The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-02-19
ON A FLOATING CAKE OF ICE,

1
Drifting i'm the Sc. Lawrence River with
an Insane Man-Far from Shore I'm q
Terrible Gale-A Perilous MidVyintei
Adventure.
A letter from Clayton, N. Y, to the
New YORK Sun says: George Penn, one
of the survivors of the party caught on
breaking ice on the st. Lawrence river
while crossing fromG Gananoquet to Grind.
stone island, tells the following story
of the nights adventure:
At 3 80 =. NJ. | started from Cana
noque for Watertown, by way of Grind
stone island, with the following party
of farmers, who came over in the fore
noon on the ice with team and sleigh,
and made the crossing without diff
Guilty: Eli Stetson, and Charles Kendall,
George Cummings, William Rusho, Ben
and Elmer Calhoun, David Harwood,
Lewis Kittle and Willard Robinson.
We had grist in the sleigh, and had
no trouble until we reached the middle
of the channel, where we found the ice
shaky, and detaching the horses we led
them separately and pushed the sleigh
by hand. Soon one of the horses went
through, and in his struggles broke up
the ice for about one hundred feet be-
fore we got him landed. Seeing that
our weight was too great for the ice we
separated, and also soon found we had
lost our course and were heading above
the island toward open water. Cum
mings, Robinson and myself stayed to-
gether and pushed the sleigh, which we
had unloaded, and which soon went
through, and we abandoned it. The
wind blew hurricane, and it was be-
coming pitch dark. Suddenly we all
broke through at once, and then each
tried to save himself. | found n cake
big enough to sustain me in kneeling
position, and Cummings and Robinson
got on another. We consulted, and
told Robinson / should go no further.
He said he would try and get ashore
and get boat, and he stripped off his
coat and boots and plunged into the
open water. He swan about hundred
feet and crawled out on the ice and we
lost sight of him. | should think | re-
manned on my knees about two hours,
when the ice broke to pieces under me,
and again was in the water and chilled
to the marrow. The moon had come
out, and padded to the cake on which
Cummings stood, and which | found to
be about twenty feet square and some
five inches thick. l found the poor
fellow was losing his mind and perish
ing. He was thinly clad, so | took my
overcoat off and wrapped it around him
and got on the windward side to protect
him from the gale. To add to my dis
tress and terror. the motion of the lee,
as it arose and fell with the waves and
ground against other pieces, made me
sick, and began to fear that l should
have to give up. Cummings was grow
ing weaker, and / strove to arouse him.
l asked him about his family, and hoT
many children he had. He said five,
and begged him for their sakes to bear
up. About this time we saw lights on
the shore, apparently about a mile dis
tant. L told him to look, help was COM
ing! He turned his eyes and exclaimed :
" See! see! There is one, two, three,
eleven boats coming for us!" He was
insane. | told him to cheer up, they
would be here shortly. He became an
manageable, broke away from me. said
he was going ashore, and walked off the
edge of the ice. | caught him by the
leg, but my hands were numb, and be-
fore could raise him he gave a violent
kick. broke my hold and went down.
was lying flat on the ice, and | watched
for him to come up, but nothing but
few bubbles arose. l was now alone
and supposed the whole party had per-
ished and that such would be my fate,
too. The lights had disappeared, but l
found my cake had drifted against
shore ice and was not moving much,
but those around me were crashing and
breaking and | feared to trust my self
upon them. thought l would ctll, in
hopes | might be heard. did so sew
eral times. After waiting, it seemed to
me an age. saw light moving on the
shore, and | called again. l was an
swercd by William Rusho. who had
landed and was going to the barn to
take care of his horses. He got boat
and some men and they pushed through
the ice out to me. | was rescued at
half-past twelve, having been on the ice
nine hours, six and half of it on float
ing ice. Robinson reached the shore so
weak that he could scarcely crawl. lie
was unable to give any account of what
had happened. The rest of the party,
who took a different course, got ashore
without difficulty and saved the teams
besides.