The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1911-05-21
IN A FROZEN VALLEY. FOUR CA.
MADAM POLICE PERISHED-
WASTED TO SARAOOWS.
WORRIED ONLY At FAILURE
With a Burnt Twig the Leader of
the Unfortunate Party Scrawled
a Will Of Twenty-Five Words-An-
other Crazed by Cold Shot Himself.

Ottawa, Canada, May 2O.-.All that
will ever be known OF the greatest
tragedy in the annals of the North
west Mounted Police, the starving
and freezing to death last February
OF Inspector Fitzgerald and three
constables, Kinney, Taylor and Car
ter, was brought here to Col. Frcder
ick White, controller of the mounted
police. by special messenger yes
terday
The messenger brought the diary
kept by Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald's will,
scraWled in his last hours with a
burnt twig ON peice OF battered and
torn paper and the report Of Cor
poral Dempster, who commanded the
relief and searching party that found
the bodies one of the men, Cow
stable Taylor, craZed by his suf.
ferings. blew his mead off with his
shotgun
Inspector NtzgeraUs will was
drawn as he lay beside the body OF
Constable Carter, whom he blamed
for the partys misfortune. II con
cluded with the words, God bl S.
us all" and bequeathed his money
and papers to my dearly beloved
mother" who lives in Halifax COL
one White will not allow yer.
batim copy of the will, which con
tains only twenty-five words, to be
printed until Mrs. Fitzgerald has
seen the document.
Hoped to Meet Indians.
The diary was found March % by
Corporal DemDster. in charge or the
search party sent out from Dawson.
1t was under the robe on which the
bodies of Constables Kinney and
Taylor were found. The first entry
in the diary is December 2l 1910,
and the last is February ,, 1911. The
entry of January II reads as fol
lows:
"Twentv-three below, with strong
S. W. wind which turned to a gale
in the evening. Did not break camp;
sent Carter and Kinney off at Z a.
m to follow the river going south
They returned at 1880 p. m, and
reported that it IAN right up into
the mountains and Carter said that
it was not the right river. left
at a. IN. and followed a river run
ming south, but could not see any
cuttings on it. Carter is completely
lost and does not know one river
from another
I'VE have now only ten pounds Of
flour and eight pounds Of bacon and
some dried fish. My last hope is
gone and the ony thing | can do
dogs to feed the others and our
selves, unless we can meet some
| Indians.
Sorry He took the Guides Word.
I'VE have now been a week look.
ing for a river to take us over
| the divide, but there are dozens of
rivers and I am at a loss should
not have taken Cartcr's word that
| he knew the way from the Little
Wind River"
This is the true explanation OF
the catastrophe II is evident that In
spector Fitzgerald had relied upon
Carter as guide to Dawson. AT
the time that the party turned back
they were about 26i miles from Mac
Pherson and twenty-five miles from
Dawson They had travelled from De
cember 81 1910, unil January H.
1911, continuously, with only one
day off, a distance of $40 miles.
From January Is to February ), on
which date the last entry was made
they travelled 23O miles The entries
in the diary are not extensive, but
some are terribly suggestive of the
hardships they were undergoing;
the trail was exceptionally heavy
and they were breaking through ice
getting wet and the cold was intense
Worried only at Failure.
Inspector Fitzgerald in his diary
gives some inkling as to what most
affected his mind; it. seems to have
been the anxiety to perform the
patrol and not to return to Fort
Macpherson defeated. His expression,
My last hope is gone and the only
! thing | can do is TO return seems
to indicate this Had he been a less
experienced traveller he would have
turned back sooner
Corporal Dempster's report shows
that the unfortunate men had wasted
to shadows. All were strong. pow
erful young men, and in the best OF
health and condition when they left