The Republican journal., 1881-03-24
Moments of Terror.

Moments of Terror.
Captain, you have led busy life
have seen much service both at sea and
on shore. We want to call on your ex-
perience to settle a point of dispute be-
tween u.s.
Sat your service. gentlemen"
'lou are doubtless acquainted with
the Orkney Islands, where the wild fowls
breed in the clefts of the rocks. The
fishermen fasten a stick to the end Of
long rope, which is secured to the brow
Of the cliffs and then placing one of their
number astride the stick, he is lowered
down the precipice in search of game.
You have most likely heard the account
of the man who in striking at the bird
with an iron-plated boat staff, as they
flew from their holes, cut two of the
strands Of the rope that suspended him
between heaven and EARTH"
"Below him was certain death-aboye
him a terrific wall of rock that seemed to
reach the sky. He gave the signal for
hauling up, by striking the rope twice
with his staff. Never did his comrades
pull the line so lazily. Slowly, slowly
dragged the rope over the edge of the
tllll W ullC lut StN tltU SlI dIltlS SttIl1tO W
fly upward with great rapidity Of thought.
Every instant he dreaded that a weak
place in the remaining portion would be
untWisted, and So certain appeared his
doom that he felt that every foot he ad
vanced up the face Of the precipce would
but increase the height of his fall. A
sudden pause in the motion struck him
with new fear, when the untwisted part
of the rope came into the hands of the
fishermen above, they at once perceived
his danger and instantly lowered another
line. The fowler was rescued from his
peril. but such was the effect of his terror
during the few minutes of his frightful as
censon that his dark brown hair was
changed to gray"
Bad enough" said The captain, 'but
not quite the worst in the world. | don't
know whether the chance which young
nevvy Of mine run foul Of during the first
voyage, in the Bay of Biscay, wasn't Just
as bad. We were in stumpy tub Of
'matferdite brig trying to claw off lee
shore, with rolling sea and plenty of
wind in short sudden putfs The boy
about l6, slim built and paIe-was an out
and out tlubber, fond of reading and skulk-
ing his duty whenever he could his moth
er, my only sister. widow by the way,
had made me promise to take care of him,
but we We're short handed. and he was
forced to work his turn. Some Of the
hands had gone aloft to shake out a reef
in the toretopsail-the rigging was cover
ed with ice-it was January morning
well, the boy slipped or was thrown or
blown from the yard-his foot caught in
a blight in some of the running rigging,
and he hung by the heels, head down
ward, from the end of the yard, dipping
in the sea at each plunge of the old craft,
and hoisted up again, high and dry, every
time she came to the wind. | expected
every roll to see him .jerked from his foot
hold, and no boat that we had could have
lived d minute in that sea. did not dare
to lNtf for fear of being taken slack.
When | thought of his mother | had
great mind to save him, even if | breach
ed the old tub; but the point | wanted to
weather was close at hand and the roar
of the surf did not sound altogether the
thing. We did save him at last. guess
his feelings were quite as queer as that
of your friend, the fowler He had but
one pull up while my nevvy had better
than a hundred, with cold bath in a
frosty sea between each pull, nothing but
a half hitch around his ankle and head
downward all the while"
''Horrible, indeed What did you say
to the poor fellow when he was relieved ?"
Told him he deserved a starting for
being so clumsy when he knew | was
short -handed-made him swallow some
hot coffee and turn in. He never went
alott again and at the end of the voyage
cut the sea and took to carpentering.
That's some nine years ago, and his hair
amt turned gray yet"
'Pray, slr,' said another of the passen-
gers, 'have you seen Hotfmans tale Of
the drunken fireman who crept in the
man-hole of boiler undergoing repairs
on board one Of the western steamboats,?
1t was very well told. The poor fellow
woke up in total darkness as the water
roar of the huge fire beneath and felt the
boiler glowing around him, while the fire
men continued to wood up"
"a good idea; but it resembles The
Involuntary EXperimertalist' in Black
wood. We were speaking of facts, not
fiction. | have heard veteran officer in
the service of England declare that he
stood the brunt of the Peninsular cam
paign, besides tolerable seasoning in
India, where fearful sights were every
day matters, and that he never actually
suffered under the influence of fear, when
death slew down his thousands, except
once, and that, strange to say, occurred
in the heart of the city of London"
ga ghost story!"
"NO, indeed, street affair, in open
daylight. A couple of notorious murder
ers, Haggerty and Holloway, were to be
executed in front of Newgate Jail. 1t is
said that upwards of forty thousand spec
tators were collected in the neighborhood
OF the place of execution, crowding from
every point to common centre. Just as
the criminals were placed upon the gal
lows, cart full of women broke down;
the accident alarmed the bystanders, and
gave an impetus to the whole body Of
that immense assemblage, which swayed
to and fro like the waves Of the sea
Persons of short statue and weak frame,
unable to compete with their more burly
'neighbOrs, sank down and rose no more.
Shrieks of 'Murder' sounded on every
side-the crowd was forced over the
wrthing bodies of several females and
boys, without the power Of rendering the
slightest aid. The mob was absolutely
struggling with each other for their lives.
In the midst of the alarm the criminals
were swung from the gallows' beam, an
incident which, although expected, ma
terially increased the confusion. The
outer portion of the mob pressed furious
ly to get near the disgusting sight
several persons were squeezed to death
as they stood in the crowd, and their