The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1916-04-05
Of His Sufferings When
Lost In Mexico.
HAllUC|NAT|0Ns CAME TO HIM
81 Knew That ! Was Dying, But
Knew, Too, That | Must
Not Die"
FRIGHTFUL TORTURE ENDURED

of Baltimore, who for three days
was lost in the Mexican desert, re.
turned to Columbus to-day, with dis
patches from the front.
He told an intensely graphic story
of his fight southwark in an I'M
derpowered aeroplane. He carried
only a quart of water and his three
days ration was shaved as closely
as possible in order to decrease by
every ounce the weight to be carried
by his machine. He finally was
had run out.
After three days he succeeded in
reaching the American lines. secured
a new supply of oil and gasoline, re-
turned to his abandoned aeroplane
and resumed his trip to headquar-
| tiers at the front
Lieutenant Gorrel is typical of the
men of the upper air. He is COM
pactly built. His eyes and hair are
coal black. His face is tanned to a
/ leathery network of fine lines.
We started south eight days
| ago." said Lieutenant Gorrell, Tin
the oven-like, tin-roofed shack that
is the aviation base here. Flyers
were urgently needed at the front
and we were all glad of the chance
| to answer the call.
Darkness came when We were
about half way to our destination.
We had planned to land in the vi
cinity of Ascencion. Lieutenant
Willis and | were flying 5000 feet
or more above the height at which
the others flew and missed the land
ing. Ahead we saw light that
looked like a camp and We flew to
it. We learned, too late, that for
est fire had misled us.
willis flew north, looking for a
| landing place, and | circled to the
westward. | finally was forced to
| land because there was no oil and
no gasoline for my engine.
at was almost aS if God had
piloted. l couldn't have gone fur
Their and / landed in the only open
| ground for miles about. | did not
learn this, however, until the fol-
lowing morning. 1t was too dark to
see when | landed.
81 heard dogs barking and saw
/ the dim shadows of adobe shacks.
That spelled Mex to me, and I did
not want to see thin. To either side
elistened the peaks of mountain
ranges, running east and west. I
| decided to make for the northern
range, nearest to where | thought
our troops must be.
ION hands and knees, to avoid be-
ing seen, / crawled for hours. About
O'Clock I made the hills and slept
| until sunrise. That was Monday. |
/ wanted to get west, to the roadway.
AT noon with the water half gone
from my canteen, felt weakness.
My map showed that | was not more
than one-third of the way. There was
no sign of water and I turned back.
'The sun seemed to burn through
my clothes. I took off my skull cap
and it burned all the more.
Ahead I seemed to see a lake,
full of cool, splashing water. with
waves and whitecaps. | started to
run. and the beautiful lake disap-
peared. tried my canteen, but it
was empty. The wild fear that comes
over a man when he is facing some
thing that he can't understand,
seized me.
81 threw my canteen away, be-
cause ii was useless. In my mind,
though,was a picture of a saw-tooth-
ed mountain, far, far off ahead of
me. | plunged toward it.
Several times / fell and lay
stupefied. don't remember how Of
ten. but each time, when my senses
came back the vision of the saw
toothed mountain was ahead. 1t
seemed haven.
MY eyes bulged. My ears hum
med. My tongue stuck to the dry.
rasping roof Of my mouth. | knew
that was dying, but knew too. that
| must not die
Finally darkness came and a
bone-eating chill settled over me. Il
fell. my face landing in a water
hole.
81 doused my head in the water. III
splashed II over my burning shoul-
ders; waded in 1t TO cool my feet.
Then lay down on the bank with
my feet still in the water and slept. |
"A feeling that ! was freezing to
death aWOka me- I got m and haot