The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1883-09-01

aud on that worked. / found that my
faithless wife had married Charles Rum
sey, for whom she had deserted me, and
had borne several children to him. Only
two of these lived, besides the two she
had borne to me, when Charlie left her.
Then she had thought of me, but had
vainly endeavored to obtain my address.
On her way East to find me she had met
her dreadful fate on board the Antelope.
l went to Californy, fetched the children
home, and have treated them since as if
they were all my own, and when l die
I'll leave them equal shares of my prop
erty. They've been educated carefully
at my expense, and they are all well es-
tablished in life now, and don't know
anything of their mothers shame.
''Now you've heard bit of my own
has peck or two, reckon remarked
awful things sometimes down in these
vessels on the bottom of the sea. The
first time that did some work that
made me feel bad was in "a. A three
masted schooner, fishing vessel be-
longing to Bedford, Mass, had broken
in two on reef not many miles from
port. 1t was early in spring, just about
the time of the 'aquenackshels. That
part of the vessel containing the cabin
seemed to be well preserved, as could
be seen on any clear day looking down
into the depth. And it was in there
that 'Capting' Willis had kept his little
pile. He must have been queer nut
if half the stories the people told about
him were true. He never would leave
any money on shore, thinking his ves-
sci much safer bank than any on terra
firmly. Well, he and his whole crew
had gone down, and so l undertook the
job of getting at the old mans pile if l
could. On fine afternoon in the latter
part of April l went down in my suit.
Everything went all right till stalked
into the cabin. There was the cap
ting's' berth, and l made for that. 1t
was dark in there, and bumped my
head against various objects repeatedly.
Finally l got to the berth where I un-
derstood the money was. Feeling my
way, my hand ran against something
soft and shifting. What do you think
it was? The 'capting,' sure enough.
He had got his head tightly wedged in
between the ceiling and his bedclothes,
and both his arms were in there, too,
while his legs and body stuck out, bob
bling up and down with the motion of
the water. set him loose, and then l
found that his hands were clasped
around a big oilcloth bag. 1t was with
great difficulty l could detach the
corpsc's hands from it. His ruling pas
sion had been strong even in death.
When the body had been hauled up it
was seen that the face wore a look of
iron determination, as if he had resolved
to save his gold or perish. His widow
is still living in comfortable style on the
money left her in that bag. That was
a real little adventure, but there are
often times when man gets scared at
nothing.
'Once [ remember was overhauling
the wreck of a steamer that lay in ten
fathoms of water on the Florida coast.
There were good many passengers of
all sorts that had persisted with the yes
sci. Bodies, you know, act very strange
when confined in closed space under
the water. They are buoyed up by the
pressure from below and can't get out.
So they all float under the ceiling. And
that was the case when 1 entered the
dining saloon of the steamer, into which
the unfortunate passengers had fled half
clad to escape ON deck, but had drowned
before reaching it. The sight of it was
enough to make any one feel that he's
got nerves. Mothers and fathers in. their
night robes, pressing their children to
their bosoms; husbands and wives clasp
ed in each others arms to meet death
unitedly; one couple, probably lately
married or lovers, had their lips sealed
in one last parting kiss. While olsen
tangling myself from all these bodies
that would get twisted up with the pipe
and the connecting line on my armor,
and thus endanger my safety, 1 all to
onst caught sight of a horrible-looking
object right opposite me. 1t stood up
right, and was more than mans size,
black in appearance, and with tremen-
dous big goggles in the place of eyes.
AS often as 1 would move, my 'vicy
versy' would move too. felt chill
creeping over me when l saw that the
object was getting nearer and nearer as
l approached the wall. Whether the
monster was fish or what it was
couldn't decide, but quickly made up
my mind it was to be either me or him,
so drew my knife and made for it.
Coming nearer, what was my surprise
to find that the terrible object was merely
the reflection of my own self in large
mirror made indistinct by the water.
That was about the worst scare / ever
had in the course of my professional ex-
perience.
Danger from fish, did you sayP No,
not generally, and not the way people
imagine. 1t amt sharks and devil fish
that trouble us. It's these little critters,
jelly fish, sun fish, ulgae, and the like,
that we're afraid Of They clog up the
armor and impede our movements,
after threatening to break the connec-
ton between the diver below and the
boat above water. And it's that danger,
too, that one has to fear with big fishes
powerful enough to break the line with
single blow of their tail. SharksP Not
/ much. never heard of diver that was
attacked by shark. And if it came to a
submarine duel between such a beast
and the diver, the latter would have all
the odds in his favor.
There's been good many improve
ments made in the diving business since
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