Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1921-10-20
sweat ran down me.

sweat ran down me.
ri went outside and looked around
Not a sign of life. / went down the
hill. to the river bank. Everything
was fearfully quiet. The river was
very high, but as the town was on
rise far above it, certainly no sane
person could be alarmed at the rls-
| ing stream.
"Then / went back to the town,
looking for something stirring, lis
tening for some sound, when-of1,
the joy of It'll heard shout, and
looking up the hill / saw man wav-
ing his arms, yelling and beckonlng
me to come.
He need not have beckoned.
tore for him. A malamute couldn't
have passed me. AS heard him,
he disappeared over the hill. fol-
lowed and when / reached the top
was so exhausted and scared that
fell and could not get up,
"When I got my heart action
slowed down and my senses began 10
work. | saw the whole population OF
the town was behind the hill, with
dogs, food, etc., each family with its
few belongings.
Now / will shorten the narrative
and anxiety and tell you the rest IN
shorter meter.
The Northern Commercial Com
pany had large warehouse on tne
river bank. The ice had gorgeo ia
the river, held back the flow ano the
water had surrounded the ware
house. The company manager came
in from the mines that night mao
one look at the rising river ana
spread the alarm.
"There is carbide, dynamite ana
giant powder in the warehouse. II
the water reaches the calcium, up
goes the town. Run for the hill.
It didn't reach it. The ice dam
went out and the river went down,
and none too soon. Three lncnes
higher and the carbide would have
exploded and as the story-teller SAID,
''The berg would have went to wnere
there is no nine months winter ana
the map of Alaska would have lost
another dot"
AsI run over this remarkable
happening think What frame
for a short story" But l have spill
Post won't have it now.
And here is another one OF the un-
usual while I am at 1t.
There was a German at Marsnali
who had lived in Alaska fourteen
years and had been in Marshall since
the gold strike. He was universally
liked and was a good citizen. just
before / arrived at the town he had
left for Nome, on business matter.
Seeing the war excitement in Nome
he told friend he wished ne mao
taken out his citizenship papers and
could be a full American citizen.
Doubtless some army official wire
lessed the fort at st. Michael about
the matter, for when the boat came
in to ST. Michael he was not permit
ted to land.
st. Michael is a government reser-
vation and has a fort. Under the
law no alien enemy is permitted near
a fort or armory. The only way the
German could return to his home
was to transfer from the ocean
steamer at st. Michael for the up
river boats, and the fort officials had
forbidden this. For days, while the
steamer was unloading and loading
the man was held aboard. What dis
position was finally made of him
could not learn, but he was not
aboard when / boarded the steamer.
One more of the strange ones,
then back to the real things.
During the summer a half breed
landed at Rampant in canoe, COM
ing down the Yukon. He was delir1-
GUS, nearly starved and his face,
neck and arms were mass of poison
from mosquito bites. He was taken
to a cabin and for days raved in
fever.
In his clothes a tobacco sack was
found with several large nuggets
chunks of melted pure gold from $40
to $500 in value. 1t was plainly evi-
dent the man had made rich strike,
and the doctor and anxious miners
watched over him for days, for the
time for the delirium to end and
when he could tell his story.
And one day the fever left, but the
breed had no story. 1t had gone
with the fever. He thought he had
had long sleep and had dreamed