The Placer herald., 1869-10-09
DOWN AMONG THE DEAD.

II 10 a st~ange business, this diving. The
dsogsr fscnates some, but the peril is never
lot moment lost sight o. put on the
hslWsst for the first time more than ten
ysars ago. and yet l never resume il with.
ost feeling that il ma. be the last time
shalt ever 90 down. OF course one has
mere con6dsncs after awhile, but there 10
som.thi"g ia being shut up in an srmor.
weighed down With hundred pounds, and
knowing that lttls leak in your hfs-pipe
issy our death, that 20 diver can ever GET rid
Of. And do not know tba, l should care
to banish tho feeling, for the sight Of the
clear blue skv, the genial sun, aud the lace
Of fellow man. after long hours among the
fishes, makes you feel like one who has sud
denly been drawn from the grasp OF death.
| have bad some narrow escapes while pur-
suing my strange profession !; every diver has,
or has been unusually lucky to escape them.
think the most dangerous place | ever
got into was going down to examine the
propeller Comet. sunk off Toledo. In work
ing about her bottom | got my air.pipe
coied over a large silver from the stave
bold, and could not reach il with my hands
Every time sprang up to remove the 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 life line meant.
1t was two hours and half before | was re-
lieved, and there was not a moment that |
WAS not looking to see the hose cot by the
ragged wood. 1t is a strange feeling you
have down there. You GO walking over a
vasa.l nj bar hor ho.o
and there, and the feeling that you are alone
makes you nervous and uneasy.
Sometimes a vessel sinks down so fairly
that she stands up on the bottom as neat as
il she rode on the surface. Tnen you can
90 down into the cabin, up the shrouds
walk all over her, just as easy as a sailor
could if she were still dasbing away before
the breeze. Only it SCENE so quiet, SO tomb
like; there are no waves down there-only
a s~aying lack and forth Of the water, and
n see-sawirg Of the ship. You hear moth
from above. The great fishes will come
swimming about, rubbing their noses agains.
your lass, and staring with wondering
lock into your eyes. The very stiffness
sometimes gives life chill. You hear just
a moaning. waiing sound, like the last
notes of an organ, and you caonot bel p but
;hink Of dead men floating over and around
you. v
| have been down especially to rescue the
bodies Of those drowned. About four years
ago the propeller 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
M
room at the time Of her sinking. The faith
sr begged Of me and offered me a good
deal Of money to take out the corpses, and
though dreaded the work, | at last consent.
ed. bad been all over the wreck two or
three times, and knew just where the state.
room was The door was fast locked, and
waited good while before bursting it open.
OF course a dead person couldn't harm
you, but even in broad day, on shore, with
people around you, don't you know that the
sight and presence Of a dead person brings
solemn thoughts and nervous feslingss |
knew how they would look, how they were
floating around the room. and il the father
hadn't been looking so wretched above, there
was no money to tempt me 10 there. But
at last got crowbar from forward and,
letting myself think. gave the light door
blow aud stove it in. The water came rush.
ing out, the vessel Just then .urcbed over to
wards my side. and out they came ; the wo-
man 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 screamed out and jumped back.
Her face vas fsarfuly distorted, showing
bow hard death bad been met. and the eyes
looked through the green waters at ma in a
way that made my fish creep. The child
had died easily. it's little white face giving
no sigu Of terror.
A diver does not like to 90 down more
than a hundred and twenty feel; at that
depth the pressure is painful, and there is
danger Of internal injury. can stay down
for five or six hours at a1ime. at a hundred
aod fifteen or twenty feet. and do a good
deal of hard work. 10 the waters of Lake
Huron the liver can see thirty or forty feet
away, but the other lakes will screen YES
sci not ten feet from you.
Up here. you seldom think Of accident or
death, but hundred feet of water over your
head would set you to thinking A little
stoppags OF the air pump, leak in your
hose, careless action on he part Of your
teuder, 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, and. in your haste, bring
on what you dread. often get my hose
around stair or rail- and though am rot
called cowardiy and generally release it with.
tou, much rouble, the bare idea of what a
slender thing holds back the clutch Of death
from my throat, makes c"ld sweat star,
from every pore. Detroit advertiser.
SCRoFuLA Is a taint or infection in the human
organism, which weaKens the vital forces. asd
dis riders or disarranges the functions of the
whole system This taint or Injection is most
usually hereditary in the constitution. but il may
also arise from habits Of lie unwholesome food.
etc. In time, If this disease does not show itself
in tuberculOus or ulcerous form; il induces
tb ose other diseases sucb as cOnsumptiOp ulcer