The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1878-02-20
HEROISM IN THE FACE OF
DEATH.
Incidents n the Metropolis Disaster as Related
by Survivors.

in the rigging l saw scores of peopl
drowned. At half past , o'clock
stripped and jumped overheard, and il
five minutes was ashore. The ship wa
about one hundred yards from the shor
then. / believe many who were washet
ashore could have been saved had the,
been properly cared for; but we wer
miles away from the nearest house ant
the poor souls perished all along tn
shore for miles. Many were wounded
bruised and sprained, and have crushed
limbs; others have stiff backs and ugl,
scars, which will be carried away b,
them as lasting mementoes of the wreck
One poor soul had his brains knocked ou
while on the ship by the sea washing hin
against an iron spar, and many had thei
necks and limbs broken. Only thirty
eight of those lost came ashore. Ab0u
sixty were washed out into the sea and
have not yet been found. The oldest
seafaring men here say the storm was tht
heaviest and strongest they ever saw
along this esast.
Jacob Mitteagero, the first assistant
engineer, states that one of the chic
instances of heroism, well worthy O.
record, was that manifested throughout
the entire day Of the wreck by Mrs. Anne
Huet, who being early assisted rom s
dangerous position on the main deck
to one comparatively secure in the star,
board forerigging, remained there until
the closing scene spectator of the prin,
cipal horrors, yet calmly awaiting what
ever fate heaven might have in store fol
her without murnur. And surely .heI
experience during the trying day was Of
q kind seldom encountered by her sex.
Scarcely secured in her new position she
witnessed the death of Mrs. Harrison,
who, when washed from the pilot house,
was grasped by quartermaster Poland
and almost Immediately torn from his
arms by a ruthless breaker, which
drowned her there and then, at the same
time washing her husband from the
wreck to safety, strange ruling of
Providence, the same wave proving the
harbinger of death to one and of life to
the other Of this welded pair. Again,
wien father and son were torn asunder
beneath her gaze, the comely lad of per-
haps fifteen, sinking to his final rest
within a few feet of her, no outcry
escaped her but fervent prayer that
God would have mercy on the soul 70
suddenly called to judgment. But most
touching of all her manifestations during
the day was her prayers that her husband
might be admitted to secure position
by her side. This prayer her protector
was obliged to decline in view of the
paramount claims Of the sick and in.
jured who had found refuge there.
Again was her heroic fortitude most
manifested when the uuclouded
beams of the fast sinking sun flashed
brightly over the last group of despairing
survivors of the wreck in their struggle
for life, as the last vestige of the ill.fated
ship sank beneath them, torn asunder and
borne. down to the bottom by the resistleas
sHrf. The foremast had fallen, and the
deck beams, torn from their fastenings,
had permitted the sides of the ship to
the starboard side going deeper
and deeper down as each successive surge
passed over until sill that cringing group
Of over forty were forced into their battle
with the waves. Then my informant,
who had been throughout most deeply
in the lady's fate, saw her and
her husband submerged by three heavy
seas in rapid successor, the last one
them clear of the forechains
among small mass Of wreck. A few
minutes later he saw the husband and
wife together, yet separate, both evidently
The playthings Of the surge, and despair
ing of their safety, were borne on toward
the shore. Again he saw her when strug-
Cling in the undertow, distant some
Ten yards from himself and with
out her husband, and though
almost in the jaws of death himself
could net repress the ferVent Thank
God thank God P' that spluttered from
mis- lips through the breaking foam.
A few minutes later The friendly hands
If Timethy 0'Brien aided othersin plac-
ng him ia safety and a few minutes
ater bore the form Of the heroic woman
rom the surf insensible, bnt alive, a
of the Almighty Providence
hat had borne her all unaided through
hat terrific scene and also saved her
husband, the last that was rescued of all
hat band of sufferers.
Prominent among the heroes Of the
ragedy stands this humble and unpre-
entious.Iooking Trishman, Timothy
JBrien. By his own tInsided exeTtions
le rescued from the breakers and surf
learly fifty persons. Timothy is a
lative of the county Limerick, Ire
and is. about thirty-four years Of
ee, five fest six inches high,
,ery stout built, Hercules in
trength and of the greatest physical en-
ndurance. This Is the second wreck |
rom which he has escaped with his life,
be first being that Of the steamer Col
len Gate, which was lost off Acapulco, |
a the Pacific coast, in 1863.
The last and crowning act of this
,reat feat Of humanity was the rescue |
/ Mrs. Anue Huet, the only surviving |
enials Of the wreck. She was strug-
ling teebly with the breakers, supported |
nly by a life-preserver, but evidently |
and about TO sink. 0Bnen
aw her awful position, and calling |