The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1878-09-28
Under Water.
(From the New York STAR

ment of walking eight miles at a
depth of sixty-five feet under the
surface of the East river, in the re-
markable time of less than fivs hours,
is the only successful attempt of sub
marine distance walking on record.
Young Russell stands five feet,
nine inches high, and tips the scales,
when in training, at $50 pounds. His
features are clearly cut. His head
is admirably formed for diving, the
structure of the skull having much
to do with the divers ability to re-
sist, for any length of time, the heavy
pressure on the brain ut great
depth under the surface.
"When did you begin diving for a
livelihood Mr.. Russell 7" asked the
reporter.
ain the spring of 1875, and my
first job was IN attempt to recover
two bodies at Perth Amboy. |
worked at Hell Gate ten months,
seven of which was under water
ten hours each day. During that
time | only missed two days, and
then to attend the funeral of my ia
ther; | have been engaged in all
kinds of divers work-laying foun
,lations for lighthouses, recovering
dead bodies, and in unloading the
cargoes of sunken vessels"
''In what position are bodies in
the river generally found Z"
''There is something remarkable
about that, for woman always lies
with her face upturned and man
with his face down. This position
is the same before and after the gall
bursts. When the gall bursts the
body rises to the surface. 'Floaters'
are always fDund with their faces ex-
posed OF not, according to which sex
they belong. have seen bodies
floating in the cabin of vessels, the
women's faces close against the cell
ing, and the mems staring with open
eyes at me. The coming upon a
body unexpectedly for the first time
sends "a sensation through one that
is SD horrible us to be indescribable.
A diver, however, soon gets used to
coming in contact with dead bodies.
| took two bodies out of the East
river while working at He'll Gate, at
the foot of 153d street, and the au-
thorities allowed one of them, "a baby,
to lie exposed to the sun on the pier
for two days. After that | left the
bodies in the river where | found
them, knowing that when they be-
came 'fioaters' they would be- cared
fOr.n
slave you ever met with accidents
of serious nature while under
water 7"
81 was working in thirty feet of
water at Fulton Ferry slip, when a
seven inch iron shaft, used for drill
ing the soft rock, partly through ac-
cident and partly through my own
carelessness, hit my hamlet and
knocked it off. 1t was fastened with
quarter turn, and had no bolts,
and was very carelessly adjusted be-
fore went into the water. AS soon
as my hamlet was gone, the water
rushed in and filed my dress, and
with my lead weight l could not
move, and the pressure of the water
seemed the weight of mountain
crushing my frame. l signalled my
tender to pull me up; but unfor-
runately, his assistant had gone to
the pier on brief Grand"
Couldn't you make some effort
yourself to rise to the surface 7"
"The effort would have been use
less, and would only cause drowning
the quicker. The cooler one keeps
in an emergency of that kind the
better for ham. Had struggled L
would not have been alive now. L
remained perfectly motionless and
saved my breath. My helper final
ly obtained assistance from some
men on the pier, and was dragged
out more dead than alive. That ac-
cident kept me confined to the house
for three weeks. Blood flowed from
my eyes, ears and nose for some time
after | was taken out of the water.
On one occasion, when was work
ing in vessel, went down into a
hole twenty feet deep to obtain a
portion of the cargo. Ny life line
got tangled, and | was two hours
trying to find my way out. J was in
ticklish place, | can tell you. Had
there been slack in the supply of
air would have certainly persisted"
'.Cau you see anything under wa
ter p
Every seldom. The clearest water
was ever in found in the Kenne-
bee river. l could see for quite u
distance, five or six feet being the
distance at which an object is clearly
outlined. In the Kennebec large
sturgeon lazily swan past me when
I kept perfectly motionless, but the
least movement on my part sent
them flying through the water like
fash. The smaller fish--from two
feet in length down to the minnow--
were very friendly; they foated