The Washington herald., 1921-01-09
By LIEUT.. LOUIS KLOOR, JR-
L. S.N.

By LIEUT.. LOUIS KLOOR, gR-
am now in a country surrounded
by ice fields and vast eNpanses Of
snow covered hills and wooded for
ests. Writing in a place like this
is far different from scribbling out
a note in one Of the New York
hotels.
BY this time my people and the
naval authorities have given me and
my friends, Farrell and Hinton, up
as being lost and never to return
again. II appears that way TO me.
Suffered AEonies of Hades.
II you had gone through the
ordeal. mental and physical tortures
Of hell, that l have in the last rev
days you would no doubt partly
agree with me When ] left the air
station at l p. m. (RoCkaway, y. "
little did I think that my free bal
loon would come TO such an ending.
Monday night. when up in New
York State. a driving storm over
took US. We were flying at about
5000 feet. For hours during the
night We travelled and saw nothing
but snow above, below and about
US. Early next morning fields Of
ice were all we could see. Not a
sign Of life in sight for miles.
Threw Everything Away.
It was time to worry. Our ballast
was low. We were wrinEinE wet
tired and hungry. We could not
land. II we had all would have
been lost. In order to remain in the
air we had to throw over every
thing but our clothing
At 1:3O Tuesday. when flying AZ
about 5000 feet we could see a hut
below US and heard the bark OF a
deg. This was our only chance. I
brought the balloon down We land
ed in a fierce wind in a snow-clsd
forest We left the balloon and
everything but our compass. and
started in the general direction OF
the hut we had seen from the air.
Feet Almost Frozen Sdn.
You cannot conceive how we sUf-
fered-and our suffering had just
started. None Of us was properly
clad for severe weather, and Il vas
agony for us We walked Untl 4
p. m. Tuesday and had 70 end our
march because IL was getting dark.
and our feet were almost frOSen
stin.
The only food we had with us was
the three carrier pigeons which We
bad taken on the trip to send back
no the station with messages.
Tuesday night I killed one OF
them and this constituted our meal
We had to eat snow TO QUenCh our
thirst. We could not sleep We
were worried and saw little hope OF
ever getting out OF the forest alive
Our clothes were wet and covered
with snow Fnd ice.
Faces Warn A. Back FroIe.
The FIRE we built was large, but It
was so cold il you turned your
face to the fire your back would
freeze. In drying your feet you al
most had to burn your shoes.
Wednesday morning we started
out 20 hike through the woods again.
We could only walk about two hours
at a stretch, and then stopped to
build a fire and regain our strength.
The woods were so thick that we
could not make more than one and q
half miles in a day. Our misery
lasted until Friday morning.
At about 9 a. m. Friday we reached
an ice-covered stream. On this
stream we found, to our great Joy,
the track OF a sled and the foot
prints OF a man. We followed these
tracks for miles. Then about ! ..
m. We sighted a man about TIVE
miles away on a lake.
Ran For Thirty Minutes
! shouted to him frantic8lly and
ran for thirty minutes, finally over
taking him. He was an Indian trap
per and could speak neither English
nor French. finally made him un-
derstand how hungry and sick we
all were. He led 10 this place
Moose Factory.
We are twenty miles from a rail-
road and IL will take us about ten
days hiking over an ice-covered
river 70 reach a town. We begin our
march from here on Wednesday and
will not be in New York before Jan
uay 10.
MOOSE FACTORY, Dec. q.
Since last writing you on De-
cember 10 q change has occurred
which will delay my return 10 New
York about seven days. Instead
OF leaving tomorrow as previously
planned, ] will not be able to dc 90
CONTINUED on PAGE FIvx