Evening star., 1923-09-07
BY HAROLD NOICE.
Commander of the Wrangel Island
Relief Expedition.

Copyright, 1923. in United States and Canada
by North American Newspaper Alliances.)
NOME. Alaska, September THE
arctic has added many luxurious
names to the scrolls of the great but
most of these have been men TO
that long list must now be added
the quaint name of Ada Black. little
Eskimo girl, slip of lass, less than
100 pounds in weight. who, although
brought up in the town of Nome,
familiar with electric lights and the
comforts of a modern city. neverthe-
less. managed to live by her own
efforts on an uninhabited arctic
island and at the same time provide
food for herself and a dying. COM
panion. whom she nursed for six
months. After his death she lived
there alone in terror of prowling
polar bears, but determined to fight
for life to the end and endure another
winter upon her forsaken isle if
necessary.
She had never fired a shot in her
life nor had she ever set a trap.
Yet she learned to do both and tri-
umphed. where many strong men in
the past have failed. Her story. as
she told it to me that morning in the
cabin of the Donaldson surpa asses
anything that l have ever come
across i'll the north. nor have / ever
read of anything that quite equals it.
only the night DeEure we rescued
her she had dreamed she heard the
heard our whistle that morning as
she was cooking her meager break
last of tea, dried duck and seal oil,
she could hardly believe she was not
dreaming. The fog, too. added to the
unreality. Often as she sat in my
cabin telling me her story she would
look up quickly and say:
L wonder If this is only a dream ?
can hardly believe that you have
come"
When the little party found that
they would not have food to last them
through the winter. an attempt was
made to reach Siberia. Ada made new
clothing for the men and did her ut
most to send them away as complete
~ equipped as she could. Knight, who
was already developing symptoms to
scurvy, was to remain with Ada, while
crawford. Maurer and Gale were to
make the attempt. The shore party
left January IS. 1928. leaving Ada
and Knight to their long and lonely
Vigtl-a vigil which my poor old pal
stun keeps beneath the sod of WrangeI
Island.
The day after the boys left a Sc
for xere ,hTa gale sn sprang h up, which lasted
tell me of this little Ada broke down.
tears streamed from her eyes ard
she sobbed till | thought her heart
for moment did not proceed. In
her eyes was a strange, faraway ex-
preston. She seemed to visualize the
terrible battle which the boys must
have had with that awful gale amid
the claShing foes. In the deep dark
ness of the midwinter night as they
struggled on in their weakened CON
dttion and with only Il few half
starved dogs to haul their sled. At
first knight was able to get about a
bit, but one day while chopping wood
he tainted. and thereafter did not
leave the tent. 1t was not long until
he took to his sleeping bag for good.
and from then on to the end little
Ada was his untiring nurse
Must Have Fresh Meat.
Knight knew, and so did She that
his only hope lay in securing fresh
meat for food. for he had been cured
of scurvy once by Stefansson, who
put him and me on a diet of raw
caribou steaks when we were both
down with the disease on one of the
explorers sledge Journeys in the far
north. So Ada set out to trap foxes.
She learned how to set traps and
cover them over with thin blocks of
snow 50 that the foxes would not see
item. Day after day she would visit
her traps and carry home the catch,
But knights condition rapidly be-
came worse and she had to spend
much time attending him. Thus she
was not able to go very far from
camp and consequently caught few
foxes.