The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-09-17

bottom got my air pipe coiled over
large silver from the stOven hole, and
could not reach it with my hands. Every
time sprang up to remove my hose my
tender would give me the "slack Of the
line, thus letting me fall back again. He
did not understand his duties, and did not
know what my signals on the lifeline
meant. 1t was two hours and half before
/ was relieved, and there wasn't moment
that was not looking to see the hose cut
by the jagged weod. 1t is a strange feel
ing you have down there. You go walk
ing over a vessel, clambering up her sides,
peering here and there, and the feeling
that you are alone makes you nervous and
uneasy. Sometimes vessel sinks down
SO fairly that she stands up on the bottom
as trim and neat as if she rode on the sur
face Then, you can go down into the
cabin, up the shrouds, walk all over her,
just as easily as sailor could if she were
still dashing away before the breeze. Only,
it seems so quiet, so tomb-like; there are
no waves down there-Only swaylng
back and forth of the waters, and see
saving of the ship. You hear nothing
from above; the great fishes will come
swimming about, rubbing their noses
against your glass, and staring with won
dering look INTO your eyes. The very
stiffness sometimes gives me chill You
hear just moaning, wailing sound, like
the last notes of an organ, and you can
not help but think of dead men floating
over and around you. have been down
especially to rescue the bodies of those
drowned. About four years ago, the pro-
peller Buckeye, belonging to the Northern
Transportation Company, went down in
the river ST. Lawrence, in seventy eight
feet of water, and it was known that a
q mother and child were asleep in their
state-room at the time of her sinking.
The father begged of me, and Of
fered me good deal of money, to take out
the corpses, and though l dreaded
the work, at last consentee. had been
all over the wreck two or three times, and
l knew just where the staterOOm was.
The door was fast locked, and / waited a
good while before bursting it open. VI
course, a dead person couldn't harm you,
but even in broad day, on shore, and peo-
pie around you, don't you know that the
sight and presence of deadperson brings
up solemn thoughts and nervous feel
ings? knew how they would look,
how they, were floating around In
the room, and if the. father hadn't been
looking so wretched above, there was no
money to tempt me in there. But, at last
got q crowbar from forwards, and, not
letting myself think, gave the light door a
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 trailing behind, and in her left hand
she held the hand of her child. I knew
how they would look, but screamed out
and jumped back Her face was fearfully
distorted. showing how hard death had
been met, and the eyes looked through the
green waters at me in way that made
my flesh creep. The child had died easily,
its livid, white face giving no sign of ter
ror. 1t was q good while before l fas-
tened 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 GU
riOsity diver might otherwise have. l
never go down the hatchway or the cabin
steps without thinking of dead man float
ing about there. When the Lac la Belle
sunk on st. Clair flats, the engineer was
caught in the rushing waters, and no trace
was ever found of his body. His wife
came to me, hearing that 1 was to go down
to the wreck, and asked me to find the
body if possible. / remembered this when
1 went down, and went cropping through
the engine-roOm, in momentary expecta-
ton of encountering the body. l looked
so long without finding it that / got ner-
vous, and had started for the ladder to go
up, when felt something strike my he'll
met and give way, and chill went dane
ing 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 that
what so dreaded was still out of my sight.
"a diver does not like to 60 down more
than 100 feet at that depth the pres
sure is painful and there is danger of in
ternal injury. can stay down for five or
six hours at time at lis or 120 feet, and
do good deal of hard work In the wa
tiers Of Lake Huron, the diver can see 30
or 40 feet away, but the other lakes will
screen vessel not 10 feet from you.
"One of the strangest of the strange
things that l ever knew of in my line,
was the case of the propeller J. w. Brooks,
q Northern Transportation boat. 1t was
about ten years ago, when she was about
forty mikes off Salmon Point, Lake On
tario, and the next day was found by the
steamer Wellington floating near the point.
She was end up in the water, her bow
standing out, and stern down, perpendicu-
lar, and was towed into shoal water, and
went down to make an examination. As
sure as I'm living, there wasn't hole in
her sides or bottom that would have sunk
a basin; she was as sound and perfect as
81, Iox, I, 10 OF Hriv
but there wasn't sign of her boilers OF
machinery left in her, nothing but the bed.
plate on which the boilers had stood, and
she had neither burned or blown up, and
yet the boilers and machinery had gone
out, and there was no trace or sign Of how
they did it, and no living man can explain
it. She had been seen only the day before,
and was next found floating, and there
never had been found either captain OF
crew to unravel the mystery-none OF
them ever having been heard Of She is
yet running, having been raised, convert
ed into tug, and is now towing ON the
st. Lawrence under the name of William
the Fourth.
"Yes, we get pretty good pay-$40 and
$50 day, and sometimes more, but oul
outfit costs $1,5O0, and there is good deal
of wear and tear And the lonesome, un-
easy feeling is worth round sum. UP
here, you seldom think of accident or death
but a hundred feet of water washing ovel
your head would set you to thinking. A
little stoppage of your air pump, leak in
your hose, careless action on the part o1
your tender, and the weight of mountain
would press the life out of you before you
could make a move. And you may foul
your pipe or fine yourself and in yOul
haste, bring on what you dread. l Otter
get NV hose around stair or rail, anC
though am not called cowardly, and gen
erally release it without much trouble, the
bare idea OF what slender thing hold:
back the clutch of death off my throat
makes cold sweat start from every pore.
-Detrot Free Press.
AS switch locomotive was perform
ing its accustomed work at Richmond
Ala, few days ago, two stay bolts gave
way, causing the crown sheets to bulge
out, thus opening the throttle valve, ane
rendering the engine unmanageable, A
the same time an.aperture was made neal
the fire-box, from which issued jet
scalding steam. Fearful of an explosion
the engineer started the pump to work ant
Jumped from the locomotive. He hat
scarcely reached the ground when the en-
gine started off at speed that has rarely
before been equalled in this country. Al
ter going a short distance a crank pin wa
broken, and also side rod. At ever!
revolution the piece of rod came in con
tact with the cab and soon reduced it b
splinsers. A dispatch was sent to Center
vile to leave the switch open and let tn
engine run off the track; but it did no
reach that place, the volume of water tina
was being poured into the boiler causing
Il tr coma tn n stand still about four mile