Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1880-09-22

her. | told her to let so Of me
so that | could get on the raft, and
then would pull her upon it..
She would not do SO, and I was
compelled 10y force to open her
hand and tear my duster from her
grasp. ! climbed upon the raft
holding her hand, and, with the
assistance Of tho baker, we got her
on the raft with US. The lady
was very weak, but we managed
TO keep her on the raft with as lit
tie exertion to herself as possible.
The next wave brought Us TO Nh
Rafael Arrue. He had lost his
lifo perservor and was naked. 1
noticed that nearly all the paSseu-
gers were nearly or quite naked m
the water. Mr.. Arrue said that he
had lost his wife, and that to swim
with her as long rs he did he found
il necessary 10 tear her clothes oil.
The next tremendous sea tore us
from the raft. and il seemed that |
would never come up. When /
did | was near the raft, and swan
TO il. The baker soon followed,
but Mr.. Arrue was some distance
of. He soon came to us, and said he
saw the lady and she tried to grasp
him, but be, having no life perserv-
er, showed his piece of plank to
her, and made for us. This was
the last Of the poor lady. About
fifty yards from us ] saw the little
boy floating on his back looking
upward. ! think he was dead.
Three OF Us stayed on the raft
about thirty minutes at a time;
first we were washed of one side
and then the other, sometimes COM
ing up under the raft and nearly
drowning ourselves trying to get
away from it, as the life perservers
held us tightly up against It. |
felt once or twice as though l
should give up and strive 10 more
to save myself, as death seemed IN
evitable. In the afternoon we ran
across a sailor who was on another
piece of the steamer We almost
struck one another. He said,
Hello, Boys. How are you max
ing ont " We replied, Pretty well
under the circumstances. The
next minute we were whrling
through the air and water, and
when we came up the sailor was
laughing at US, for the wave had
not broken until it passed him
We kept together until dark, fight
ing for life. At about I o'clock a
heavy sea knockedus oHourraft, and
saw no more Oft. shouted and
called to tho others, but no reply
came. ] was alone, with nothing
but my life preserver. ! was toss
ed about for FIVE or six hours, when
| noticed change in the waves. |
felt for bottom, and found it, Ny
God, how glad ] was! 1t was dark
as pitch, and one time | struck IN
to deep water again, The reced-
ing waves puzzled me, and it was
two hours before ! could tell which
way to go. Then was dashed
upon the beach. | tried to stand
up, but felt weak, and staggered to
the sand hills, and laid there the
rest Of the night. | sprang to my
feet several times to assure myself
that was really ashore. ! must
have reached shore about T. OF
o'clock on Sunday night. Daylight
assured me that | was all right. !
was awful hungry. We padded
to two or three boxes to sGeii they
eatibles, but only to be
| walked Oh the
beach about half a mile or more
and met a colored man lie at
once took me 10 his house,
and | am sure he stinted himself
10 make me comfortable He loan
cd me his clothes while he dried
mine, and did everything he could
to treat me kindly. Mr., Lowd
heard Of my being there and sent
for me but just as | was getting
ready to so Mr.. Cook came to the
colored mans house with one Of
the sailors who had been saved and
told me another man was down to
bis house who bad been washed
ashore. at once went to his
house, and there found Mr.. Arrue
in a very weak condition. He had
wandered on the beach two days
and nights, with nothing to eat and
drink but two raw crabs and salt
water.