Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-10-30

most part invalided men who remained
with him.
Flood Brought Crisis.
It was decided that Porter was to blaze
his trail as clearly as possible, and thar
Williams should follow it undeviaUngly.
so that there might be no chance OF
missing the relief that would be forth-
coming within four or FIVE days at the
latest, as they then imagined would De
the case. For the next FIVE days Porter
column pushed ahead night and day, and
indeed. with the torrential rains that Tell
without intermission, there was no ap-
parent difference between the hours OF
light and of darkness.
On the evening OF the fifth day they
reached the Lanang River and camped
near the clearing where the expedtuon
had left the boats and taken to the land
on the Journey up. While they slept here
the river suddenly rose fifteen feet with
in an hour, and the whole party mad
the narrowest escape from drowning.
What food and covering they sun nao
was washed away. The army post at
Lanang on the sea was no more than
days journey away in boats. but there
were no boats available, and the party
was starving.
Four of the eight white men. after
the night of the inundation, were found
unable to lift hand or foot. Porter ana
the other men carried them for few
hundred yards, and then, most fortunate
w. they came out upon a clearing, where
q few wild potatoes were growing. FOR
ter left his disabled men here and pushed
on through the flooded country, where the
water had obliterated all trace OF the
trail.
On the evening of the 9th this little
column experienced a crisis, and was
saved by an incident which In other days
we would have called miraculous. The
men were now dead beat and sat looking
with blank despair at each other and over
the flooded valley through which they
had journeyed. Suddenly upon little
hillock rising a few feet above the noo-
they spied two wild dogs that had taken
refuge there. The men were not long In
catching cooking and eating them, and
with the strength derived from this feast
on the afternoon Of the 18th they stag
gered into the army post at Lanang with
hardly breath enough to tell Captain
Pickering the desperate straits of those
they had left behind.
1t was now that Lieutenant Kenneth
williams chance came to distinguish
himself and place his country under obli-
cations, as General Chaffee has so well
said His captain selected him to lead
the relief party and TO save the dying
marines at any cost. On the morning OF
the twelfth he set out with twenty men
in bancas native dugouts). They fought
the current all day, but in the evening
the little flotilla was swept out 70 sea,
and Williams and the First infantry men
who accompanied him were with difficulty
rescued.
on the morning Of the 18th Williams
tried again and was again swept out to
sea. He and his men pulled until their
hands were raw and their arms dumb.
and vet they made not an inch Of head
way against the mountain floods that
swept down the Lanang valley. In the
garrison the feeling was that all the
marines would be found dead even il
Williams did succeed in ascending the
river. Unaffected. however, by these
gloomy forebodings, the young lieutenant
pushed on.
on the 18th he advanced about four
miles. On the morning OF the 18th he
could make no Roadway at all, not an
inch, and then, providentially, in the
afternoon the floods subsidized as rapidly
as they had arisen. Padding day and
night Williams came UP with the wild
potato clearing where Porter had left his
men ten days before and found them still
alive. though barely so.
Noble Work Of the Rescuers.
The men OF the First foot loaded the
poor fellows into the largest banca. and
with an escort they started down the
Lanang toward the coast, while Kenneth
w llIdInS, with the REMAINDER Oh the
lief column. pushed on into the wilder
ness which had apparently swallowed up
the great bulk of the marines. Keeping
steadily on, almost without rest, for
he was we'll aware that an hours delay
might mean the death Of all the men
he was striving to rescue, forty-eight
hours later. on the afternoon of the 18th.
Kenneth williams. Of the First foot, met
A. s. Williams, of the Marine Corps, for
the first time and under tragic circum-
stances indeed.
The crisis in the dauntless retreat had
come. For thirteen days the marines had
contended with the nature of the ground.
with the almost uninterrupted rains and
with starvation. One by one the weaker
among them had fallen out and refused to
be saved Some had gone mad and
crawled away on hands and knees, max
ing the jungle ring with their maniacal
laughter; others had simply sat down
and refused to move. One man said,
Lieutenant, If you want to do me
favor you can blow my brains out If
you can't do that, why just go on
In the thirteen days Of struggle ten
men had succumbed, and now the sur
vivors, about twenty in number, were
preparing to die, too. but, like good
Americans; to sell their lives dearly
From the very first hour of the retreat
the native carriers with the rear guard
column had been unfriendly, but until
few hours before the rescue they had
not broken out In open mutiny. They
had patiently bided their time, watching
their intended victims growing weaker
and weaker smiling with Ill concealed
delight as they saw one poor fellow after
another throw his rife into the river
and stagger on. When this. the last
camping place was reached, all the car
riers. with the exception Of three. desert
ed the column and. wading the river,
pitched their camp on the opposite shore.
from which they viewed the tottering
remnants OF the once stalwart marines
with undisguised hostility.
The natives were all sleek and fat as
seals. As long as rations had been plen-
tiful they had received the same amount
of food as the white men. and when the
provisions gave out they foraged for
| themselves and refused to share the
roots and tubers they found with the
marines. Williams and his men lay in
stupor for several hours after reaching
| their last camp. while the native Samar-
| ties watche.- them and waited as the
vultureS hang upon the trail of a wound
ed stag. At last williams pulled himself
together and asked the three remaining
carriers to cut frewood. but they only
laughed at him and repeated his request
to their comrades across the river amid
shouts Of derision.
Williams called to his men. and as he
did so one of the carriers stabbed him