Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-06-15
(By WALTER 1. shay

tBy L. shay
Probably the most cosmopolitan town
its size In the world, the u~nnumbered
army hat has delyed In the mines of
Butte includes every business. trade
and occupation. At one time on the
1000-foot level of the Leonard mine
among the crews were a former col
lege professor. an ex-jockey, several
former prizeighters, two former busi-
ness men, a sailor, several farmers, a
One-time dancer in a musical comedy
and men who had followed various
other occupations, trades and profess
sions.
Sitting in at the station when the
miners were eating lunch was an educa-
ton TO the average person. Half stripped
miners would talk of Alaska and Aus
tralia. Mexico and Canada, the navy and
the army while 1T was probable that
among the men eating from the dinner
pals would be travellers who could give
trst-hand information on Zanzibar or
Labrador.
Among the latter type of miner was
Billy O'Brien, who with Jack Welsh, now
foreman of the Pennsylvania mine, was
a shaft man at the High Ore mine. In
his youthful days O'Brien had sailed the
seven seas and could talk as entertain
ingly OF the Malay Straits as he could
Of Butte. He was also possessed of a
vivid n somewhat elastic Imagination.
One night while eating supper at the
High Ore mine, a miner, who formerly
worked in the Comstock mines. where
the water was so hot it would boil an
egg, told OF frying an egg on q rock one
day in Death Valley.
Why didn't you boil the egg9" asked
a miner named Jim Murray.
Why, in Death Valley the water would
boil away before the egg could be
cooked" was the answer.
A miner named Joe Kane then told of
spending a winter in a small camp in
the Sierra Nevada mountains, where the
snow covered the tops of 6o-foot trees.
You don know what deep snow looks
like" said George Kessler. not Kessler
the prize fighter. but q man from Colo
RADIO.
Some Snow
II was prospecting one winter In the
San Juan district of Colorado" said Kes-
sler. I'VE were about 10 miles from Tel
luride. 1t started to snow in September.
One morning l couldn't make the fire go
so | climbed through a trap loo in the
roof and saw that the stove pipe was
showed over. I put on another length.
In a few days the same thing occurred
and on went another length of pipe.
Would you believe 1t, but next summer
that cabin had a stovepipe sc lengths. -
Did you ever see anything like that
in your travels?" Welsh asked Billy
O'Brien.
NO" answered the former sailor, 81
never sailed or a ship that could sail on
snow mountains. But / was one of q
party who rescued the only woman who
ever was adopted by gorillas."
The gang lighted af~ter-supper smokes
and settled back against the timbers and
OBrien told the following remarkable
story:
Il was a sailor on a tramp ship called
the Rose Of Surrey and we were bound
from Dunbar, South Africa, out of Liver
pool" said the ex-sailor.
Just south of the equator we discov-
cred a shortage of drinking water and
the captain cruised down the coast look
ing for a place where fresh water might
be available. We saw a likely looking
place and the ship tackled in within a
quarter Of a mile. We lowered two boats
filled with kegs and I was in the first
boat.
A Terrible Sight
Heavy forest came down to within loo
yards of the beach. The boat / was In
was about to beach when one of the men
gave q Mortified cry and we turned and
looked. A terrible sight met our gaze. A
white woman, entirely nude, was run
ming toward us while out of the bush
came a huge male gorilla running partly
on his hind legs n partly on all four.
The woman screamed at us to save
her. She dashed into the surf and with
in a minute we had her in the boat. The
huge gorilla beloved with rage. AS oon
as the woman was in the boat, she
tainted.
THE huge beast turned and ran into
the forest, gave a blood curdling yell and
then ran toward the beach with a child
in his arms. He suddenly stopped, waved
the baby around his head and Their
dashed it's brains out against the sand.
Then the woman regained conscious
ness. She saw the gorilla throw the
mangled infant toward the fringe of the
forest. She screamed and again tainted
The Big Fight
I'VE rowed her to the ship, where sht
told the captain her strange story. 81
said that two years before, she wa,
aboard a sailing vessel of which her hus.
band was the captain. The ship foun.
! dered in a storm and before the doomed
vessel sank, she was placed aboard
hastily constructed raft. She drifted tx
short.
; Seeking aid, she walked into the for.
est. In a small clearing she took off he
{ clothes to ALLOW them to dry. Suddenl,
5 she was surrounded by a group of o dozei
+ g~orillas. She ran. but within a few yard
was seized by the gorilla we saw on thu
: beach.
"She was dragged back to the groul
5 Of beasts. Then another big gorilll
) reached for her but like a flash the frs
beast tore into the second. She said /
was a terrible fight but the first on
Z killed the second.
she was then taken INTO the colon,
, which lived on fruits. She said that tn
infant we saw killed by the. gorilla wa
q child she had by the beast"
"What did 1t look Ike. human or 90