The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1869-10-07
DOWN IN A DIvING-BELL.
From the Detroit Free Press.

| = - = =
| sss . From the Detroit Free Press. ss..55
| Haven't you often wondered what
mysterious thirgs were hidden in the
far down depths Of the waves of the
looked; of the strange fishes; the sensa-
tionsg that a living man would feel
down-t1ere' in the moaning waters p
When yos have read of some good ship
freighted with happy souls, plunging
down into the dark depths, haven't you
wondered now she resisted, and seen.
like vision, the pale faces, with star
ing eyes and floating locks, being wash
ed hither, and thither, their fingers
clutching st.tiy at one another as the
cold watcr.swopt them back aud forth?
We can see nature in the forests, in the
III All her workings bHt that or the
waters. And that is why we seek to
the diver er wtihiss wtihis hidden mysteries; why
cells is an object of awe lAto her closed
We who upon the shore see hiuiration.
armor often hear of his success ana
failures sometimes Of his death, and
vet but few of us know his courage, his
endurance, his perils, his feelings down
there alone knowing that he decends
with his life in his hands, and that the
waves would gladly chant his death
/ song for his boldness. : e
Foremost among the totl divers of
the lakes is John Quinn a resident OF
Detroit, and, from long and varied eN-
perience, eminently qualified to tell the
readers OF the Free Press of the myste-
ries of which we have spoken, and
with little help to polish uphis words,
he says:
1T is a strange business, this diving.
The danger fascinates some, but the
peril is never for n moment lost sight OF.
| pu. on the stlnet for the first time
more than ten years ago, and yet L
never resume it without Il feeling that
it may be the last time | shall ever go
down. OF course one has more c>nfi-
denco after while, but there is some
i thing in being shut up in an armor,
weighed down With 100 pounds, and
knowing that a little leak in your life
pipe is your death, that no diver can
ever get rid of. And I do not know
that | should care to Danish the feeling;
for the sight of the clear, blue sky, the
genial sun and the face of a fellow man,
after long hours among the fishes
makes you feel like one who has sud
denly been drawn away from the grasI
of death. have had some narrow es
capcs while pursuing my strange pro
fession; every diver l.1s, or has been un'
usually lucky to escape them. l think
the most dangerous place l ever got in
20 was going down to examine the pro-
peller Comet, sunk off Toledo. In
working about her bottom, got my
air pipe coiled over 4 large silver from
the stoven hole, and could not reach il
with my hands. Every time l sprans
up to remove the hose My tender woul,
give me the "slack' o! the line, thu!
letting me fall back again. He did no
understand his duties, and did not know
what my signals, on the life line meant
1t was two hours and half before Iva
relieved, and there was not momen
that l was not looking to see the hos
cut by. the jagged wood. lisa strang
feeling you have down there. You g
walking over a vessel, c!ambering uI
her sides, peering here and there, AM
feeling that you are alone makes yo
5 nervous aud uneasy. Sometimes yes
sci sinks down so fairly that she stand
!, up on the bottom as trim and neat as
: she rode on the surface. Then you cal
: 90 down into the cabin, up the shrouds
walk all over her. just rs easily rs q sal
lor could if she were still dashing ava
before the breeze. Only it seems quiet
so tomb Ike, there no waves dow
tthe.e-olily Il sWaying back and fort
of the waters, and q see-sawing CT tn
ship. You hear nothing from above
the great fishes will come swimmin
about, rubbing their noses against you
glasses, and staring with. a woDderin
, look into your eyes. The very stiilnes
sometimes gave me IA chill. You hes
j ~
t. the last notes of an organ, and you car
Il not help but think of dead men tloatin
l. over aud around you. l have bee
down especially to rescue the bodies
: Whose drowned. About four years ag
the propeller Buckeye, belonging to IL
Northern Transportation Compan.
+. went down in the river st. Lawrence
Is Is seventy eight feet Of water, and it WI
X known that mother and child we
: asleep in their stateroom at tt
Is same time Of her sinking. The lathe
begged Of me, and offered me II goo
deal of money, to take out the corps
and though dreaded the work | at la
consented. | had been all over Il
u wreck two or three times, and l knc
Just where the stateroom was. The do
g was fast locked, and waited goo
e. while before bursting it open.
: course dead person coaldn't harm yo
n but even in broad day, on shore, al
~ people around you, don't you kho