Gilpin observer., 1905-10-12
SAVED By SOUvENIk
AMERICAN OFFICERS REMARS--
ABLY CLOSE CALL.
Joke of shiPmates Resulted in Psy
maturely White Head for Their vaza-
tim-Found in the Nick Of Time Nv--
Faint in Pile Of Bones.

chief machinist's mate in charge 81
the naval recruiting station in th.s
postoffice building to the Minneapolis
journal, holding up what appeared to
be half silver coin. We'll, akchuDa1
of mine in the navy has the her haIA
and it saved his life once. It's cosn1-
Of Colombia. We were doing duty aIrs
the isthmus of Panama and stopped. Gr,a
at little fruit shop. The coin is ouRr
worth about fifth of cent, but whsr'
we bought did not come to that, anuL
the old woman in charge of the shsG
took out knife and cut the coin IT,
two. 1t struck us as so absurd thsC
we gave her another coin and ksrRN
that as souvenir. We punched hoIsf
in the halves and strung them on our-
watch chains.
About year after that we wsrs
cruising in the Canary Islands srd
some of the Spanish dons at Las RHt.
mas invited the officers to graua-
ball. When we landed we saw a curl
GUS procession making its way ows
Of the town. What struck us as par
ticularly peculiar was that the captain
of the company walked in the rear
OF his soldiers. AS soon as We MskS
some of the natives they explained
that he was the head executioner amt
that the job was a hereditary, ons.
Although he is in command of a. co1rs =
pany he has to walk in the rear ansr
whenever he goes into cafe to ssE-
the proprietor smashes the plates as
soon as he has finished.
I'VE followed the procession to witt
ness the peculiar execution. FftrafIs
we came to a deserted place and
found that the method of executes.
was to place the victim in chair
where a steel band is placed arouIut
his neck. With the turn Of screw
the band is tightened.
after the execution we thought it
would be a chance to take picture
of one of the fellows, and my ctuuIs
got in the chair. We tightened up tTEn
band little bit and took the picture
Somebody then decided that we had
better leave him there little longer
and we strolled away to the grand
ball. 1t was SO interesting that we
forgot the poor fellow for couple Ut.
hours, and when we hurried back hs-
was gone.
I'VE did not worry any. supposins-
that he had gone back to his shio,
The next morning, however, he wzs
nowhere to be found and we went Oh ;
shore to search for him. To make -
long story short, We spent all morning
and most OF the afternoon in trying TO
get a clue. Just as We were giving
up in despair noticed an old native
sitting on the roadside. Around his
neck was a string and on the string.
was the half coin.
You can imagine that grabbed
the native and sent one of the boss
for somebody that could talk the Ilngcrs
1t seems that the natives who live ins
the Atalayan caves are supposed sos
take away the victims of the execrle-
tion and bury them in caves. TheS
get whatever is On the person.
I'VE started the old fellow up on
the jump and pushed him up the hills
on the end Of our walking sticks He-
led US by little paths and lanes,.
through the mysterious caves. aues
finally came to one that had a great
stone rolled up against its mouth ws
sol ~ tuuI III hurry. Lying on a
heap Of bones was the lieutenant in a.
dead faint. He was stripped and AIS
hair had turned white. We shonds
him up and gave him some brandy.
and in little while he came avouHnS.
THAT fellow had an awful lot .essc
Eerve. He declared that he knew ws
would get him out. but that we ware.
an awful long time doing it. He
thought the whole thing was a jofSs.
As he had been one OF the ringleaders
In all the stunts on board ship he toos.
the whole thing in good part ls
seems that he had dozed of. and. be -
ing one of the sleepers that you caut
wake up with an ak. never quiveress
until the natives had left him in the
cave for some hours"