The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1906-02-28
LOOKS FATE IN
FACE AND SMILES
HARD LUCK STORIES OF |. P. SLOAN
Body Scared, Scanned and Rifted
With Wounds, He Remains Hap
py as Babe in Toyland.

story it seems not
IT is surprising how much the hui
man body can Withstand before
death puts an end TO all sufferment.
There are instances where the prick
of a needle has been the direct cause
of death; and there are instances
where wounds about the heart or
human brain have not resulted seri
ously.
North Yakima numbers among its
citizens a man who is living curl
osity in a small way. If one-half
the history he gives of himself be
true, this man has figured in more
escapes and thrilling ex-
periences than any other person be-
tween here and the ocean. His name
is l. p. Sloan. He is sc years old.
solidly built, erect as an Indian and
running over with good nature, a
typical native of Michigan and a
typical westerner as well. Mr. Sloan
has resided in North Yakima about
five years, ard follows his trade of
millwright and machinist whenever
he can procure work that hasn't in
the contract a hidden threat in solid
agate type that if he takes the job
he will be injured in the machinery
some day. He claims to be a good
workman and says he can take a file,
a hammer, a screwdriver and a few
other tools into his kitchen and con-
struct anything from a popgun to
compound locomotive A glance at
Mr.. Sloan's manned hands, however,
would cause any one to doubt that
boosted ability now. Four of the
fingers are missing from his left
hand. They We're taken off by an
unlucky move while operating
moulding machine for the Three
Rivers, Mich, Cabinet company.
Two fingers of his right hand are
missing, claimed by another machine
at another time, in the Aspinwall
Manufacturing companys plant in
Three Rivers. To prove that the live
but noisy little Michigan town
doesn't look so good to him now as
it did years ago, he exhibits the
marks of a broken ankle sustained
there one day while he was making
snapshot at the ground with fall
ing scaffold. His ankle was badly
shattered, the bones broken in sew
eral places.
Shortly after his arrival in North
Yakima, while at work on build
ing on North Third street, he had
his second experience with a falling
scaffold it arrived on the ground
with its victims, Sloan among the
number, and he was carried home
suffering in body and mind all the
torments that could come his way.
While engaged with others in the
raising of the lower story of grain
elevator in Jones, Mich, Mr.. Sloan
met with an accident that all but
took his life. The framework of the
elevator fell on him and he was
caught in the ruins in such way
that his left breast was torn open,
exposing the ribs and lungs Sloan
has not a sound bone on the left
side of his body. He was a long time
getting over this accident, but in
the telling of it to a little gathering
of friends his face lighted with
smile when he recalled to mind the
rude Corset or harness that was
prepared for "molding him back in
to some sort of resemblance to a
man." 1t somewhat resembled a
corset, he says, real, genuine
lady's corset, only instead of being
made of whalebone and steel stays
covered with fine silk cloth and
sewed with silk thread and having
a delicate perfume of heliotrope
about it, his corset was made of
gunnysacking and coarse, strong
Irvine, and was laced about him with
leather straps, which were fastened
by iron buckles painted with japa-
lack. His sufferings were intense in
this instrument of torture. He could
brea.he but about a spoonful" of
air at a breath. He was very glad to
escape from Michigan with his life
Not long after coming to North
Yakima he secured work at bridge
and did well and had no
more accidents for a time. One day
down at Sunnyside, however, while
engaged on bridge over the Sunny
side canal, his evil genius seemed to
remember that he was having too
much of a good time without being
hurt some; it wasn't according to the
program that Sloan should stub
along through life without any more
accidents. One day when Sloan was
working about some false work the