Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1873-02-21
A Long Island Heroine.
SHE REsCUEs A MAN FROM DROWNING.
Eron, tha pronLl.n Trnfoo

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From the Brooklyn Union.
On Friday afternoon John Mason,
who is connected with the gravel pit at
the hamlet of Easton's Neck. on Hunt
ington Bay, L. l., went with friend to
Clare's store, which is near Huntington
Harbor to lay in his weekly supply of
provisions. Having made his purchases,
he and his friend re.embarked in his
frail skiff and started for home. To pass
from the harbor into the bay they had to
go through narrow strait, known in
the Long Island vernacular as the gut"
and then row close to the shore of the
bay for several miles. They had passed
the gut in safety, and had rowed to q
point about half way between Easton's
Neck Light and the bay, when the boat
became entangled in foe of ice.
The skif being heavily loaded astern,
so heavily in fact that her bow was out
Of water, the frantic efforts of the men
to pull ont of the foe only made matters
worse, and instead of getting into clear
water they showed more than half the
boat on a large cake of ice. They both
dropped their oars and made an effort
to push the boat of the ice, but in their
hurry and excitement they capsized her,
and in a second both of them were
foundering in the water. Mr.. Mason's
companion, being able to swim little.
reached the boat, which was floating
bottom upwards, and got astride of her
keel yelling Justly for help. Meanwhile
Mason who could not swim a stroke, was
clinging to cske of ice, which was
barely buoyant enough to sustain his
weight, and was rapidly becoming ex-
hausted.
Directly opposite the place where the
boat was capsized is the residence of Mr..
Conklin, a farmer. When the cries for
help were heard Mr.. Conklin was away
from home, and there were only three
women and little boy in the house.
All rushed to the beach and saw the
struggles of the drowning man, but for
a moment they were so paralyzed that
none of them had presence of mind
enough to make movement to aid him.
Then Miss Lucinda Conklin, without
stopping to consult her mother or sister,
waded into the bay determined to make
at least one effort to save Mason. At
this part of the bay the beach is broad,
and shelves off very gradually, SO
that the brave woman was enabled to
wade to within few feet of Mr.. Mason.
But as she moved forward, clearing the
ice from her path with her hands, the
water deepened little by little, until at
last, when she was only eight or ten feet
from the man she sought to save, only
her head was above water. By this time
Mason showed positive signs of exhaust
ion. He had clung to the ice for SO long
a time that his hands had become numb
and almost powerless, and Miss Conklin
saw, from his efforts to relieve his hands
by placing one Of his elbows on the cake
of ice, that his chances of life were not
worth minutes purchase.
With heroism seldom or ever paral-
leled she plunged into the water, and
with few vigorous strokes reached the
drowning man. Although exhausted,
he was still sensible, and faithfully obey
ed the instructions given him by the
brave woman. She had warned him
against seizing hold of her in such
manner as to impede her motions, SO
when she reached him he placed his
hands upon her shoulders, and in few
seconds, thanks to her good swimming,
both stood neck deep in the ice cold wa
ter, and began wading shoreward.
When Miss Conklin reached the shore
she tainted away and was carried to the
house by her relatives, Mason, nearly
frozen to death, following slowly in her
wake Miss Conklin was thoroughly ex-
haustedb by her exertions, as we'll as by the
tremendous excitement under which she
had labored, and did not recover for two
or three days. Mason's companion stuck
manfully to the keel of the boat, and in
due course of time was hauled ashore.
Miss Conklin is young lady of about
the average size, but her country train
ing has impaired to her much more than
the average strength of her sex. Al
though not beautiful, she is spoken of as
interesting and piquant in style, and is
very popular in the neighborhood in
which she resides.
CoRKs.-Cork is the bark of the
evergreen oak known as Quercus suber.
1t grows plentifully in the south of
France, in parts of Italy, in Spain, Por-
tugal and Algiers. Commerce is in
debted to Portugal for its largest supply.