and almost every one in the now
dismantled railroad town went out. to meet
the engine at the hospital. Nothing much
was said. but when a subscription came
round for church funds the boys all dived
pretty deep for IL.
Another story may be told Of his expert
ence in Rossland in its early days, where he
was busy making the acquaintance Of miners
prospectors and others He determined
10 hold an evening weekday service, and
proceeded 10 tack up round the town notices
70 that effect. go.
One Of these was placed on a building
opposite a saloon presided over by a man
who, having a natural antipathy TO parsons
and religion, Immediately tore II down.
Father Pat, being notified, immediately
called on the ~saloonkeeper, sayug
L put a notice up outside.
well, that's hone Of my business was
the answer.
I want you TO tack il up again.
Like thunder III tack IT up was the
remark Of the saloonkeeper.
L don't mind how you tack It up, 80 long
as is il up said Father Pat. taking hold
of the saloonkeeper's arm.
whether il was the grip on his arm or
the look in the parsons eye IL not known,
| L,, 49,. ualnnpk.pDar walked ont and tackled
THANK YOU said Father Pat. courte-
ously, i think since you say II is none Of
your business il will give you more time
to attend TO your business II you cav my
notices alone in future
That man was a firm friend Of the strong
man who had mastered him, and no notices
were touched In future.
Father Pat IL believed to have furnished
the id, a Of and to have been the model for
the hero in the well-known popular novel.
The Sky Pilot
II has lately been learned that this greatly
beloved and eccentric man was found
wandering in the bush near Sault au Recollet
on the island Of Montreal on Jan. II. His
identity was not then known, As he had
suffered severely from exposure TO the
elements for no one knows how many days,
he was taken to a city hospital, where he
died a fortnight later without completely
repaininp his intelligence.
His identity was discovered by letters
found in his clothes when his body was
being prepared for burial. How 1t hap
pcned that this well known and universally
respected man came 20 be wandering about
the woods near Montreal, thousands Of
miles from where he was supposed TO ~,
H. for the present al least a mystery Inc
doctors decided that his dem"nted con-
dition was the effect. and not the cause Of
his exposure to the cold.
Medical science has furnished several
reasons for the mania which SO often, as
In the case again OF Young Critic al Chi
cago lately, follows exposure TO trpst.
From personal experience the writer he
lievcs that il Is the indesCrihable but cN-
/ circulating pain caused in the frozen part
when the blood resumes its circulation.
This is intense enough TO have The eject
Of severe shock upon the nerve centres,
and so TO induce dementia. The agony
OF the thawing-out process Is beyond eN-
preston, and any one who has endured
Il will acknowledge that at tho time death
seemed to he infinitely preferable.
IL happened some year, ago that IN con-
sequence Of a protracted thaw in mid
winter teams could not move provisions