The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1938-07-14
ly ea st ;s}
by Captain
G. Elliott Nightingale
Copyright, WNU
ADVENTURES OF Il HERO
AND Il LUNATIC


AND Il LUNATIC
ALL the outfit he had was the
"A clothes he wore. In his right
hand, held high, he carried Bible.
Just where he came from no one
knew, for he very suddenly APP
peared on the Saskatchewan plains
calling upon all to Repent, and
seek Eternal Life" Now and then
he changed his text and warned us
that the Day of Judgment was at
hand. After we staked him to some
food, and a warmer coat donated
by the most notorious blasphemer
in the group, he was on his way
again shouting his warnings.
The poor chap was obviously
''bit cracked" but as long as he
kept to the prairie he was not in
much danger. But, the poor mis-
guided prophet kept heading due
northwest, and just when the terrific
man-killing sub-Arctic winter took
good grip on the Athabaska lake
country, he came to grief. He was
found badly frozen, and dying of
starvation, on a trail that might see
a human being once during the win
ter. In spite of his serious physical
condition he was still shouting texts
and singing hymns, but the half
breed who found him knew but few
words of English anyway, so the
warnings and texts fell on deaf ears.
At any rate, the "breed" soon had
the demented white preacher in
warm bunk, and warm food inside
of him. As the days passed, though,
the rowing missionary developed
into raving maniac, and the half
breed benefactor left for safer sur
roundings. He did not actually de-
sert the unfortunate white, but he
did get a report to the Fort Chip
pewyan post of the Mounted Police.
When Constable Pedley, certainly
one of the most courageous trailers
and crackers ever to wear the scar
let and gold, arrived at the tiny log
hut he found an extremely violent
lunatic in charge. Moreover, in
spite of frostbite and emaciation,
the lunatic possessed prodigious
strength and the six-foot constable
had tough time to get the prisoner
under control. Wise in the tricks
and wrinkles of the northern trails,
Pedley wrapped the lumatic in two
great big sleeping bags. Then he
tied him onto the sled, and showed
off on a 500-mile mush to the near
est hospital, at Fort Saskatchewan.
Even to this day all the details
of that nerve-wracking trip have
never been told. The big, strapping
constable had his hands more than
full while the mercury stuck at 40
and so below all the time. 1t was
out of the question, of course, for
the constable to keep the lunatic
strapped up and tied down all the
time, SO every time he released the
prisoner he had to get into free-for-
all fight whether he wanted to or
not. Apart from this, there was
great trouble feeding the crazy man.
The constable took extreme meas
ures in this, however, for he real
lied that his patient would soon die
of exposure and starvation unless
he was fed. Mile after frozen mile
they mushed, day after day, with
the lunatic centering his hatred and
vituperation on the constable, and
the latter centering his attention on
the trail and the dogs and doing all
possible to get the patient to shelter
and warmth and medical attention.
To add to all this terrific mental
and physical punishment, Constable
Pedley's dog-train was often beset
by packs of fat-bellied, starving
timber wolves. Pedley's integrity
is beyond reproach, and he stated
that he didn't stop to light fires I'M
til it was absolutely inevitable that
the wolf pack would Jump the train
In another minute or so, so ravenous
were these fiat-bellied wolves.
Finally Constable Pedley and his
tragic load mushed into Fort Sas-
katchewan, and the demented
preacher was soon in good hands.
After a few days of rest for him
self and dogs, Pedley started off on
the 5OO-mile return trip to his post
on Lake Athabaska. All alone,
mushing through that ever-lonesome
land, God only knows what thoughts
were Pedley's as he moved across
the snowy wastes thinking over the
events of the past weeks. At any
rate, halfway down the Athabaska
river his own mind snapped, and
he wandered for days in the bitter
cold until found by some Cree In
dams who, strange to relate, tied
him to a dog sled and mushed him
back to Fort Saskatchewan, where
lay the demented preacher.
The preacher was as right as
rain, mentally and physically, in
side of two months, but almost
year passed before Constable Ped
ley came back to the world to which
he belonged. The force gave him a
fairly decent job at headquarters.
AS the war left its mark on those
who saw real front-line service, so
did that trip through the Arctic
wastes, with lunatic for company,
leave its mark on Mounted Consta-
BILE Pedley, a real hero if there ever
was one.
Words Frequently Mispronounced