August/ 1918 
FOREST AND S T R E A M 
469 
creek when, with my two guides, I saw a 
boat in the distance. We stopped, as is 
the custom in the country, for at times the 
Indians and others have a wish to go on 
their way ungreeted. However, as we 
noted that the people were paddling, we 
started up and shortly met them. We saw 
at once that they were in pretty bad shape. 
The man in the party asked if we 
had any crackers. I asked why and 
he told me that he had had nothing 
to eat for ten days and would like 
to buy something. As at all times, 
I had a 24 hours’ supply of food in 
my boat and we at once went in the 
shade of some bushes and got out 
some provisions and made some 
cocoa. The man and boys were 
ravenously hungry, having had noth¬ 
ing to eat for about ten days except 
boiled garfish and the cabbage from 
the palm tree. They had no salt and 
pepper and of course the water in 
the Glades had been very stagnant. 
Their clothing was in shreds and 
they were suffering badly from red 
ticks. I was of course very careful 
of what I gave them to eat and was 
cautious in only giving them what I 
thought they could digest. At the 
time I found them, I did not know 
that anyone had been lost in the 
Glades as they had left Miami after 
I had started my trip and I had had 
ao papers for some little time. As 
they only had had three quarts of 
fresh water and were then in salt 
♦vater at least 30 miles from the 
julf, without cartridges and no 
ackle that could be used in the 
fivers, and as it would have been 
mpossible for them to get any fresh 
A'ater unless they met some passing 
>oat and this was doubtful unless 
hey reached the Gulf, my guides and 
v decided that the King party had 
>een in very great danger. Besides 
laving a long paddle, they would 
Iso have had to contend with 
trong head tides. I towed their 
,anoe slowly back, a distance of 4 
>r s miles, to the houseboat ‘Kenne- 
aw,’ King steering his canoe in the 
,»ack with a paddle. On the way 
ack, a small branch struck him and 
s he was so weak he was swept 
verboard and had great difficult}' 
etting back into the boat, but finally 
id so with the assistance of the two 
,oys. In the meanwhile, he had lost 
as he assumed naturally that his wife was 
terribly worried. Curiously enough, the 
day after we met King we found a New 
York paper about two weeks old, which 
gave an account of some people who had 
been lost in the Glades. We had not noted 
this article when we got the paper and 
you can imagine King’s interest in reading 
spots in the branches are fluttering 
masses of curlews 
The center photograph shows the broad upper 
reaches of Shark River; below, the shores of a ’gator 
pool at the western edge of the ’Glades 
is revolver in about 10 feet of water, but 
lis was finally recovered by one of the 
aides diving after it. We finally reached 
le houseboat and I at once consulted the 
octor who was with me, but he was quite 
1 with rheumatism. He told me I should 
ie great caution in feeding King and the 
)ys and should give them simply soup, 
itmeal, prune juice, etc. This diet was 
•ntinued until • Mr. King and his party 
ere able to leave the houseboat and I 
ien sent them on my tender, the ‘Powell,’ 
1 which they had lived, to the bark fae¬ 
ry at the south of Shark River, where 
'ey went to Key West on the Bark Com- 
iny’s little schooner and from Key West 
Miami by rail. 
King was extremely anxious to get 
ord back to his family that he was safe, 
it as he had not known that any efforts 
had been made to find him. Another co¬ 
incidence was that I found, a day or so 
after talking with King, that his brother, 
William R. King, had been a superintend¬ 
ent for my firm on some very large con¬ 
tract work for a number of years. 
“Several things particularly impressed 
me meeting King: He had not seen a liv¬ 
ing being crossing the Glades. His atti¬ 
tude and that of the boys regarding the 
food first given—if they dropped any 
crumbs when breaking a cracker, they 
carefully picked them up. I also found, 
on talking with the boys, that all the food 
had been divided in three for quite some 
time and that Mr. King had said that on 
account of some stomach trouble he could 
not eat his food and re-divided his por¬ 
tion among the two boys. This action, I 
found, was due to the fact that King had 
made up his mind that all three could not 
be saved and he had decided that at any 
rate the boys’ strength would be conserved 
so that they at least could get out. 
I do hope you can publish something re¬ 
garding the necessity of people using cau¬ 
tion in feeding anyone found after 
having been lost, as I am most sure 
that if the ordinary food were given 
them, serious secondary results 
would follow. 
“Yours very truly, 
“Richmond Talbot.” 
The battle scarred skiff was made 
fast to the motor boat and they pro¬ 
ceeded down Shark River. Bathed, 
massaged, supplied with clean clothes, 
and under the experienced minister¬ 
ing care of a physician, who was a 
member of the party, Dr. Thorpe, of 
St. Luke’s Hospital, New York City, 
the adventurers were ready to be¬ 
lieve that some great, Providential 
agency had sent Mr. Talbot trolling 
for tarpon that day on the lake. 
When in shape to travel, they took 
the schooner “Centennial” for Key 
West. This was on Tuesday at 2 :30 
and py Wednesday noon they were 
in Key West. The skiff and all it 
contained went along and was finally 
towed back to Miami. That same 
little boat is now busy at other tasks 
on Biscayne Bay. 
A Jacksonville paper and the New 
York Herald, purchased in Key 
West, told the trio of the nation¬ 
wide character of their fame. Not a 
day had passed that did not carry 
an anxious mention of the ’Glade 
search. At Key West Mr. King sent 
a telegram to Captain Jaudori an¬ 
nouncing their safety and barely 
hinting at the hardships of the trip. 
Immediately on receipt of this mes¬ 
sage an automobile sped out to the 
Tamiami Trail to carry the tidings 
to Theodore Junkin, half-brother to 
young Catlow, and Roy Osteen, who 
were preparing to enter the treacher¬ 
ous ’Glades fully equipped for the 
journey to the west coast in search 
of the lost ones. They gladly aban¬ 
doned preparations for the weari¬ 
some search; a Seminole runner was 
sent into the ’Glades to call in the 
other scouting parties. 
The receipt of a telegram from 
this point on the west coast meant much 
to those who knew what crossing the 
’Glades entails. They understood what the 
trio must have undergone. Mr. King’s 
comment, when told of the large number 
of scouting parties who were searching the 
’Glades, is illuminative in its ironic humor. 
Under similar circumstances, he said grim¬ 
ly, there would be no need to send out a 
large number of men to search for miss¬ 
ing parties—two men would be enough, an 
expert trailer and an undertaker’s assistant. 
But who can measure the joy of the tel¬ 
egrams to those at home who were begin¬ 
ning to believe that their loved ones had 
poled off into oblivion and eternity, when 
they struck out for the ’Glades that bright 
day, from the shimmering beauty of the 
Tamiami Trail Canal! 
