Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-01-25

Blown South by Heavy Wind
Thought They Were Near
Salton Sea, Lieutenant
Robertson Says.

Wellton, Ariz.. Jan. 20.-Lieut. Col,
Harry g.. Bishop and Lieut.. W. A. Rob,
ertson, missing army ~aviators, exhaust.
ed from walking four days in the wilds
of Sonora, Mexico, without food or wa
ter, We're found yesterday more than
80 miles south of here by a civilian
searching party near Wellton.
Lieutenant Robertson was brought
here today by the searchers. Lieut..
Col. Bishop. too weak TO walk, was left
sario mountains. where he was found
last night at 10 O'clock.
Two Sandwiches and two oranges
each was all The food the men had
tasted since they left the North island
aviation base at san Diego, January
10, OF thcir flight. Robertson told the
searchers.
Water which they took from the
radiator of the %aeroplane after they
landed on the east "a of the gulf OF
California was exhausted four days
ago, Robertson said. They had tasted
none since. he old the searchers.
Land Far South of Border.
Robertson said the members of tina
searching party were the first humans
he had seen since he landed. He was
unable to give definite information an
TO the district where they landed, but
thought it was $50 miles or more south
of the Arizona border.
The propeller of their aeroplane was
broken, Robertson said, when they
made a landing about 1890 p. M
Wednesday, January 10. Enough gas
cline for 80 minutes flight remained III
the tank. he said.
Lieutenant Robertson gave his story
In detail last night to a representative
OF the Associated Press as follows:
Wind Blew from North,
1--WE left San Diego at $50 a.. m,
January 10, intending to so across the
mountains east to CaleXico. lMsuffi-
cient maps made it necessary TO
rely largely on compass readings. For
this reason to keep north OF the Next
can border, sailed a course % degrees
north OF east. / countedon this course
putting me into Imperial valley, we'll
north of the border and then having
to sail south for about so miles.
I'm order to cross the high noun
ta1ns it was necessary to travel high.
averaging more than 1000 feet. From.
this altitude it was impossible to con.
test a very strong north wind which !
encountered in the mountains.
II then turned southeast. After about
30 minute of his course | could see
distinctly through a haze a large body
OF water, / thought to be the Salton
sea; The only map of this section |
had showed Salton sea much too far
south so this confirmed my belief that
l was right.
Neither Colonel Bishop nor myself
could possibly figure on tho drift Of
the machine. AS it was hazy it was
impossible to see well enough to pick
out objects clearly. The strong north
win also made our rate of travel much
faster than was figured on. When
after about 80 minutes of search for
the southern Pacific railway which l
knew to be near the Salton sea, / de-
cided to land in investigate. The
landing was almost completed when
the aircraft struck soft ground and the
plane tipped up This was at 1890
p. M, and l still thought we were on
Salton sea and were only convinced of
our error after close examination of
surrounding country. We Their decided
on walking back to the Imperial valley.
We put n gallon-of water from
the radiator into an oil can and with
q lsht lunch started northwest. That
was at 4:30 p. mr., January 10.
Strain Too Much for Bishop.
we Kept a northwest course, travel
by night n day. Our water gave
out Sunday, January IA. BY that time
colonel Bishop was SO weak our prog
ress was slow. We agreed it would
be wise to separate when he could
travel no further and take the only
available course. | to continue on and
seilu a ald as Soon as possible.
I'M L did at daybreak Wednesday,
January II. ! kept to the northwest
and at %daybreak the 18th found a trail
or one of the rescuing parties. Fol-
lowing this trail, l caught the party
about 9 a. m. Thursday. They imme-
diate!y set out to find Colonel Bishop.
following my directions and back trail,
found him about 8 p. M, January 1S.
he was too weak to move but still
conscious. 1t was necessary to leave
MN quiet for q few hours until he
could recover his strength. / was
brought out by automobile this after
noon. leaving Colonel Bishop in the
care Of the rescue parties, which had
| consolidated"