m&'Vrjs, Vl'K r 4 1 ", V'f J. igv ' . C Lv IB EVENING PUBLIC LEDGER-PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, AUGUST at. 1922 it A 4 AMERICAN, FIRST WOMAN TO CROSS ANDES, " ij ' WHISTLE BRA FES JUNGLE ARMED WITH POLICE r r, M English Exile Was Miss MacGregor Is Her Guide De-., spite Warnings of Officials Against Journey NEAR DEATH BY FALL OF : PACK MULE Back Frem Jaunt Through Wilds Net Thought Pass- "able WANDERLUST CALLED HER IN FAR PER U Only Fight With Jaguar One Thrill en Trip Filled With Hazards rvVER the heights of the treacher treacher eus Andes in seventeen days! Along trails less than a feet wide, hanging en sheer walls of rock, lip ping abysses deeper than eye- could penetratc. Through tropical jungle, matted together like the damp, het hair of gome colossal giant hiding place for mad jaguars and slithering poi sonous snakes. Through underbrush, riotously, morbidly beautiful, death-laden with mysterious miasmas and wasting fever. Among polygamous tribes, which deal in an extensive white-slave traffic which snatch up white girls from the borderlands and carry them off te a tragic oblivion in the depths of their strange country. All these serve te suggest the Te cent experiences of Miss Katherine MacGregor, of Waupaca, Wis., -and former student of journalism at Columbia University. Miss MacGregor arrived in New Yerk last week the first white woman te conquer the Andes. She crossed them within two days of the fifteen-day masculine record. She avoided all the devastating fevers with only two grains of qui nine. And her only weapon against the wild beasts and reptiles and the sav age tribesmen was a policeman's whistle! Teet of Whistle Mere Useful Than a Gun "In Lima, you knew," she said at her temporary quarters in New Yerk, "I discovered that whenever you blew a policeman's whistle everybody ran away, especially the police. And I figured it all eut: I didn't suppose I could de much with a gun myself or a knife. But I could blew a whistle, and if my ex perience in Lima was prophecy of what might happen anywhere in Seuth America, I had only te blew my whistle when I was in danger, and my danger would scatter." Of course, this is only Miss Mae- Grcger's modest way of saying that she has little or no fear. She admits that she is twenty-six years old; but she leeks younger. Net tall, she is compactly made; when she walks she has something of the grace of the jaguara which endangered her life en the traiL Her dark brown hair is bobbed, her eyes are green ard rather eloquent with enthusiasm. "My father, who is still living in Wisconsin, always says I've been the gypsy of the family," she observed, "I dent myself understand why Ive always itched te be moving about perhaps it was the influence of my sister, who prefers te stay at home; perhaps it's because we never had a brother in the family and seme one just had te be active. Anyway, Waupaca never satisfied me." Lure of Hiking Always Had Potent Attraction Since Miss MacGregor can re member, she has been hiking some where. Her family is net wealthy, consequently it has been necessary for her te make hnr expenses as she traveled along. She has been able te de this by writing newspaper ar ticles off and en. In this way she has tramped about in Canada and the far corners of the United States. She took a post graduate ceurse in the Columbia Scheel of Journalism n year or be age and determined while a student there en this trip in the tropics. nd new that she has accomplished la trip se successfully she means e return again te Seuth America. Yeu bet I believe in the modern eman!" This conclusion came out oxple- ely, with the unequivocal em- jlasls of happy conviction. And it oodles of information. It sug- $jed that "career" te this pnrticu- 3imaidcn deesn t mean n husband ler the nrisen walls of a home te cloister her while she's young and "II she dies. vMI mean te' get about te see things, HHHHBtfHHI SKeKfaM,..uufQmtlKtKM aBWafniLHeLLLLLLLLLLLM imiMSKKKiKKmmFitSliSSBil99 "They said I couldn't go se I went" "The mother jaguar scared me a little" Miss Katharine MacGregor I want new experiences" te knew things," she cried; and she doubtless will get about. At any rate, she has begun welL It was about the first of last March that Miss MacGregor began her trip. "I flew from Key West te Havana. I didn't have very much money, se I did some research work for a com mercial heuse there Then I crossed te Panama, went through