PERISHES ALONE ON THE DESERT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8101, 29 August 1904, Page 2

PERISHES ALONE ON THE DESERT.

LAD DIES ALMOST Ifl SIGHT 01? HOME. Lying on his back under a tree, the face and hands blistered by the torrid sun until recognition was possible only by the clothing he wore, and what they contained, the body of Robert Rdjfcch, aged 13, sori of P. F. Roach, a Southern racific bridge carpenter, who resides two miles from Mecca, a town in the United States, was found one morning. He had died of thirst after the most agonising suffering, within a mile of plenty of water and almost within sight of his home. The body was discovered by J. P. Reed, a grizzled old prospector, who had a camp in the foothills of Torres Mountain, twelve miles south of Mecca. Reed was coming to Mecca from his camp when he found the body. When Reed was last in town the boy learned that he was going to return to camp the next morning, and asked permission to accompany him. Consent was given and the nest morning Reed started, thinking the boy had either given up the idea of going or would catch up with him. It is now known that he missed Reed at Mecca and started along his trail, toward his camp. That for days he wandered along under the burning sun is indicated by the fact that Reed found the boy's tracks within half a mile of his camp. He had gone that far along the right road, and thinking he had missed his way turned back. On the return trip he wandered almost to his home and again turned back toward the camp. He had no canteen and throughout the long ' journey he was without water. One day his burro, unsaddled, returned to its corral, but the boy's mother thought nothing of its appearance, supposing her son had reached Reed's camp and that the burro had strayed from there. v Within three miles of the lad were trickling streams from artesian wells, and only one mile from where he threw himself down to die wa* his home. His blackened corpse indicated that he had been dead at least two days when found.