Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1872-05-02
You say that is your handwriting Z

" You say that is your handwriting 3
said he.
q need not say SO, rejoined the
other, looking at it, for you saw me
write it."
"And this 2" said the captain, turn.
I ing the slate over
The man looked first at one writing,
and then at the other, quite confound-
ed. At last, "What is the meaning
of this2" said he 81 only wrote one
of these. Who wrote the other 2"
THAT'S more than I can tell You, sir.
My mate here says you wrote it, sitting
at this desk at noon to-day
The captain of the wreck aud the
passengers looked at each other, ex-
changing glances Of intelligence and
surprise; and the former asked the lat
ter odd you dream that you wrote
on this slate ?"
No, sir, not that | remember.
You speak of dreaming" said the
captain of the bark ''what was this
gentleman about at noon to-day2"
=" Captain, " rejoined the other, the
whole thing is most mysterious and ex-
traordinary and | had intended to
speak to you about it, as soon as we
got a little quiet This gentleman y
/ pointing to the passenger) "being
/ much exhausted, fell into a heavy sleep,
or what seemed such, some time before
noon after an hour or more he awoke
and said to me, Captain, we shall be
/ relieved this very day. When l asked
him what reason he had for saying 50,
he replied that he had dreamed that he
was on board barque, aud that she
was coming to our rescue. lie describ-
! ed her appearance and rig and, to our
utter establishment, when your vessel
! hove in sight, she correspondent exact
/ ly with his description of her. We had
not put much faith III what he said, yet
still we hoped there might be some.
thing in it, for drowning men, you
f, know, will catch at Il straw. AS it has
turned out, / cannot doubt that it was
all arranged in some incomprehensible
way, by an overruling Providence, SO
that we might be saved, To Him be all
thanks for His goodness to us.
"There is not doubt" rejoined the
/ other captain, "that the writing on the
slate, let it have come there as it may,
saved all your lives | was steering al
! the time considerably South of West,
and | altered my conrse to Northwest,
and | had lookout aloft, to see what
would come of 1t. But you say he add
ed, turning to the passenger that you
/ did not dream of writing on slate =
/ "No, sir. | have no recollection,
whatever, of doing so. l got the I'M
/ preston that the barque | saw in my
! dream was coming to rescue us; but
how that impression came | cannot tell.
/ There is another very strange thing
about it," he added; everything here
on board seems to me quite familiar
yet am very sure | never was IN youl
vessel before. 1t is a puzzle to me.
/ What did your mate see?"
Thereupon Mr.. Bruce stated to them
all the circumstances above detailed.
, The conclusion they finally arrived at
was, that it was a special lnterpositlon
of Providence to save them from what
seemed hopeless fate.
The above narrative was communi-
Gated to me by Capt J. $. Clarke, OF
the schooner Julia Hallock,* who had
1t directly from Mr.. Bruce himself.
They sailed together for seventeen
months in the years 1886 and 81; so
that Captain Clarke had the story from
/ the mate about eight years after the
occurrence. He has since lost sight OF
him, and does not know whether he is
vet alive. All he has heard of him
since they were shipmates IS, that he
continued to trade III New Brunswick,
that he became the master of the brig
| Comet, and that she was lost.
| asked Captain Clarke if he knew
Bruce well, and what sort OF man he
was.
. As truthful and straightforward a
man. he replied, I" rs ever | met III
my life. We were as intimate as
brothers; and two men can't be togeth-
er, shut up for seventeen months IN one
ship, without getting to know whether
they can trust one another's word or
not. He always spoke of the clrcum-
stance in terms OF reverence, as OF an
incident that seemed to bring hlm near,
err to God. and another world. Id
stake my life upon it that he told me
no lie
In july 1853. The Julia Hallock was then lyinl
at the foot of Rutgers square New York She traded
bt tween New York and st. Jago, III the lslahu oi
Cuba Thecaptaiu allowed me to use his name, ano
TO refer to him evidence OF the truth oil what
here set down.