The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1884-10-04
The Sensation Of Drowning.


The sad ending Of the life Of young
Edward Kelley recalls to mind that
Captain p H Alba came as near drown
ing of the Point rs any man who ever
entered those waters and escaped to tell
the tale In conversation yesterday
Captain Alba told his experience In the
following words;
II was great swimmer 10 my youth.
In fact, was expert in all athletic ex-
ercises, and swim Of that sort UNDER
took at Point Clear was in my mind but
an easy pastime. The waves were
rolling moderately high, and SWAN
out to ride them. / was having quite
aa.enjoyable experience when noticed
a little fotillaof jelly-fish, which sped
toward mo with great velocity. knew
they had very little movement of their
own and was surprised that / swept
past them SO rapidly. The thought oc-
CURED to me that perhaps / was in
current, and concluded to turn round
and swim back to shore. turned, but
az once saw twas Of no use for made
no Roadway at all.
r. 'Ah, said /, you are in for 1t, old
man. You have got out here and now
you are going To have struggle with
tho sloAkter. AT first / did not feel
concerned, but noticed that the clouds
were gathering and the wind was be-
coming stronger, driving the waves up
hlghers and, mofaDveE tho night was
coming on. Surely win be picked
up. u said, "a swami leisurely along,
trying not t. exert myself; but them.
lthonghE 4 am NJ what | used to be;
Rm olliPr and more fleshy, and out of
RfactleeR True, lean swim a long time,
but moi very iong IN such a sea. Then
Hooked " efahna, and there was not
alboat to tlle aaawArd. I renaembered
that in such eathef bsAts usually
sought refuge, and could not expect
assistanoe cut IN the hay besides, in
these etoreny hours bhtsfRs approach
the shore h the hope II seoaranks some
thihg SfoM wrecks, 81B. " guess l
am in for it,sthis tiues,I qsald, and l
could hear the waters rafting she tune
In my ears,g saying, You have come,
you have come. we have got you at last
II looked back to the shore and
could see that there was excitement at
the hotel. held up my hand
every now and them. 1, noticed that
the people were manning, the boats,
but knew that only one boat, the large
one near the pier, could help me in the
chop sea, Unfortunately. the boat
seemed TO be manned by people of little
experience. and confessed, with sink
ing heart, that it would not get them
10 me in time.
fl continued to paddle about, and
once In a while was forced to gulp in
some water. felt exhausted, but con-
tinued my fight. thought if could
reach the spot where the current and
the tide met l might get foothold long
enough for the boat to reach me, and
yet the water ran so fast feared could
not make it. At length / sounded for
ottom. As let my feet sink it seemed
as If something grabbed them aud
pulled me down, slantwise, like a shot
Down went and was pulled and tossed
about under the surface. As went
down strangled and the most horrible
pain ran up my nose and concentrated
between my eyes. just as you feel when
water goes the wrong way. felt as if
some blood-vessel wauld burst unless
got air. was down there many Sec
onds. and tell you it was the most |
painful moment of my life. Had lost !
my head at that moment / would have |
drowned without doubt, but resolved
to let the heart break rather than open
my lungs. Finally, just as my resolu-
ton was giving away, my head came
again above the surface, and | filed my |
lungs with air.
u was thoroughly wsEn Out ] could