The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-05-16
TRUE STORIES OF ADVENTURE.
NINETEEN DAYS OK \ WRECK.

NINETEEN DAYS OK \ WRECK
Nictoriue Roper isa Portuguese sailor,
OF wonderful strength and courage. He
has followed the water from the day of
his birth. which event happened within
a few feet OF the waves. lie is about
30 years Old. On the 23d of last month
he shipped OH schooner. which left san
Francisco. bound north. on soaI-buying
voyage. He had II meosmates There
also was on board a pretty-Iaued cabin
boy. When SIX days out from he Gold
en- Gate a heavy southeast gale threw
the schooneron her beam-cnds and water
logged her. Her masts gave way. and
as she Tighted up the captain was swept
from the deck and five of the crew were
drowned in the fCTccaStlc. The others
got up 10 the furetOp- gallant and l3Shed
themSelVcSth Their SufIerngS from
hunger and thirst were beyond dcscTip-
tion. On the second OF April they caught
enough rain-Water in an old Oil-clOJH
coat during a heavy shower to 60 around
and leave Il drink or two for The next
day. Again on the fifth it raiued and
this time they caught more. \ few pO-
tatOes had been washed about and these
they picked up. The mate O'Brien.
died first, and was soon followed by
Peter. a niucteen-year-olds seaman then
one after another died from hunger.
Roper and the cabin boy remaining. On
the morning of the 18th OF April the
boy died and washed away. AtnOOn on
the 18th Captain Harding, of the ship
OtagO. sighted the WateT-lGgTed craft in
latitude Il degrees II minutes. longitude
129 degrees Il minutes. and rescued the
survivor. who was mad ir0m hunger and
thirst. 1t is believed that Roper must
have lived on the bodies of thedead men
from the 10th to the 1S.h. lie was
placed in a hospital at Port Townsend,
W. T., on April %, and is doing well.
\ SINKING SENSATION.
There runs between Tampa, Florida,
and Fort Meade, ten miles apart, what
is known a. the telegraph road. D." As
Henry Wellock was riding on Il mule
just east of Tampa and on the telegraph
road. last Thursday two weeks ago, lie
felt Il strange sensation. as though the
/ world were rolling from under him. The
mule also observed that something was
F wrong and refused to bulge. Wellock
dismOmted and the ground tremhIed
/ slightly under him, as though he were
walking ON the back of an elephant.
/ He whipped thcmule back towards Tam
pa, arousing some negroes along the
route 4 number OF Tampa people.
headed by the Tampa Tribune man, rode
to the spot upon Wellock'5 representa-
ton. They found that the earth had
/ sunk somewhat Towards evening the
. sink was deeper. The Tribune says:
The road ran near about through the cen
tire Of the sink. which is about forty feet il
. diameter and aS round as a circle. \ pine
tree, fully seventy feet tail, that stood Icy th6
. road. went down. and its top is now feH
feet below the surface of the ground. The
sink has filed up to within sin or seven fee
. of the surface of the surrounding CrOuut
with water out OF which the tree top stands
some three feet. There seems to have beer
a sinking also Of the surrounding ground to
distance OF fifty yards all around the mar
Gin of the hole The water which has ap
peared in the sink is of a deep azure colo
and very clear. On account of the hgh
rainfall since last autumn the lakes are get
ting low, and it is supposed that the waite
support to the vault Of some subterraneal
passage from the nearest lake being no long
or present the earth gave way aud dropped
into the subtcuaucaR vacuum.
4 THRILLING EXPERIENCE.
William Langley. cotton planter 0
Gwinnett county, Georgia. was Standin.
in field on his farm on the evening O
the 23d of April. Around him wer
several men. a woman and three children
all breaking the soil for cotton. Th
sky was clear and the air quiet. ther