The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1922-12-04
kLOND|KE BABy'S
STORY IS TOLD
AF TER Is YEARS
David Schmidt Found by
Alaskan Trapper After Heavy
Snow Storm Passed.
COMPANIONS ALL DIED
Three Men and Woman Give Up
Fur Coats to Protect Tiny
Infant.


CHICAGO, Dec. 4-Something like
twenty-five years ago a lonely trap
per burrowed beneath the drifts Of
snow along the Chilkoot pass in the
heart of Alaska and salvaged tiny
bundle of humanity-a live baby BY
It's side lay the bodies of four persons,
three men and woman. who had
given their heavier clothing that the
baby might live.
And now a young man known as
David Schmidt, somewhere in his
twenties," has come out from those
barren wastes Of the Klondike 20 take
up his place in the world He entered
this semester in the University Of Cali.
fornia at Berkeley and for the first
time the story OF the mystery sun
rounding his origin has been given
TO the world.
1t reads like fiction.
For some days in that late Alaskan
summer twenty-odd years ago a snow
storm had ragged Along with the snow
came biting winds from the north
and the mercury dropped prec.pi-
lately In a solitary cabin near the
pass $50 miles from Dawson, that
gateway to the cold bleak country.
a fur trapper named Schmidt brCwsed
I'm a few books that he had carried
"in" and waited for the storm to abate
that he might venture forth to care
fot his traps. After many days the
fury of the storm dashed itself out
and Schmidt left his cabin warmth.
Found the Bodies
Not many yards from his hut he
paused. Near the trail, drifted deep
with snow. We're several snow-clad
hummocks of peculiar shape. Schmidt
paused, brushed the snow aside from
one of them and stood erect, startled.
1t was a human body Quickly the
trapper plunged into the other three
heaps-each proved to be human
body, frozen One was that of a beau
tlful young woman. All were lightly
clad. Not one was wrapped in the
furs or skin coats usually carried by
travellers who dared the pass.
Schmidt stopped to examine the
fifth hummock. 1t proved to be huge
bundle OF furs, overcoats and blan
kets. Apparently the entire warmth
giving clothing of the outfit had been
piled there layer on layer. and the
trapper wondered why the three men
and the woman had chosen death
when they had coats and blankets
TO protect them from the Icy winds.
While he wondered he worked. In
the midst Of the big bundle Schmidt
came upon a lively baby boy, warm
and snug and sound asleep. The COW
erings had been so arranged as to
leave a tiny opening for air
Baby of the KlOndiI1e
Schmidt picked tho baby up with
some Of it's trappings and hurried
back to his cabin. There being no
milk. a hurried preparation of bear
meat broth supplied the infant nour-
ishment when It awoke.
And thus David Schmidt" came
into the world-a baby Of the Klon-
dixie
From that day until the young man
arrived in Berkeley to enter the en-
cheering department Of the Univer-
slty of California. the story IS one Of
devotion and sacrifice on the part OF
the fur trapper.
None of the four bodies supplied
clew for Identification of the child.
The trapper buried them as best he
could and then turned to the develop
nlent of the boy. Through the long
years he taught him as best he could
versed him in the ways of the wilder
ness and of the outside world as we'll
Maybe a woman could have done these
things more efficiently but no woman
could have done them more affection
ately.
Left the KlOndike
Last year, however, Schmidt's knowl-
edge ran out He had taught the
youth everything he knew and plans
were made for better education.
Dave picked the nearest large insti-
tuition, the University of California,
and so it came that before the win
ter drifts piled high again the boy
sailed away to San Francisco
Now he Is earning his way through
school by four or five jobs CLEANED
from the campus, because money is
scarce in the back country, and has
taken his place in school life. Foot
ball experts have already begun to
look with admiration upon his well
developed form, and it is rumored
that he soon will be drafted to join
Perkeley's varsity squad.