the canal and down te Ecuador. Here I looked about a bit, made a few friends and by steamboat followed south te Lima, Peru. I found the country very beautiful, but I wasn't se much interested in the country there abouts. I wanted te make the Andes." And, the added, smiling: "Perhaps, threw up his hands' in dlspair; the Gov Gov ereor of Peru, quite resigned, gave her a letter of introduction, In which he had little faith, te whomever It might concern. And then both of them scouted about for a suitable guide for this stub born young lady. And they finally rounded up a guide. "He was a disinherited English Lord's son or something like that," said Mlsa MacGregor. "He'd been trying te lese his identity for the last thirteen years in the tropics, no gave me hla name I don't knew whether he was lying or net it may have been the wrong name. But I called him 'Buf falo Bill' for short. "The Censul and the Governer as sured me that he was trustworthy, and he was. It took five weeks' waiting in Lima te find me that guide but it was worth the waiting." Mlsa MacGreger and her pack mule tumbled ever cliff, but were unhurt after thirty-feet faU WKMttKk BURHEf -Jm 'wmMFW 41 13QI, chiefly because no woman no white woman hed ever get across them.H Toe Dangerous, Was Warning of U. S. Censul But the American consul In Lima wag averse te her making the trip. "It means death te a woman," he explained. "It's bad enough for a man. The country is heavy with fevers and full of tigers" that's what they call the Jaguars there "and wild men who seize white women and wive them or sell them. "Besides that," he continued, "the trail simply bristles with dancer: in some places It's only a feet wide; In seme places the mule has te slip down an augle of 45 degrees, and If the beast blips tee much, lie falls, thousands of feet te inevitable death. Yeu can't possibly make that trip I" And the Governer of Peru Mid the same thing. "Who's going te be your guide?" was bis contribution. "Who can you trust for that Important Jeb? The Indians ere just as likely te hand you ever te the women-selling Iquitos or de worse themselves." But Miss1 MacGregor had mads up her mind te -that trip, and nettiing could ch.ange.lt. The American consul After the guide was obtained, and her friends partially satisfied, Miss Mac Gregor was beset with advice about what she should take with her. "Wea pons" seemed te be the main article. They wanted her te carry along a small arsenal. But sbe decided that her guide and the muleteers might carry a gun or se if they wanted, but she would only carry a camera and the po liceman's whistle. Hands were again thrown" up in a small kind of incredulity and horror . Miss MacGregor. "I had a saddle-bag filled with n few necessities. I were army trousers and an army shirt and n bread -brimmed hat. We did net carry tents, but Buffalo Hill audi each bad small cots, and netting te go ever them te keep out the poisonous insects. "It was supposed te be the dry sea son of the year. But the supposition was entirely unfounded. It was the wettest of wet seasons. If it wasn't reining, the dew fell almost as thickly as the rainand there wasn't a moment "I traWtled yery-ligblly," explained rea thB-fieveateea.-dax.irJa Jlurlajt, which we wer net saturated. The Jungle Just oozes water, and the tangled under brush slashes it about one until one really must get used te It or be mere than miserable." The first day, Mlsa MacGregor and her party traveled by train, a standard gauge train run by an American. The second day the party get Inte a Ferd car. "The read was only wide enough for a small car," said Miss MacGregor, "and It wus a one-way thoroughfare. Twe cars couldn't have passed each ether without throwing one down ever the cliff te the bottom thousands of feet below. Frem Heavy Snowstorm te Jungle Sultriness "Within six hours we traveled from a raging snowstorm at 13,000 feet te 3000 feet, where we found ourselves in the midst of the densest tropical growth. At La Meued we began our .real trip." Besides Buffalo Bill and Miss Mac Gregor, the party included mules for each, one muleteer mounted, one afoot and seven pack animals. "Ten come te depend a great deal en the mules," Miss MacGregor explained. "Your life Is really at your mule's mercy. 