Omaha daily bee., 1906-03-18
Merry WHILE LIFE LASTED
story OF LOEEer who would Not
Fisht, but Displayed Rare
Courage.


It was a man from the west who was
talking.
Twenty years ago." he said to a group
around the midnight lunch table, Il was
out In the far west, nifty miles from any
where over mountain roads that made II
ten times as far, looking after some timber
property for a friend Of mine. 1t was a
new life to me and so interesting that l
stretched my time to the limit and didn't
get back for six months For a month of
that time lived In a lumber camp around
a sawmill in the very heart of the great
woods. The men working there were not of
the highest type In point Of polish and the
elegant graces, but they had the nerve OF
heroes and they hated a coward.
Among them was young fellow who
was sober and quiet, but was not in prime
favor because he had refused to fight
man who had called him liar. They did
not abuse him for lis weakness but they
let him see quite plainly that they did not
admire the man who had cold feet as they
expressed it. The young fellow, however.
did not resent their sights, nor did he
make any effort to change their opinion OF
him. l got to know him quite well and
liked him immensely, and though he never
told me why he did not have 1t out with
the man who had insulted him, i knew
enough OF him to know he was not
coward. / said as much to the men, when
1 had become on friendly terms with them,
but they shook their heads and wanted
proof. OF course l couldn't give It, but Il
came at last and in a way that convinced
beyond all question.
zone afternoon while working about one
Of the circular saws the young fellow
John Chadwick was his name or, at least,
the name he went by-slipped and fell. In
an instant one arm was on below the ell
bow and one leg just above the knee. He
had thrown his arm out in falling and the
saw had caught 1t.
THE dozen or more men working about
the mill were paralyzed, but Chadwick was
cool and collected. The blood spurted from
the severed arteries and it was plain that
he would bleed to death in short order
unless something was done, and that very
quickly The men gathered their wits suf-
fciently to stop the saw and drag Chad
wick away from it, but they were so badly
ratified that Chadwick actually laughed at
them. The reaction had not come and he
sat up with back against log He looked
down at the bleeding stumps of leg and
arm and he knew what they meant. He
might be saved. for there was a doctor to
would be a helpless cripple always. and
that in a country where only whole men
could find place. Suddenly he wrenched
himself away from those who we're try
ing to stanch the blood. and reaching for
his revolver-everybody wore a gun in
that region-he shouted for the men to
stand back. 1 guess they thought he was
crazy, for they scattered and got behind
anything that promised protection.
Chadwick laughed. Don't be afraid,
he said. I won't hurt you II you keep
your hands off me, but the first man that
comes near me I'll shoot. I'm much
obliged to you for trying to save my life,
but 1 don't want to live in the fix I'll be
| in If the doctor can patch me up, and I'm
going to die right here. and as soon as the
blood will run out of me. All ask Of you,
besides keeping your hands off now, IL TO
bury me decently and put a sign up over
the grave. saying: John Chadwick. He
was no coward
Then he sat there with his gun in his
| hand, keeping back the men who wanted
to help him and paying no attention to the
blood that was running In two big, pulsing
streams from hts body He grew paler
and paler as the men watched him, still
afraid TO come within reach, and the gun
In his hand began to be too heavy for him
to hold out. 1t wavered for minute and
dropped at last, and as It did, Chadwick
smiled a faint goodby and fell over. The
doctor was at his side in an instant, but
he was too late. When they buried him
they sawed a monument from a huge log,
chiseled deep into it the inscription he had
requested, and put It over his grave.
Whether IT is there yet do not know, for
the mill moved across the mountains six
months later, and 1 don't suppose a dozen
people have been in that neighborhood
| since. New York Press.