Iditarod pioneer., 1914-08-15
ALASKA PIONEER FINDS
 ONLY SHELTER IN JAIL


 In the federal jail at Fairbanks where he was sent on a fake charge of vagrancy that he might not suffer for want of food and proper medical care is an Alaskan pioneer who has exhibited more bravery and unGaunted courage than most of the cele brated warriors one reads about For the last few years his life has been a series of disappointments and misfortunes and now he is we'll along in years, almost sightless and minus both feet This man Is George A. Terrll, commonly known as Monte Ter Till
 Although he is in jail for no misteed but only for his own welfare, this sturdy pioneer wants to be released and have a chance to make his own living, though just how he can accomplish 1t in his present condition is not quite clear to his friends lie wants to go back to his cabin at Chena where he asserts that he can provide for himself, and he declares that he is far from helpless.
 MT Terrill is native of Indiana. He will not tell his age, but he says that in 1863 he tried to enlist in the Union army but was not quite large enough For many years he lived in Colorado. and at one time owned several thousand dollars He came to Alaska in 1898 and prospected on the Stickine river He wandered about the NarthIand until 1903, when he built the first roadhouse in the Panama valley, about twelve miles above ToIovana. A little later he built another roadhouse further up the river.
 During the winter of 1908 Mir Terrill was prospecting on Monte creek, which de rived its name from him. The creel. emp ties into the Tolovana river. MT. Terrll attempted to go across Minto lake to his cabin on the Panama pulling with him a sled lead of supplies It was a cold day, the thermometer registering about 25 de grees below zero, and when night came on he concluded to leave his load and seek shelter until the next day iu roadhouse some distance ahead.
 It was after leaving his sled that he came to some thin ice in the lake caused by a hot spring beneath, and breaking through it, he climbed out soaked to the skin As he had plenty of dry clothing on his sled, he determined to return to it, but he missed it in the dark He wandered on through the cold night until he reached the pros pector's cabin he had left the day before.
 He knew his feet were frozen, and his partner, who was at the cabin, hurried away for aid. To the military telegraph station word was brought concerning MT. Terrill s condition and the soldiers hurried to his as slStance.
 The feet, however, could not be saved. and Mir. Terrll went to Seattle, where one foot was amputated between the ankle and the knee. and the other was cut off just in front of the heel. He was provided with arti- ticial feet, and with these he started out to face the world
 For nearly two years he wandered around in British Columbia, and finally he returned to Alaska where he obtained job on the Copper River railroad He had worked there week, when one night the man in the bunk beneath him saw a string hanging from TerrlPs bed The man below pulled the string and an artificial leg came with 1t and struck him in the face.
 Until then nobody in the camp knew that MT. Terrill was crippled in any way, but when the foreman was told he dis charged the unfortunate man, who then mushed his way to Fairbanks across the trail
 Terrill has little cabin at Cinema, and there he has lived most of his time since returning here He has earned his living by cutting wood and by other honorable ways,
 In May his sight began to fail him, but it did not discourage him. In June he started for trip down the Panama with two other men in small boat. The two men deserted him when it seemed that Mr. Terrill was going blind, but he found his way to a wood camp on the banks of the river, and was there, practically sightless when the government steamer Jacobs was on her way up from Fort Gibbon to this city. The Jacobs put into the camp for fuel, and Mir Terrill was induced to come here on her.
 What could be done for the independent pioneer prospector, who objected to being an object of charity was a problem that bothered his most sincere sympathizers, and at last, just when he was preparing to leave for his Cinema home with only $50 in his pocket, 1t was determined to have him ar rested on charge of vagrancy.
 He has been in the federal jail a month now and good care and good food are showing their effects on him His sight is slowly returning, and he asserts that he is able to see people quite distinctly across the street.
 'Tll soon soon be all right, and I'm is the cheerful way the unfortunate man talks. But I want to get out of here and to get back to my cabin. If they'll let me go I will be able to take care of myself, for I have food and home and l am not