The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-06-19

says the boom is strong; but reckon if
they is much of jam up above, it'll
tear things when it does bust. An
judgin' by the looks of the river, I
reckon they is bad jam somewhere
81 looked up the river, and sect they
was mighty few logs comm down, and
/ knowed they must be. Just then Bill
Hoyey come down and says:
Bend.
"Iwarn't only two o'clock, an l
know ed [ was likely to git back at the
usual time, SO didn't send We no word,
but Jim an me an half dozen O. the
fellows jumped into wagon an drove
ups fast as we could go. When we got
there we see 'twer bad jam, for an
other one further up the river had bust
ed an piled up the logs mighty thick.
When one busts onto another that way,
We know, 1t makes it bad. Well, we
worked nigh an hour trying to start her
| from the shore, but t'Wan't no use and
finally Jim said:
"'Twon't do to let this go on.
We've got to work in the middle.
Who'll 20 with me?' And he started
out for the jam in the middle of the
river.
swell, I see the boys all look at me.
They knowed well enough that I was
the best man to go-I knowed it, too,
but | thought O. you an I waited a
minute. But the other fellows said they
| wouldn't SO went.
Fore | got to where Jim was, see
that if we did start it from the middle,
we'd likely have to come down on the
logs to the boom, an | knowed it were
mighty risky job. But twas the only
way to the mills. an worked the best
we knowed for half an hour. At last
we started it, an l see there was just a
chance OF getting to shore. jim was
just ahead of me, an we was goin' as
fast as we could, when the thing gave
way, an we were sailin' down the river
at about fifteen miles an hour
eve hadn't gone quarter of mile
afore the log | was on turned, an in
steppin' round one O. the spikes on my
boots snapped off and I slipped in. 1
hung on to my pole, an made bridge
tween the logs, an was just climbin'
up when another log struck the end of
it an splintered it into bits. | fell
back, and thought I was clean UNDER
but the two logs just clamped me by
the neck. You may know how quick
they come together by KNOWN they
didn't Craze my shoulder as fell, but
they caught my neck afore my head
got under water. But quick as twas, I
had time, as 1 see EN- comm, to hope
you was praying for me. 1t didn't look
like anything else could save me, for
know'd when the logs come together
they'd crush my neck like an egg-shell."
ooh, Jack!' Poor Alice was whits
with horror, and trembling like leaf
"Yes, DEAR said Jack, drawing her
closer, Il thought of you, an felt
mighty sorry fur little Jack. Fur
knowed how you loved yer great,
rough, ignorant"
Hush! please don'tr' and Alice's
hand was on his lips.
"Well, well, I didn't have time to
think of much, fur felt the logs was
chokin' me, an yet I knowed some
thing was keepin' 'em about four inches
apart. What twas 1 didn't know till
afterward. My arms was free under,
an l tried to pull the logs apart, but
bless we, they was a million pound pres
sure an nights well ha' tried to pull
up tree, an began to give up, when
l see somethin' fly through the air an
light on log nigh me, an heard Jim
call out: Help! help!' He might as
we'll ha' hollored for the stars fur help
as holler to the fellers on the shore, fur
they couldn't get to us then, an
knowed it. But it gave me hope to
hear his voice so near by. I was both
cred, though, to know how he came to
be so near, fur just afore l slipped, l see
there was clean place nigh thirty foot
between us.
''Ihe boys said afterward that he
jumped fifteen foot gap. don't know
but he did, but / never see no such
things done. Anyway, he was there,
an as soon as he landed he was workin'
like mad He pried one log out and
got it across the end o. the one I'd been
on, and then he pried upon the two
that held me, and got between 'em.
Alice, twas more enney three men on
the river'd do, but he did it all alone.
Jim an me was friends-I reckon we
always will be.
"Well, as soon as he'd done this,
'twere easy for me to climb out, with a
little help from him, an was all right
again-an I'm blamed if didn't have
ter steady Jim fur two or three min
utes, he was that weak. Twas easy
enough, after that ter reach shore,
when we come to slack water, above a
dam. But afore I left it, I looked to see
what it was that kept it justf enough
from the other to save me. And Alice,
it were an axe. Some Teller had struck
his axe into the log and left it there.
Likely the log turned over, and he had
lost it Anyway, there it was right
close to where my neck was, and the
edge gin knot that was hard enough
ter keep it from crushing right in
Jack, I want that axe" said Alice,
looking up suddenly, and smiling
through her tears.
81 knowed you would, darling, and
! brought it home for you," and the big
logger went to the door and brought
in rust-covered axe, which Alice took
possession of. And to this day that
rusty axe hangs on the wall, Just above
Alice's sewingmachine. Detroit Post