5Iy own I grew te feel a deal of affection for. I called him Pleiades because he was such a strange collec tion of things. He had one ear shorter than the ether ; he had an unwarranted combination of resourcefulness, cour age, stupidity, cowardice, awkwardness and grace that was altogether appalling. "But they are extraordinary beasts, mules are. They cling te the sides of sheer cliffs like files en the ceiling ; they slide down descents that make you dizzy you shut your eyes and open thera when you come te level again. And It Is worth your life te leek ever the far side of your mules' because then you leek into depths unimagined. "Once Pleiades and I fell off one of these narrow trails. Don't misunder stand me. If such a trajl is two feet wlde it seems like a bread pavement. Mera than likely It Is less than a feet wide. "This one we fell off was about a feet wide. Of course, we moved along in single file. The lead mule there is al ways a lend mule which Is supposed te have better judgment than the ether mules eeemed te be going along nicely, although we noticed evidences of a re cent avalanche. But when we came te a turn the lead mule walked straight into the avalanche, which had pared off the straight edge of his trail. He backed up suddenly and unexpectedly, and barked Inte the next mule, which backed Inte Pleiades. And Pleiades was pushed off the trail. "We went into the air. Pleiades and I did. Buffalo Bill 6aid we made three complcte turns before we hit a soft part of the debris of the avalanche. And I must say it was soft. I looked a sight, and I wasn't hurt a bit. And we fell thirtv feet. "With difficulty I climbed up the thirty feet back te the trail again. We had te pull peer Pleiades up with ropes." Mule Pack Made Geed Time Despite Handicaps Fer seven days the party rode their mules. They mode twenty te forty kilo meters a day. On the trail they camped when and where they could. Sometimes they stepped at a tnmbe n kind of hotel which progressive natives have erected for just such wayfarers. Thesp hotels consist of a few poles for walls and a thick grass reef. "We used te put up our cots, cover them und eurr-elves with muskatcras that's a sort of netting and sleep till morning. Often enough we had te camp wherever we happened te be." Perhaps the most wearing portion of the trip was centered in the mud. "The earth there is a red claj , and the constant rain and the dew soaked Inte that red clay till it get soupy. We seen were coated with mud; it get into eyes literally of all sizes. When they were wide and deep we rode the swimming mules ever. When tney were smaii we wauea tsem. Once we walked under a waterfall. The trail led that way and we had te fellow it. The water dashed ever us, and if it were possible te be soaking wet mere than we nlrcady were it was only a waterfall like that which could possibly make us se. "These streams were full of croco diles and alligators. Afraid? Ne, net se much. Because I found out that these ferocious-looking things are really mere likely te run away than attack you. We simply had te take the chance. Guns are no protection. If you can hit a crocodile in the eye. you only irritate him and you can't kill him by trying te f.hoet threuzh his thick hide bullets won't pierce it." The party took a canoe for two days en the Pichis River. The canoe was a dugout, a native beat roughly hewn out of a tree trunk. Three semi -civilized natives which means thev had nce.uired modesty and were nn abbreviated kind of clothes paddled the canoe. , Miss MncGreger's party met mere of the Indians during this stage of the St e dgy Wisconsin Town Has Lest. Its Attractions for This Girl whites, but most of them wear netb ing. The little children leek fat, enough. I saw one little child whel w-as very fat and shy. I learned that the was thirteen years old and a a wldew ! ; Have Real Sex Equality! Women De Hard Werk "Socially they de net have very complex conventions. The women work about as much as the men." ' Frem the village of the Iqultes Mlsdl MacGregor took a launch. She went' down the Amazen te Para. "There was little pxrifnrrwnf Anrm. that portion of the trip excepting en thing." She paused, and then said sternly: "If I ever get down thera again I'm first celnir te lenm hnw te take care of a camera and hew te use! one. I took many pictures, but the climate, the heat and the wet ruined' most of my films. Te top that, I hadl te get what films I had developed quickly, just as seen as I left the In-' lands. And the folks who developed) them ruined these which might hava been fairly geed. j "But this accident en the Amazen 