The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1869-10-21
EBENsBURG, PA. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 81, 1869

ed me q good deal Of money to take out
the corppes. and though / dreaded the
work, / at last consented. l had been
all over the wreck two or three times, and
/ knew Just where the state-room was.
The door was fast locked, and | waited a
good while before bursting it open. OF
course, dead person couldn't harm you
but even in broad day, on shore, and the
people around you, don't you know that
the sight and presence of dead person
brings up solemn thoughts and nervous
feelingsi l knew how they would look,
how they were floating around IN the
room, and if the father hadn't been look
ing 80 wretched above, there was no money
to tempt me in there. But, at last got
a crowbar from forward, and not letting
myself think, gave the light door blow
that stove it in. The water came rush
ing out, the vessel just then lurched over
towards my side, and out they came, the
woman first, her eyes wide open and hair
trailing behind, and in her left hand she
held the hand of her child. knew how
they would look, but screamed out and
jumped back. Her face was fearfully
distorted, showing how sharp death had
been met, and the eyes looked through the
green waters at me in way that made
nv flesh creep. The child had died easi>
Iy, its livid, white face giving no sign OF
terror. 1t was good while before fas-
tened the line to them and gave the signal
TO haul up, and felt so uneasy that
was not long in following. This is one oil
the drawbacks to any feelings of curiosity
diver might otherwise have. L never
go down to the hatcEway or the cabin
steps without thinking of dead man
| floating about there. When the Lac la
| Belle sunk on the St, Clare aats, the en-
gineer was caught in the rushing waters,
and no trace was ever found of his body.
His wife came to me, hearing that | was
to 90 down to the wreck, and asked me
to find the body if possible. l remem-
bered this when went down, and went
cropping around the engine room in mo-
mentary expectation Of encountering the
body looked so long without finding
it that had got nervous, and had started
for the ladder to 60 up, when L ieit some
thing strike my helmet and give way, and
chill went dancing over me as l thought
the dead body was at hand: But or
reaching up found that | had run against
the fire hose, the end of which was hang
ing down, and that what l 50 dreaded
was still out of my sight.
"a diver does not like to 60 down more
than 12O feet At that depth the pres
sure is painful, and there is danger of in
ternaI injury. can stay down for Ave
or six hours at time at lis or 12O feet
and do good deal of hard work. In the
waters of Lake Huron the diver can SCI
80 OF 40 feet away. but the other lakes
will screen a vessel not 10 feet from you
Zone of the strangest of the strang'
things that ever knew of IN my line
was the case of the propeller j. w
Brooks, Northern Transportation boat
1t was about ten years ago, when she wa'
about forty miles off Salmon Point, Lake
! Ontario, and the next day was found by
the steamer Wellington floating near th'
point. She was end up in the water, he
bow standing out and stern down, perpen
dicuIarly, and was towed into shoal water
and / went down to make an examination
AS sure as I'm living, there wasn't hol'
in her sides or bottom that would have
sunk basin she was as sound and per
feet as on the day the last nail was driver
home but there wasn't sign OF her boil
ers or machinery left in her, nothing bu
the bed-plate on which the boiler haC
stood, and she had neither burned no
blown up; and, yet, the boilers and ma
chinery had gone out, and there was ne
trace or sign of how they did it, and M
living man can explain it. She had beer
seen only the day before, and was mex
found floating, and there never had beer
found either captain or crew 10 unrave
the mystery, none of them ever having
been heard of She is yet running, having
been raised, converted into tug, and Ii
now towing on the st. Lawrence unde
the name of William the Fourth.
"Yes, we get pretty good Pay-S4C
and $50 day, and sometimes more, bu
outfit costs 81 800, there is good dea
of wear and tear. And the lonesome
uneasy feeling is worth a round som. UE
here, you seldom think OF accident Ol
death, but hundred feet of water dash
ing over your alr>pump, leak IN youI
hose, a careless action on the part OF you
tender, and the weight of mountain
would press the life out of you before you
could make move. And you may 'foal
your pipe or fine yourself, and in you
haste bring on what you dread. otter
get my hose around star or rail, anc
though l am not called cowardly, and
generally release it without much trouble
the bare idea of what slender thing holds
back the clutches of death off my throa
makes a cold sweat start from every pore. ;
Detroit Free Press