Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1871-03-30
ALEAPFOR LIFE I

y - % 30. was on my way from Paris to Rome,
- and one morning in May found myself
.I,sIi in the city Of Marseilles, where had
> &. -. made up my mind ito take .the steamer
"a 80 for Italy. The vessel had Intended to
s.sr to sail in hadideparted the day previous
- NJ to my arrival, so there was nothing to
.ssa do but to select the next best and COM
g sszrimence my Journey. After noting the
offers of the various companies, finally
settled upon the General Abbertocci, of
the Yalery, line, and after seeing my
baggage aboard, and looking in vain for
.. - some one to whom might say goodbye,
30 % / followed suit and was soon on thee
e deck k.s7,,tA ~ o. '-'a.-'- '.s7r ,' ~
s- looked around me at our passengers;
s'--- never was there greater mixture of
tions. French, Spanish, and above all
- italian, was heard on every side, but
,. listened in vain for sound of our good
- old English tongue. After numerous
leave-takings and kissing such as only
a foreigner can indulge in, we managed
to get off, and steamed from the harbor
with light breeze following, and as
happy company as was ever got togeth-
~, err There were several notables on board,
s.'. the Consul, General of France to Rome,
and his wife, an accomplished and ele-
-.., i-.., CANT woman several Secretaries of Le-
s-.~' CATION, besides many officers of the
French army, who, with a company OF
troops, were on their way to"relieve
10 y part of the garrison of Civita Vecchi,
then held by the French IAsSwe sailed
1s1 along many small boats followed us, the
.1. occupants, shouting and waving their
good-byes until we were out of sight.
Could they have seen what the next
twenty-four hours would produce; could
they have known that their good-byes
- -.~ were indeed farewells, to those who,
...'. before the morrows sun, would be in
eternity, their gladness would have been
changed to sorrow, and their rejoicing to
tears. -
As I said, we sailed on the morning of
the 7th of May, 1869, and nothing oc-
Cured to mar our voyage up to o'clock
E that night, when the wind changed, and
-.....,, a head sea set in, which quickly drove
si all the ladies and most of the men below.
As for myself (haying spent. nearly a
s..4, s, year at sea, and never suffering from
-e- that malady1 called sea-siokness), walk
as.--- ed the deck for some two hours, partly
for the fresh air. which 1 could not get
in the saloon, and partly because a feel
.sus ing of uneasiness and Elnsecurity had
taken hold on me, which ] endeavored
in vain to throw off, There were good
i'a-' grounds, however, for my feelings, for
had not been half an hour on board be-
g ,s-f lfore-I noticed a lack of discipline among
''i7 the officers and crew. which ,boded no
-ssg~z - good in accident and which after
ward fully confirmed by their conduct.
We were also heavily laden, including
- y a among our freight 7a-deek-toad of petro-
--s - leum,7 upon the barrels of which the
troops lay or'sat smoking. i endeavored
in vain, by signs, to make the Captain
.-. T.. understand the nature of such an IN
iammable material, but he treated the
-,.t - subject with the utmost Indifference,
-1j - and, Struggling his shouldersy went into
his room, as if the fate of bver sixty
lives wereof mo possible consequences.
Having remained on deeksup to near
ly. one O'clock IlWent to InFs.room and
- lay down, taking off my coat merely, for
the horrid preseptiment that something
would occur still clung to me, and my
sleepwas anything but quiet Itwas about
. -- one o'clock, when was awakened by Q
--,.- fearful crash, followed INSTANTLY by two
more shocks repeated in quick success
sion, while at the same moment shrek:
and cries burst from all parts of the
cabin, where terrified women and chill
-.--F dren, were, crushing Hnadly hither anC
thither 20 N.Y. first thou gflts were tina
we had struck upon some j; dden reef o
shoal, which this part of the Mediter
ranean aboufids in, but on reaching tn
deck soon Saw my mistake, for a larg
brig, whose eatlines1 / could Just see il
the darkness, was slowly drifting ava.
from us, and knew in a moment tina
we had crushed into her, and the onl
question now was, were rwe' sinking o
was she?
Every one was now on deck, and tn
confusion and excitement was dreadful
Men called aloud for their wives, an,
mothers for their children, while other
on their knees called upon God to sav
them. ~ Efp1
Invent to the forward part of the shi
and there saw enough to convince m
that an hour would soon decide the cas-
for us all, for our bows, which wei
made of iron in fact the ship was irol
and Clyde built), were all stove in, an
the water pouring in in great volume
at the apertures. But another sight