1 We carried 6eme carbide in a box, car- ried it all the way from Lima. Wal managed te keep It dry up until thai time we get in that beat en the Ama Ama zen. It rained throughout the whole trip se keeping that box dry waa' quite another feat Itself. i "It rained, tee, while we were em' the Amazen. Our Amazen guide was' sitting en the box of carbide. He were a poncho, which draped ever him and the box-like tent and completely! covered him and the box up. Well, the rain rained, and it was all w! could de te keep the beat from filling' I up. The water rose higher and higher,! and suddenly we saw that poncho "OH1 our guide swelling up like a bailoenJ Then there was an explosion and enr' guide was thrown into the air about' three feet. The water in some man iliO biUKU Ul IliC . i . . ' trip. In no case did they seem un- I "7, "' L?"fc"?2L "JS"? " ! triendiy. TUe muleteer-interpreter nr- i ,:zr , , w v' '-"""" i ranged that. He pointed out te the In- ur R , e wa, mere frisbtened thaa dians that these were "geed white pee- anything else. The box of carbide waa pie." and the natives who dared ap-iruJned." . preach them gazed at them in open- 0"J August 1 Miss MacGregor arrived! mouthed wonder. "J Para, and from there she went te. Fer many this was the first white i ew "'k Clt'- where she Is new woman they had fcen. Fer manv of trying te acclimate herself te the Ufa1 of a busy city again. The main portion of her journey covered about 000 miles, her line acresal the Seuth American continent 6tretched tome 2000 miles. Her time spent la the tropics amounted te about seven, months, wandering in Seuth America about five. t Mystery of the Andes j Siill Has Its Fascination ' "1 come back with a fascinating im pression of the mystery of the placa. Yeu somehow knew that the brush la alive with activity, but you rarely sea it. Yeu knew that eyes are peering out' lucm .uibs .uacireger represented an especially desirable kind of jewel, which they ached te seize and hide awnv in the unfathomable deeps of their wilderness. Grin Answers Question "Weren't Yeu Afraid?" "Weren't you afraid?" Miss Mac Gregor was asked. And her pretty face broke into a grin. "Net much you see. I had n letter from the Governer of Peru!" It wns the effective manner, njain. of modestly evading nny conversation ever the question of courage. The canoe carried them through the territory of the Iquitos, who arc known Phnepinllc tn deftirp whit, wnmnn Hhn chiefs kidnap them and they disappear at V01I but J'011 rarely sec them. Th fery"-, , , , snakes that slide along the ground ara "Their method is net known." or- I im. .u- .... .u. . .. , Plained Miss MacGrecer. "0 hM , "ec lUL '"lu',; vl lue Sreuna llM" of their activities only by rumor. It may he that n party In which thrte is a white woman approaches th- border land Suddenly the woman diinjipi ars. Ne one nees her again. And a long while later a rumor filters through te the frontiers that i-eme Iquitos were seen wearing a bit of garment known i te hae belonged te the kidnaped 1 woman. "Thei-e rumors that come down te the cities come pe deviously and mi tcnlbly. One can never understand I hew any sort of message csn penetrate the jungleland But they de. and with n speed that tantalise. Seme of the , women ere killed; ethers are sold. Indian Chiefs Have Real Jungle Harems "The nathes are net monogamous. The chief may have a harem with from three te eight wives And it K quite n triumph for him if he can add n our ears, our eyes literally we ate mud. me mules weu d mew t hreuzh it i.-hitn n-nmnn m liiu i,..hc.v,m slowly, UftliiB with grave deliberation. Although the Iquitos, yi, iirsi one ioei, men me etner. xiiey Grecer sa d. never troubled Mac U1" U11C "lt iue euier. Auey ureger said, never troubled lier It sank te their chests often enough, and was in the country of the Iquitos that iiiu murium, rutifcJ t-i:imcu 111 MIIK- ft jaguar 'lid. ing in and then pulling out their tired legs is inconceivable. And today one of her trenhlns in thm . un jaguar s skui se like the grasses they glide through, that your cje doesn't distinguish them.1 i There are oil arictics of snakes there, from the coral te the cobra, but they' lurk In their own peculiar fastnesses. "The natives themselves are alive about you like that. They see you. Werd of your arrival and passage1 through their country speeds ahead of , you by way of unknown means of com munication among the Indians. But 'jeu larely