The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-08-29
A Narrow Escape.


large Mississippi steamers-the Chilli
cothe--at one dollar day.
We had reached the upper part of
Tennessee, with Arkansas on the left
and, for perhaps the tenth time since we
left New Orleans, we were looking out |
for wood-pile, our supply being nearly |
out. The Chillicothe was very large |
boat, with seven boilers, and consumed, |
when running against the stream, from |
forty to forty-two cords daily We there
fore "wooded twice day, usually
morning. and evening, but sometimes in
the night. For this purpose, on the
morning of the fifth day OF our trip, we
ran up close to woodward on the
Tennessee shore. The bell was rung, a
man appeared on the bank, and from
the hurricane-deck the necessary oues-
tions were asked as to the quality of the
wood, the price, etc. Every thing being
satisfactory, we landeu-that is, we ran
up to the bank, the gang-plank was run
out, and all the boats hands were soon
at work, assisted by the eck-passengers,
who got deduction in their fare for
helping at the wood-landings. With
this force, the twenty cords-more or less
On the way, one or more of the buckets
-planks-in the larboard wheel had
become loose, which not only kept up
continual clattering, but prevented this
wheel from doing as good service as it
should, and thereby making the boat
difficult to steer. The engineer had
promised to have it repaired, butneglect-
ed to do so until the pilot came down
and logged his memory. Then he sent
q man into the wheel to see what was
wanted. He found that it would be
necessary to put in two new buckets,
after first removing what little remained
of the old ones.
was sent into the wheel to assist the
carpenter We soon had the broken
| buckets out and the new ones in their
places, it being only necessary to screw
them on, which was not easy, as the
bolts were very rusty, and the buckets
had to be screwed on very tightly. The
carpenter, finding the wrench we had
insufficient, sent me to his locker, near
the stern, for longer and stronger one
We had been too busy to notice what
progress they were making in "wood-
ing;" and the engineer, drunken, good
for-nothing fellow, had probably entire
ly forgotten that he had two of his men
in one of the wheels. The wood was on
board and paid for, and the signal that
all was ready to start must have been
given while was looking for the wrench /;
for, when ran forward with it, I was
thunderstruck to hear the command,
Haul in the plank !" and then, in the
same instant, to hear the pilots bell
give the usual signal to back, in order
to get out into the stream. In an in
stant, the wheels were in motion. ]
knew the carpenter could not have fin
ished his work but had they called him
out / could see him nowhere; l there
fore dropped the wrench, and sprung
{ forward to the engineer, crying, fran
tically: "There's man in the wheel
there's a nan i'll the wheel" The boil
ers were very hot, and we were blowing
off steam, 50 that it was almost impossi
bic to be heard. l cried out three Oh
four times before the half-tipsy engi
rleer understood what was saying but
when he did understand, he was as ter
iititd AS | Was, aud stopped the engin,
; Immediately The pilot cried down
. through his >pea king tube Go ahead
St tlNdt dtlulhS Sotut utdl y uiScS
T. but the engineer did not heed him.
3 quickly told four or five OF the deck
, hands what was the matter, and W,
hastened to enter the wheel-house il
, search Of the carpenter. We saw hin
clinging to one of the lower arms, whicl
{ fortunately was above the water; but
despite all our cries, he did not stir ;
= hand. He must really have gone rount
: eight or ten times, and have been fright
= ened out of his Senses but not out of hi
= physical strength, for he clung to tn
2 wheel as tightly as though he had grow
, to it. We all clambered down to Linn a
s quickly as possible, but were scarcel.
= able to loosen his arms; they seemed
9 rigid, and we were compelled to loosel
f them by main force. This done, we sue
: ceeded, with great difficulty, in gettin
the unfortunate man on deck.
a In the mean time, the boat had drift
= ed down stream, stern foremost, unit
e she struck the branches of some tree
r that hung out over the river in conse
IT quence of the bank having settled, an
b was fast swinging around when we sun
g out "All right !" to the engineer, and h
It hastened to comply with the pilots sic
It nal to 60 ahead.
" The carpenter lay unconscious tt
. whole day, talking incoherently to hin
} oelf, and occasionally crying for help
> tone that pierced ones inmost sou
d This was disagreeable to the captain S
10 when, we reached Cairo, where the ma
,e partially regained consciousness, he ha
d. him put on shore, because, he said, the
~ was no physician on the boat. The clel
IL gave him the few dollars that were d,
him, and we steamed on up the Obi
ie He was, doubtless, soon forgotten by II
. others on board, but not so by me. II
's' sensations he experienced for a few m
IA ments must have been terrible, as he W
L. turned round and round, now submer
y ed in the water, and now high above
/ his limbs clasped convulsively arou1
3 one of the arms of the wheel. Had
e. not, providentially, been sent for Il
ye wrench, we should certainly have bo
'h met with one of the most horrible
ess deaths. In my travels and adventure
II l have met with more than one narro
oe escape but this is the only one cam
OF think of without a shudder.
IS. ----S1,-----