Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-09-13
WELLS & COLL,3 267 Main st.

the bodies Of those drowned. About four
years ago the propeller Buckeye, belong
ing TO the Northern Transportation Com
psny, went down in the river St. Law
renee, in seventy-eight feet of water, and
it was known that mother and child
were asleep in their stateroom at the
time of her sinking. The father begged
Of me and offered me good deal of
money to take out the corpses, and
though / dreaded the work, at last con.
sented. l had been all over the wreck
two or three times and knew just where
the stateroom was. The door was fast
locked, and / waited good while before
bursting it open. .C9 dey y
OF course, a dead person couldn't
harm you, but even in broad day, on
shore, and with people around you,
don't you know that the sight and pres
ence Of dead person brings up solemn
thoughts and nervous feelings2 l knew
how they would look, now they were
floating around in the room, and if the
father hadn't been looking 80 wretcbed
above, there was no money to tempt me
in there. But, at last, / got crowbar
from forwards, and, not letting myself
think, gave the light door blow that
stove it in. The water came rushing out,
the vessel Just then lurched over toward
my side, and out they came, the woman
first, her eyes wide open and hair trail
ing behind, and in her left hand she held
the hand of the child. knew how they
would look, but / screamped out and
Jumped back. Her face was fearfully
distorted, showing how hard death had
been made, and the eyes looked through
the green waters at me in a way that
made my flesh creep. The child had
died easily, its little white face giving out
no sign of terror. Z
1t was good while before / fastened
the line to them and gave the signal to
haul up, and / felt so uneasy that l was
not long in following. This is one of the
drawbacks to any feeling of curiosity
diver might otherwise have. 1 never go
down the hstchwsy or cabin steps with
out thinking Of dead man floating
about there. When the Lac la Belle sunk
on st. Clair fats the engineer was caught
in the rushing waters, and no truce was
ever found of his body His wife came
to me, hearing that was to 60 down TO
the wreck, and asked me to find the body
if possible. | remembered this when l
went down, and went cropping through
the engine-room in momentary expecta-
ton of encountering the body. j looked
so long without finding it that l got ner-
vous, and had started for the ladder to 60
up, when l felt something strike my
helmet and give way, and chill went
dancing over me as / thought the dead
body was at hand. But, on reaching up,
/ found that / had run against the fire
hose. the end of which was hanging down,
and what / so dreaded was still hidden
beyond my sight.
A diver does not like to 60 downmore
than hundred and twenty feet; at that
depth the pressure is painful and there is
danger of internal injury. l can stay
down for five or six hours at q time at
hundred and fifteen or twenty feet and
do a good deal of hard work. In the
waters of Lake Huron the diver can see
thirty or forty feet away, but the other
lakes will screen q vessel not ten feet
from you.
Up here you seldom think of accident
or death, but hundred feet of water
washing over your head would set you to
thinking. A little stoppage of the air
pump, leak in your hose, careless
action on the part of your tender, and
the weight of a mountain would press the
life out of you before you could make
move. And you may "foul" your pipe
or line yourself, aud in your haste bring
on what you dread. l often got nay hose
around a stair or rail, and though l am
not called cowardly, and generally re-
lease it without much trouble, the bare
idea of what slender thing holds back
the clutch of death off my throat, makes
a cold sweat start from every pore.