Arizona republican., 1921-10-14


 A little more than two months ago an Associated Press dispatch from Prescott recorded briefly the finding of the body of August Kaufman and the rescue of his family in southeast ern Mohave county after they had been trapped without water on the desert. Now, at her little home in Pasadena, broken and scared by trag- edy, Mrs. Kaufman has related the story of her suffering in that horrible 72 hour fight against death.
 Most of the people of the United States can get all the water they want by turning a faucet-and they pay at most but a few dollars month for it. The others can get all they need simply by going to a well or ciStern-and it costs them nothing. But the Kaufmans couldn't get water by any means-and they would have given their all for it.
 Mir and Mrs Kaufman and their three children were on their way from Pasadena to a little ranch they had near Casa Grande. Wednesday, Aug. 10, they were on a short cut be- tween Yucca, Mohave county. and Congress Junction, in southwestern Yavapai county. That was the day their water ran out.
 What follows is told by Mrs. Kauf- man, together with the grim, fatal jest the clements had left them. Suf flee it to say that on Friday after noon a passing motor party found Mrs. Kaufman and the children, one dying, alone with their car on the desert, not four miles from the Clar- ence Hann ranch and within mile of 1 the Bill Williams river. Two days l later searchers found the body oi Kaufman on the desert not far from l Signal. He had fallen in the night | and died of thirst within 50 yards o1 I an artificial water reservoir fol i stock.
 l But to Mrs. Kaufman's story: I My husband, our three children ant Il I (said Mrs. Kaufman) had started to drive to land we own in Arizona We were told of a short cut acros! the desert. Right away the sand be gan to frighten me-nothing but sant and strange hills, hot and white And it was Wednesday.
 The heat was awful. We had onl. little water left. By and by WI came to sign post, pointing towar' water We kept going in the direc tion the sign said.
 (Years before three prosPectors, themselves nearly done to death by the desert, had planted a crude sianpost there so that others might not suffer thirst. Mean, while the elements had affected a fatefuI change in the sign, though this was unknown to the | kaufmans. When erected it had | readily
 | + MILES TO WATER | All morning we drove. The su | kept getting hotter. but we neNe l come to any water like the sign sal' | We went about ten miles, gues | Mir. Kaufman said maybe we had gt | off the road, so he decided to go | another direction. All afternoon | l kept driving. but we never saw an l water Then MT. Kaufman stoppe' | and looked at me. I felt that some thing was wrong and told him. II Starts Screaming
 II When he heard me say that, he 1u' sat and looked at me, and his fa( l turned gray. Then he screamed-o my, how he screamed. And rigi | away he seemed to age from 39 S9. He kept screaming, we al | lost. we are lost" and cursing Il l Lord And then the children g | scared and began to cry, and had
 cry, too.
 I put my arms around him ar
 said: Papa, all your life you ha7
 been a doubter, and you've sinn' | against the Lord. You're out he
 now. and we're all lost, and may | that's the Lords way to punish yo
 But just trust Him and everythi1
 will come out all right" Course
 was talking to him in German. Pal
 was silent for a while, then he sai
 "Mama, I guess you're right. l
 a sinner and should believe in u Ford I do believe in the Lord. Pr
 to Him to help us" And we lEknelt down and asked the Lord
 help us.
 Well, after that we felt better, al 1 papa said we'd keep on moving. B
 we could go but very slow and it W
 getting dark, so we decided to ste II Nearly all our water was gone a the children were crying for drir
 Papa couldn't stand that, so he Sd
 he would go and try to find the ran ! house we stayed at the night befo
 Talk of Dying I didn't want him to go, and begged him on my knees to stay | he said. Mama, I've got to go if y and the children are to be saved frt , dying
 l Don't worry about dying" I tt
 him I'm ready. It's so easy to q | and if we're going to die I want y | here" But he wouldn't listen. took oranges and lemons, and kiss , me and the children. Then We kneIt dow and prayed to the Lo After that papa started out, and
 told me he'd be back soon. But
 knew he never would come back.
 That was Wednesday night ' - had a little water left in the radiat