see them. When you de,i they stand wlent about you almost i fearful of you. And yet, you can never be certain they are friendly or net." , Miss MacCireger is te pretty, e like ether girls once she is in her "civilian 'clothes," as she culls them that it la difficult for one te appreciate her long-, I ing for the dangerous life it seem se i mcessarj for her te live te be heppy. I One expects rather te hear Hterles, such as come from her lips, nut of the mouths of hcavil.v mustachioed and deeply lined and bronzed male fates. It in a little startling this cuiitrest because it Is se unusual One expects women these days te excel, in spots swimming, rowing, in business uiu u is mere trouble te accent a I m.in who dares the unexplored, the, nii datts of tribesmen, the fangs of nei .ueMtics inai. i nreir ever tens th rn.n .in. .h.. r,.n- i.A iM . i. . trail clear of underbrush. The vegeli j. wandered' away fr'em I , eprt Thl, m f" "ih I Mft & Va T C"le,,, tlen grows se quickly and se densely time a rllle was added te her police, "I don't net Id Mil. ' that It was necessary for our muleteers whistle as her armament She w:"B ",,t wan ler ibeut ' Sbt m t0 PU never saw many of the natives. caiiX lafrSiTi Ari butweknewtheywateheduscenstantly: ,Sg t of t';;d ,U tt Vh an. Te'be" etTeT l .. And that's an uncanny fact about that 'just s-cemed te pep up in front of me .i i acti.e I want te lira country ; the underbrush, silent as death in that mysterious wav the "a, t,'r"Rl! TZ "Pfr,f1";M-"' Just be- sometimes, sometimes wild with the , I soy that he had just Leei Imvlnc "U""J ' ''I'l'eii te be a woman Is no shrieks of brilliant colored birds, l.s full ' killing himself On the "reu d lav n rCn", "'? ' ?" ''" ' of brilliant, snv ne pim Tl, !.,.) n,l ,1. .i ..,.. . i. .' . A .. . " '"' . " And W 10 s tier te m inn, k .., .., .( Viwin III 1 I ' L I I II II I Ik natives peered through the thicknesses at us, and we could only sense them. Hh' the sort of thing that tests your nerves. Put Great Faith in Honesty of Interpreter -tumbllnc about s f urn hi.,.. i,.,,i ),,.,. pened at all. When the Indian caught sight of me ht Jut up mid lied. I thought the dead tiger was the lui.incr nger nnd neimn te pl with uiu luun. .vim wnue i mem about wnri hum king Reme da het pleasant voice will ilm.ii. less brighten up a pleasnnt home. Seme daj she may hae guy childien at her knee. It Isn't the most unusual ulti mate isLind for women. Aim n sue nees just tli Ink of ih,. nnd they enjoyed it ! the i J"J' e ,lu"!e children! There won't mother stalked through the biush.' She steed at the edge of the clearing and itj .k a 1 .1 . - n n ii t r im nnin r rAim imh AnAi . -. - -c - when thev ram out tn meJ !",,' v 1 ' P"'.' n ."'' T C OS. I uni te.rlbh were trustful of the muleteer we used ! Ymve TaJZZu1 att ,",",B '? as interpreter. It's an important point! , killed her.' J '' l At Iquitos, Miss MacGregor had just about completed her trip across the Andes. Iquitos used te be the head quarters for the rubber Industry. New It is said te deal only In the vast white slave trade. "The natives are rather an un. healthy looking let," said, Miss Mac Gregor. "They all have that malarial loekworn, peaked and thin. Seme nv.nf. .iM.m.ti,n,...:j zzr-iy r. "'.m "r uvu enpeciaiua tuese , ., ...., ?" 7- - , yyj ywaaauwaa JTa coma la touch, Ik the Always treat your muleteer-interpreter nicely. If you don't, he's liable te say things te the natives which will bring death or captivity upon you quicker than a minute." The seven-day trip took them te the headwaters of a stream called Pichis though they had crossed many streams during the seven days, "One day, going as ilewely at we were, said auss aiacureger, 1 counted h- ........ .....1 ..l..l.ft , ,..!.. . . " -"' mine "" iimm riunen UD'JIlt Urer It a bbit and I ted Fex there will be thrilllns yarns about hew mother ones killed her jaguar, hew nhe fell from a high cliff, hew she penetrated re. dens where no white woman had ever before gene, hew she took . But why go en epeculating Sufficient te say that new Miss MacGregor '! enjoying her thrills as much as en children she may have will. And wht better me is ttiere than one which im n Jey te live, one which is U ill tell and. one which is a joy for aueaa te hear? . m Gipsy, perhaps, the ! one bs me untie Minister SIM "" " .UB-S, VI 31 ,te ti ; I L, J, ', hi MX . - . ; 1 - W 1IH - .
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers