THE OVERLAND TELEGRAPH.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 161, 5 April 1872, Page 3

THE OVERLAND TELEGRAPH.

.A TERUIUriE STORY. The overland telegraph has had its tragedy in the death of Mr. Kraegen from, thirst. A correspondent of the ' S. A s Register,', one of the party which nearly succumbed to thirst, gives lifelike particulars of the disaster, from which we abridge the following account;-^;

„. .JAn. adv.ancaparty of .three operators ""—C. W: Krkegen, J. E. Mullen, and .8..-CL Watson,—was despatched from .Charlotte Waters, on the Bth December; to the new station posts in the "desert, with written directions aB to tlie watercourses they would find. In the evening, after a hot and exhausting day's travel, they came, says the writer, to a tree in a creek on which was read, in letters punctured in tho and affixed there, the announcement that water was to be had at the junction of that creek and the Hugh, about a mile fro in that, spot j the next water by the road ten" miles, or what we took to be such. Off; we sped, down the creek. [ What to us was a mile of hot sand and pebbles now—we would have water in a few minutes, and all would be well. We got to the'place, looked at the hole, found it dry. dry; went down the Ilugh in : hot sand and blazing sun, but gjave that up and returned. We .dug with hands, tomahawks, knives—we had .no shovel—but still no water could be goi, and, the terrible disappointment made alLnow feel the want much more than would* have been the case but for being assured by the puncf tured tin announcement that water was

to be had thereabout; besides, the efforts in the scorching white sand, walk- . irig in it to a depth of six inches, digging a.s far as our arms would reach, perspiring and choking, had thoroughly exhausted two of us to such an extent that we had to lie down and rest. Then the question arose, "What are we to do?" After much debate it was determined to follow up the channel of the Hugh, which took a course a little west of that followed by the road, and try for water at any likely spot. The proposal. was made that as the packhorse was in need of a spell, the saddle horse that had succumbed before could now hardly travel, two of us were really knocked up, and as the water could not be surely over five or six miles off at furthest, the third man should own arid the other comparatively fresh horse, and with three water-bags proceed at his best speed. The proposition was "jumped at;" away he went, promising to be back soon,. and we meantime felt assured that the rest would serve the two tired horses that remained, and enable them to go on after all had had a drink. We waited, thirsted, and still waited through many hours of a very close, warm night, but still no water came, and as patience had run out.when the moon, rose we packed up, arid leading .the horses, started on foot after the messenger. It would be impossible briefly to tell all the speculations made and discussed to account for his nonreturn. He had abandoned us! He •had lost his horses ! He had lost his way! But, horror of horrors, he had not found water! These, with many other surmises, arose, and none had any comfort in them for us, who were now almost speechless and helpless for want of a drink. We made little progress ; the horses travelled slowly, and we had often to lie down, put our nostrils clo.se to the ground,, and thereby obtain a breath of comparatively cool air—a thing we could not get whilst walking. . .We wearied .ourselves going to and fro,., and, although travelling much, did not go far. And so Saturday passed away. On Sunday we could hardly stir. . My .companion says I talked an awful lot of " bosh." I am sure he did—" gdbbled " is the word --uniritelligibly,. and laughed . occasionally ; but somehow we managed to try again for water in the creek—it must be there—and so at it we went again on Sunday morning, wearing finger nails off and drawing, blood from the fingers, until our want of success left but one resource—one horse might be shot, and its blood would help' us to make an ! effort to get on. We shot, a horse—the weakest—rand having got .what we desired from that source,

againcsqught the roa4 -nid rested. ' We Had a good supply o '( . liquid now—a ppfcful each—a:id. might, rest a littlebefore starting :i ; and we did. Sow hot it was! The sun poured" down upon, us/ and I really thought we should never get over the plain; but we did. We sat and suffered;, the poor horse crawled, and doubtless also suffered. He seemed to go at the rate of about half a" mile air hour. On we crawled, until on rising a bank we saw the bed of the Hugh once more. The horse pricked up his ears, mended his pace, reached the deep rocky bank, and all of a sudden (thank the Lord!) we saw water —a small pool, eighteen inches by thirty inches, and only afoot deep ; but water. Down the ste'ep hill we went, go-off the -horse's back somehow, and simultaneously man/and beast plunged into %e'blessecl liquid to f satisfy an appalling had ''lasted from eight p'clpcki on Eriday, morning, Bth December, until about two p.m on the Sunday ; following. • We 'rested the balance of that day, eating but swigging water like a' couple of dissipated fishes. ; ; Oil Monday, the 11th, we determined that, as we could not go forward, we would go back and meet the waggonsv ; We led our horse and walked all the way. At the creek we found we had read sixteen for ten milesl; We arrived at the Alice, after walking through sixteen, miles of sand, just in time to see some of the other party arriving from the opposite direction. They, bad found our, pack-horse,, but had heard nothing of our companion.

FINDING OF MR. KRAEGEN's BODY ; One of the search'party which was orgauised'came on it" at an angle-post about three miles from our camp, and brought in his belt, found lying at his feet, and on which was his revolver!, loaded all round, car touch-box, and pouch. He left no scrap of writing; had no marks about him ; lay' on "his stomach, resting his head on his left arm, and holding his hat as if shielding his head from the morning sun. His head was to the east, his face to the south, and not the faintest mark of-a struggle appeared. He had evidently lain down exhausted, arid quietly died for want of water nine or ten days before we saw him. A grave was dug as near the spot as the stony nature ofthe ground permitted, and he was wrapped in a blanket and interred. - 'Mr. Boucaut read the Chnreh of England burial service over the remains, and caused a rough fence to be erected ronnd' the grave, against which bushes were placed to protect our departed companion's last earthly .resting-place from the native dogs. An inscription, punctured in tin to the following effect was attached "to a stout board, and fixed in place of a headstone : —" In memory of ,C. W. J. Kraegen, aged 40, who perished here for want of water, about 12-12-71. Buried 20-12-71."