The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1865-09-08
Tu% c,pLE-DR. RussELL's STORY.

Lord Crnnston's goblin page, according to tho
Lay of the Last Minstrel, ran about crying lost,
lost, lost" The hftori9gEGREorS S ,s "i 'no hsed
= ni,Has ys. rs the goblin lived long enough to
change his refrain into ''iound, found, found SO
wo trust that the ucklcss wire which IL now lying
%s bs IorFfs TF noT ong shs bs cnapcd indulge in
change OF tune: found, found, ionnu'
DIR. Russclls official account oi inc Great East
crn's voyage and tie abortiyn attempt to lay the
cable has foucd It's way into the journals-but the
mubIie interest in it has been in great measure an
iished. Tie Doctor, however, brings his clever
pen into play, and he tells the whole story with
tho vivdncss of a real artist, who knows how to
invest even the dricst scientific technicaltics with
n melo- dramatic attractveness that is certain to
arrest tho public attention. Take for example his
description Of the swapping OF tho cable ana ITS
tho Atlantic:
1T is not possible for any words to portray the
dismay with which-thc sight was Witnessed and the
ncws heard. 1t wns enough to move to tears And
when man came aft with piece OF the inner end
lashed still to the chain, and ono saw the tortured
stranls-torn wires-the lacerated core-lt IL no
cxaggoration to say that strange feeling OF pity
as though for some senticnt creature mutllatcd
and dragged asunder by brutal force, passed
use sentimental abstraction, when instant, stren-
nous action was demanded? Alas action! There
around lay the placid Atlantic, smiling in the sun
and not o dmpie to show where lay SO many hopes
buried tf cables be as mcn) till the sea gives up
her dead. But there was no blank despair, and If
any felt it they suppressed the expression OF it,
whilst by far the greatest number OF those on
board wore actually animated, not by the loss it
SELF but by the accidental OF the occurrence
and felt greater confidence than over i'll the laying
of the cable.
Confidence, under these dishcartoning circum-
stances, it seems to us, t7as hGroism itself, and
this heroism was not OF the abstract sentimental
kind, for straightway-
"After q brief consideration, Mr.. Canning, whose
presence Of mind and selfpossesslon never left
decided
seek for the cable in the bottom OF the Atlantic
out the grapncs and drop to it. and and
chance Of finding gold buttons in the dross from
which he was seeking aurun potable, or Philoso-
piers stone. But, then, what would they say in
England if not even an attempt, however desper-
ate, had been made? There were men on board
who had picked up cables from the Mediterranean
full 140O fathoms down. The weather was beauti-
full, and if even there were soundings and the
depth beneath u6 matter Of confidence, it was
Betted ct last that the Great Eastern should steam
position in which she was when the cable went
down. with tho grapnels and wire rope, and
drift down across the course OF the track in which
the cable was supposed to be lying: Although all
uttcrancc OF hope was suppressed, and no word
OF confidence escaped the lips, the mock:ng shad.
ows OF both were treasured in some quiet nook of
The fancy. The doctrine of chance could not
touch such O contingency ID We had to speculate
upon. And now they came forth-the grapnels,
Two fye,armed anchors with tueS sharply curry
hooks with which the Giant Despair was going to
fish from the Great Eastern for take worth, with
all its belongings, moro than million"
But it was dull, drowsy work, and, after oil,
there seems to have been but little real heart in
it, for the Doctor goes ON to say:
sat first tho iron sank but slowly, but soon the
momentum Of descent increased, SO as to lay great
stress on the picking-up machinery, which was
rendered available to lowering the novel messen-
ger, with warrant OF search Tor tho fugitive hid
den in mysterious cavcrns beneath. Length flew
after length, over cog-wheel and drum, till the
iron, warming with work, heated at last so as to
hn or hp onph infp
clouds of steam. The time passed heavily indeed!
All life had died out in tho vessel, and no noise
bio over the wheels at tho bow. The most apa-
thctic and Indifferent would have sacrificed much
70 have heard the rumble of tho cable again, and
have thought and esteemed it the most grateful
music in the world Tho electricians room was
cioscd-all their subtle apparatus stood function
less, and CELL zinc and copper threw off superbous
currents in the darkened chamber. The jockeys
had run their race and reposed in their iron sad
dles-thc drums boat no more-their long reveillc
was ended at last in the mnffed roll of deRththat
which had been broken could give no trouble to
brnkcs and man Stunned tho region where all these
mute witnesses were testifying to the vanity OF
human wishes. Away flew the wire strands,
length nfter length; ocean was indeed Unsuitable
'more" and 'morc," cried the daughter Of horse
leech from the black night of waters, and still the
rope descended. Ono thousand fathoms, fifteen
hundred fathoms, two thousand fathonis, hun
dreds again mounting up, till ut last at 5.6 P. NJ.
tho strain was diminished, and at $500 fathoms or
$4,000 feet the grapnel reached tho bed Of the At
iantic, and set to it's task of finding and holding
the cable. Where that 10y was Of course beyond
human knowledge, but as tho ship drifted down
across it's course, there ,wes just q scrt Of head
shaking eurmise that the .grapnel might catch
it-that the ship might feel it-that the iron rope
might be brought up again, and the cable across
it might-here was the most hazardous hitch of
oil n-Inght come up without breaking. But $500
fathomsl Alasl and in the darkness of the
nisht-not more gloomy than her errand-the
Great Eastern having cleared away one of the
great buoys and got it over her bows, WAS left
sport to the wind and drfed OF the rate Of seventy
feet minute down upon the imaginary line
beneath which the cable had sunk to useless rest"
Nevertheless as the reader already knows, the
cable really "clutched," once, twice, thrice
but the ''cutch" did not hold-the strain was too
great-and 30 the great ship had to give il up AMI
return to England, with Mr.. Field and oil the staff
DIR. Rnssel adding, "much strengthened by the
conviction that but for the faults in the cable the
Old World and the New World would have been
Gre this united by the Atlantic Telegraph and ami
mated by the frmest belief in ultimate success"
Tho faults" alluded TO- it is insinuated were the
dongs Of some malicious employee-but the in
sinuaton does not seem to be supported by any
coloring Of facts.
TKE ERA OF GREAT FEAUDs-At no time within
onr recollection has there been such succession
OF great frauds as during the pact three or four
months Following each other so rapidly that
their extent and audacity have severely shaken
the public sense Of security the wonder is that no
o1 1,oo So1 -, AZ,