Evening star., 1942-08-01
Panama Rescue Group Risks
Lives to Hunt for Lost Flyer
Meet Dangers Of Snakes, A||ieotors, indians
And Find Part Of Canoe Used by Airmon

the hardships OF the trip down the
Chucunaque
During the afternoon" wrote 1t.
Riseden in his diary. Il asked per-
mission from the second chief to
take few pictures and was imme-
diately in hot water. He accused
me of having two tongues-first
tell him we come to find lost white
men and then to take pictures.
Some San Bias Indians believe that
part of their soul goes into a pic
ture when taken. During the argu-
ment, which looked bad for A min
ute, I observed Sergt. Hind alfred
L. Hind of Georgetown. Fla) with
a pistol in his lap and looking very
nervous
THE chief was placated somewhat
when We gave all the village chill
dren some candy. nuts and raisins.
The children apparently had never
before seen white men-they were
very curious about it-laughed at
the blonds and the bolder wanted
to feel our skim
Night Of Torture.
On June %, the soldiers awoke on
river bank wet, cold and hungry
after a miserable night of torture
from rain and insects. They now
were encountering so many snakes
the deadly bushmaster-thatt they
tired of chopping at them with
machetes. They merely lodged as
they spotted them stretched in over
hanging branches. Alligators rs
long as is feet poked ugly shouts
at their long. narrow cayucos, the
Indian canoes made from tree
trunks. Iguanas, wild pigs, turkeys,
parrots and millions of insects dis
puted the river with them.
A small black bug, unfamiliar
to any of the soldiers, attacked
them day and night, leaving a clean
incision that bled SO freely that they
were afraid they might be killeG.
1t. Weinberg was kept busy treat
ing these wounds aQd attending the
fever caess. The Indians all ac-
quired violent stomach aches from
eating white mans food.
1t was at this spot, with snakes
hanging almost everywhere" and
the river full Of aIiga.ors, that they
found where the lost soldier had
started, alone, down stream. AL
fredo. with the party as a guide.
Identified few burned pieces of
wood; everything else of the camp
site was obliterated by the high
water which often lifts the river
Is feet in half an hour during a
rain.
1t. Risenden wrote that night:
In view OF information that AL
fredo had no idea OF direction of
plane, that the man may have
Travelled IS or more miles after the
crash (making an area of several
hundred square miles of the thick
est Jungle, and in view of the an
tlcipated shortage OF food and the
general hopelessness as far as plane
is concerned, have decided to 70
down the river searching both sides
thoroughly"
Part Of Cayuco Found.
That afternoon they found a
broken section Of a cayuco-the
same dugout, Alfredo said. In which
ne had seen the soldier depart.
That was all. A broken boat IN
= river teeming with Alligators.
They all knew in their hearts that
tne search was over. But they
could not overlook the one chance
IN million that the. lost soldier
mas managed to survive.
Hour by hour they continued their
exploration along the Chucunaoua
lodging snakes and allieators al.
most eaten alive by insects. fighting
the fever with 10 grains OF ouinine
daily. boiling and chlorinatine the
water.
And the worst still lay ahead of
them. ~
Copyrisht, 1912 By ch,eara n.ux v.