Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1921-11-02
SHOOTING OF DIR. BLAKE
ACCOUNT OF THE TRAGIC ACCf-
DENT ON HUNTING TRIP
High Hopes Are Entertained for the
Doctors Recovery - Condition
Still Very Serious

/ Latest advices from the west are to
the effect that DIR. l. w. Blake will
probably recover from the awful ex-
/ perience he went through. His sister,
Mrs. Edith Lindemann, receives word
4 that he has been delerious much of the
\ time since the accidental shooting, but
high hopes for his recovery are enter
/ tanned
! The Censor is in receipt of a long
newspaper. clipping describing the ac-
cident in detail, portions of which we
reproduce below:
''The shooting of DR.. /. w. Blake by
! his young companion when the two
were hunting bear in the wild cam
yon of Pass Greek, the hasty first aid
treatment administered by the boy,
/ his climb over a perpendicular wall,
! his ten-mile run through down tim
| Der, to get medical assistance, the in
ability to find the doctor after the res
cue party reached the mountains, the
three hours of heroic and exhausting
climb in getting the wounded man out
of canyon of Alpine roughness, and
the hundred mile automobile ride to
the Sheridan hospital, are all parts of
a near tragedy which was enacted in
Johnson county last Saturday and
Sunday.
1t was early Saturday morning
when DIR. Blake and two companions
left the H. o. Sackett ranch on upper
Powder river for bear hunt in the
wild and nearly inaccessible canyon
of Pass Creek which it is said only
two white men had previously entered.
About o'clock, when the two hunts
men were separated in territory where
down timber was thick, and rocky
crags were high, and where evidence
of bear were numerous, the younger
of the two men, stationed high up on
the side of the canyon heard rustic
about seventy-five yards away, and
saw through the underbrush what he
thought was bear climbing a tree.
He pulled the trigger and made an un-
erring shot, for Immediately Dr.Blake,
who was climbing the tree for better
observation, tumbled to the ground
with his left arm broken near h e
shoulder
When the young man discovered
what he had done, he rushed to the as
sistance of the wounded man, tied a
tourniquet, gave him his sweater and
mackinaw, administered two tablets
according to the doctors direction,
anu q aARHb liilC AOl hElps
He went down the canyon, taking lit
tie time to pick the best way out,
climbed over and under down timber,
tearing his clothes to threads as he
ran. After an hour and a half of the
hardest kind of run, meeting every
conceivable obstacle which only a wild
mountain canyon can present, he ar
rived at the Webb ranch.
A short time before dusk the res
cue parties stumbled unto the spot
where DIR. Blake lay chilled through
and through in spite of the favorable
weather. The rescue party lost no
time in building fire such as was
needed to restore all the comfort pos
sible under the conditions. The wound
was dressed as well as could be with
only a mergre supply of water the
party had brought in, and with what
few surgical instruments had been
carried into the canyon. After Civ
ing all the first aid care possible, the
rescuers were forced to await the COM
ing of morning and the appearance
of the automobile party from Buffalo.
At daybreak the party of eight or
ten men started with their improvised
sgretcher to cover the first but most
difficult lap of their hundred-mile trip
to Sheridan. This was a stretch of
only two hundred yards. but it was
over down timber, and up nearly per-
pendicular rock walls where formerly
men had found it wise not to enter
on account of t lie rugged country.
But now it was necessary to climb
out with wounded man on stretch
er, which was task which only those
can appreciate who helped to perform
it. The climb was started at in the
morning and finished at 3.
The examination at the hospital
showed that the bullet had entered
the left arm about three inches below
the shoulder joint, fractured the hum
erus in two places and thence back
to the shoulder blade glancing into
the lungs where the bullet still re-
mains. There was some indication of
pneumonia Sunday night, but later
reports say that condition has clared
up, and there is every indication that
recovery will follow, and probably the
arm can be saved.
At no time has such dramatic
fight been put up to save the life of a
man in Johnson county. Only the
mountaineer can appreciate with what
potential climaxes the story was filled,
and only the actors in the drama APP
preciate the serious battle that was
fought to rescue their friend and fell
low townsman