Barbour County index., 1885-04-17
FACING DEATH.
Terrible Sufferings of Three Casta-
ways.
One OF Them Dies n Maniac Amer. At
tempting to Commit Murder-Ths
Survivors Sustain Life by
CannibalIsm.
.ucwes DELI special.1

Norwegian, two of the three men who
on Monday morning left the pilot-boat
Turley in skiR for the purpose OF putting
Thomas Marshall, another pilot, on board
the steamship Pennsylvania, which was
bound for Ph ladelphia, They succeeded
In performing this duty and started back
70 regrain the TIrley, which was beating
to and fro of the five-fathom lightship.
The weather was very thick and a heavy
sea was running, and they never reached
their vessel. 1t was consequently sup
posed that they. had been lost Several
pilot-boats were sent in search of them,
and one cruised three hundred miles of the
coast without discovering trace.
Bertrand told the story Of their rescue
this afternoon and the horrible cannibalism
to which the survivors were compelled to
resort. Soon after leaving the Pennsyl-
yania they found that In the darkness they
had lost their bearings. They had no COM
pass on board, and not one of the Della
ware lights was visible. The frail boat
became unmappgeable, and the wind and
sea rose higher every moment. When day
light broke they were drifting rapidly out
to sea before the strong northwest gale,
and then abandoned ali hope, except that
they might be ca. .ried W thin sight of some
vessel This was but a forlorn chance, as
Betrand knew that only by some lucky ac-
cident would their little craft, which, for
most of the tine, was in the hollow of the
seas, be sighted from the deck OF any ves-
sci. All they could do was to keep her "a
much as possible before the wind.
The weather was bitterly cold, and they
had left the Turley in such haste that they
had failed to take their thickest clothing OF
to throw in any water or provisions. Soon
the spray driven by the cutting blasts froze
upon their oilslxins, and their stiffened
muscles refused to do their duty. One man
attended to the helm, VIII lie the others at.
tempted to keep the boat from swampina
by constantly bailing her. All Monday and
Monday night and Tuesday they drove
aimlessly about, suffering the extremes OF
hunger, thirst and cold. Toward dusk
Tuesday evening both the Norwegians, who
were pilot apprentices, became delirious
and before Bertrand could control them
they lost the oars and everything else that
was loose in the boat Thus left without
any means OF handling the skif Be trand
can a;dly explain how it escaped from
filling or capsizing. Hesays that he occa-
sionally sunk into a stupor, in which the
rawlings of his shipmates, the roar of the
wind and tho lashing of the waves were
cu-iously mingled in whatever remained to
h m OF consciousness.
He pposes that 1t was about midnight
OF Tuesday when one Of the Norwegians,
whose name neither himself nor Swanson
knew, drew his sailors knife from its
sheath and made several plunges at him.
declaring that he would kill him and drink
his blood. But the deranged man was him
self too feeble to carry out his intention.
Exhausted by his long fast, and clad in his
icy garments as in coat of mail, he fell
shrieking and gaspiny across the thwarts
at BeItrand's feet. In a few minutes he
was dead. The clouds had passed away.
the moon had risen, and its beams fell
upon the contorted features of the dead
sailor, upon whose face the freezing spume-
drift quickly formed film of ice.
To add to the peril of the remaining men
the boat shipped a great deal of water.
The baiier was among the things that the
crazy men had thrown overheard, and
Bertrand was forced to take off one of his
rubber boots to use in its place. Thus he
freed the boat from water, but his unpro-
tected foot was frozen. Swanson was so
near death as to be incapable OF rendering
any assistance, and, except when he was
raving, he lay like log.
When the sun rose Wednesday mornino
Bertrand eagerly scanned the horizon in
search OF a sail, but he saw nothing. As
his glance fell upon the corpse Of the dead
sailor it occurred to him that here might be
ths means Of prolonging life until rescue
came. Horrible as the idea of cannibalism
was to him he realized that nothing else
remained between them and death. He
reused Swanson, and was happy to dis
cover that his mind had comparatively
cleared and that he understood what was
said to him. The cold had not abated, but
the sea had gone down, the day was bright.
and Bertrand knew that IL they could keen
alive until nightfall they would in all like
hhood be picked up, as they could not be
out of the path of coasting vessels.
Then came the supreme moment Ber-
trand indicated to Swanson what he pro-
posed TO do, and the latter agreed with
him. With the small remnant of strength
left them they tore the stiffened oilskins
and the Undertaking from the dead an d
loft portion Of the body exposed. Into
his breast and shoulders they plunged their
knives and eagerly sucked the blood from
the wounds. They Immediately felt re-
freshed and the tortures which they had
experienced were allayed. Pausing for q
moment in their work, they returned to IL
and cut strips Of flesh from the corpse. Each
devoured a little, though Bertrand says 1t
was with loathing which only the con-
vietion of self-preservation could enable
him TO conquer. Then they laid back un-
der the gunwales of their craft, OCCASION
ally ra sing their heads to scan the waters
for sail p
They were scarcely conscious Of the pns-
sage Of time, but when the sun went down
Bertrand saw passing its disc the incline of
q vessel not more than q mile distant and
headed almost directly toward them. The
welcome vision reanimated him, and
sprinsing to his feet with some vigor he
stretched himself to his full height IN the
stern sheets, and drawing of Is oil-shin
coat, swung it high above his head. Just at
this moment fortune aided him; the boat
mounted high upon tho crest of a long roll
er. so that it was thrown into fun view Of
the lookout on the forecastle Of the vessel.
For q moment she held her course, and he
feared that in the fading light they were
not seen. A moment more and he knew
better, for she came around before the
wind and headed straight toward them.
The rescuing vessel proved to be the
Heien.l- Angel, which In the storm had
missed making the capes Of the Chesa-
psaka- As she neAred the helpless casa