Western appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1885-18??, 1885-06-20
A Fearless FerrY,n an.

Secretary Manning has awarded a
gold medal to Cornelius Roach, boat
! cleaner on the East Boston south ferry,
for bravery in rescuing several pei; ons
from drowning. Mr.. Roach was seen
recently, and consented to give brief
account of some of his life-saving ex-
PLOTS.
At about 1890 O'clock one evening"
he said, Il went over on the Boston
side, for a man named James Robinson.
That was in the winter of 1876, when
Capt Gray ran the boat and Charles
Deering was gateman. Deering gave
me a life-preserver; MI. Robinson
wouldn't let go Of me so that [ could
put it under his armpits. [ then told
Deering to give me the boat-hook, and
when he handed it to me hitched it on
to the collar of Robinson's coat. Then
l Slated him in the face with both legs
and he let go of me, the gateman keep
ing hold Of him with the boat-hook and
landing him all right. Twas caked all
over with ice when they pulled me
aboard. Mr.. Robinson had fallen in by
jumping for the boat. He said he was
an Englishman, and would make it all
right with me, but I've never heard
anything from him since
Son the 18th Of June, [ think it was,
some time in the afternoon, a man came
aboard the ferry boat named Thomas
Gillett. He had escaped from the
Washingtonian home, and when we
ware hatyyaon Rnctcn oyI Eoc4 po,+o,,
he lifted the gates at the bow and
jumped overheard. l was near the
stern at the time, and, hearing the cry
'sMan over board!'' rushed aft, and
jumped in, just as was. There hap
pened to be a boy near by in dory, and,
| called to him for assistance, but he
said he was afraid would capsize the
boat, said: No; slew the dorv round
till | get hold of the stern of her. At
this moment the ferry-boat came up
and one Of the passengers jumped into
the dory, and, with the assistance of
the boy, dragged the drowning man in
to it. There WASH t room in it for me,
| and had to take care of myself until
the toW-boat Vim came out from Lewis
wharf and picked me up. For that 1
received a medal and SO, from the
humane society, and SIC from Mr.. Gil
lett's wife. -
''Do you recall any other rescues?'
81 will tell you one more. On the
51st of July We left Boston at 6:15
think, and as we entered the East Bos-
ton side we got foul of a small yawl-
boat with two men in her. The men
were SO badly scared that they jumped
into the water. When I reached the
bow of the fefry-boat, one of the men
was out of sight, and a deck hand
named Hussey told me he had sunk be-
fore said to Hussey: That poor fellow
| amt comming up any more l had no
sooner said it than up came the mans
head above the water. [ jumped for
him, and before he had time to sink
again clapped the life preserver over
his head. The other one was taking
care of himself but so badly frightened
that when / went to him he tried to
catch me three times. would not let
him touch me, of course and run him
against the middle pier, and told him
to cling to the spiles. Then I tried to
get,into the yawl-boat, but could not
get over the side, having burst a vein
IN the muscle OF my arm, some time be-
fore, which made it nearly powerless
when the excitement was over. I showed
the boat from underneath the guard of
the ferry-boat, and a deckman and
passenger jumped into it, and pulled
me out Of the water. We then went
round and got the two men, the one
secured to the spiles having mean
time been thrown a life-preserver by
the Watchman on the boat. The one
that couldn t swim was much Drawer
than the other. Their names were
Hugh Casey and Daniel Kennedy.
didn't get anything from them, but
received $25 and silver medal from
the Human E society. Borne in Boston?
Yes, sir, was, and learned to swim at
Foster s,wharf. I'm on the ferry ten
years next May. Boston Globe.