The L'Anse sentinel., 1922-08-11

is entirely separated from the main
body. It now actually forms an is
land.
"Fire Water a generation ago, was
the demon against which the mission
aries had to battle hardest in con-
verting the Indians and keeping them
within the laws Of God and man. To
obtain the accursed drink, they would
hazard life and liberty. Since the
prohibition law came into effect, we
see change for the betterment Of
the race. A shockingly percentage
of accidents ending fatally were at
tributable, either Directly or indi-
rectly, to Intoxicating drinks. The
following incident which came under
the writer's personal observation,
may serve as an example.
Moses Obimigijig, blind old man,
dependent for his living on public
charity, was in the habit Of making
annual trips all through the mining
towns, accompanied by his sturdy
wife. He carried with him paper
stating his affliction and recommend
ing him to the charity of the public.
The paper was his demigod, for it
gained, both for him and wife, an
easy living and no end of booze. Be-
ing handled so much, it had to be re-
copied from time to time, which act
of grace was performed by someone
anonymously. However, when Mos
es' investment in liquor increased to
an alarming degree, some conscien-
tious copyist inserted warning to
the public to restrict their charity to
food and clothing and not give the
couple any money. This caused a
big drop in their cash earnings. They
could not explain the cause until
some dusky friend, who was able to
read, enlightened them. So one day,
Moses and his spouse appeared before
the writer explaining their errand
and producing greasy sheet of pa
per together with a clean one, re-
questing me that l make a new copy
emitting two heavily underscored
lines-the Objectionable clause. /
accommodated them willingly as far
as / conscientiously could and copied
the document, word for word, not ex-
cepting the clause. In making them
believe it was all right, I perhaps
told the biggest lie in my life. They
both were exuberant with their thanks
and left me smiling ard happy. 1t
was the last saw of them alive. The
next thing / head about the couple,
was the news that their little craft,
a row boat, had been found in Big
Portage, partly filled with water,
half empty beer keg floating in it.
That occurred on July 4th. A few
days later the body of the woman
was found on a sand beach near Boot
jack; that of the blind man near Stur-
geon River mouth, week later.
The saddest part of the tragedy re-
mains to be told Relatives of the
unfortunate couple insisted upon
making an investigation as to where
the latter had obtained the liquor, so
as to bring the guilty party before
the tribunal of the law, which they
professed, was their object. Accord
ingly, a party of four left Assinins
in sailboat steering for Houghton.
They stopped for the night near
Portage Entry at the home of their
friend John Sky, well known char
acter at that time. He was an expert
hunter, but still more famous in To-
eating blind pig, if any existed
within radius of days journey.
His visitors, contrary to their expec-
tations, found him home perfectly
sober. There was blind pig only
half mile away, but Johns pocket
book had collapsed and the lawless
vender of fire-water was careful and
would not sell drink without the
cash, even to so god customer as
John. However, his friends carried
some money with them, so when the
sun had set and veil had begun to
hang over the waters, he, with one
of his friends, crossed the rived and
I