Mohave County miner., 1907-07-20
A Heroic Indians Death and Mirac.
 uIous Escape.

zona, brings us details of the heroic
 death of Mohave Indian and the ; miraculous escape from drowning o
 Mrs. w. w. McCune and little boy.
 The river steamer Hercules, Capt
 Cook commanding, left Empire Flat
 on the 1lth of this month for up river
 points, having on board Mrs. w. w.
 McCune and six-year old son as pas
 sengers. When some distance above
 Empire landing rough water was en-
 countered and in rounding bend in
 the river sand wave broke under the
 bows of the boat, swerving it so sud
 denly that the ropes of the steering
 gear were snapped off, and Mrs. Me-
 Cune and son, who were setting on
 camp stools on the upper deck, were
 precipitated into the river. In falling
 the mother frantically clutched at her
 child and caught the little one in her
 arms just as the bows of the boat
 swept over them. As they rose to the
 surface the woman began a brave
 struggle for life. The boat was drift
 ing helplessly down stream, but the captain made every effort to reach the struggling woman with life preservers,
 but was unable to get them within her grasp. She held her boy with one arm and with the other was bravely making an effort to keep her head above the murky waters. The whirl- pools and sand waves were breaking around her and she was becoming ex- hausted when two Mohave Indians threw the oak gang plank overheard and then bravely took to the water and showed it within her reach. Grasp ing the plank the mother placed her child thereon and the three then tried to navigate it toward shore, but their weight was too much and the plank sank below the surface. Realizing that the four would drown if they remained with the plank the two Indians struck out valiently for the shore. The river ran strong and only one reached safety, the other sinking below the muddy waters of the Colorado. Meanwhile Mrs. McCune hung to the plank with the grip of despair and although at times she was dragged beneath the water by the rolling sand waves and whirlpools she used all her strength to drift the board toward the shore. Af- | ter drifting down stream about mile the plank was caught in one of the large whirlpools and was gradually | drifted in toward the Arizona side. l AS soon as the nearest point to the | bank was reached she loosened her hold of the plank and struck out des- perately for shore, but her clothing had been wrapped so tightly around her limbs and filled so full of sand that she would have drowned had not a prospector witnessed her struggles for life and jumped into the water and dragged her to dry land. While Mrs. McCune held her boy on her arm and for life the little fellow was out with all his strength to aid his mother in keeping on the sur face. When taken from the water he said he must have drunk at least half ! buchet of water and did not appear to be the least bit frightened by his The mother was so ex- hausted that she had to be taken back to her home at Empire, where her husband is the storekeeper for the Quartz King Mining company.
 In all the history of the Colorado river, and it has the longest string of 1ictime of any river in America, this was one of the most miraculous escapes rom drowning ever recorded. The liver is at flood and is considered one )f the most dangerous bodies of water n the world at any stage. The water $ filled with sand and silt and this ills the clothing of person struggling n the water so soon that they are ragged down like bag of sand. The water does not flow smoothly like oth- ,r rivers, but it has rolling motion, ike the water over a dry bed of an lrroyo. Potholes are formed in the )ed of the river and these cause a 'wirling motion to the water, which is hard to contend with by the big boats hat navigate the stream. During the ,ime that this heroic mother was