Omaha daily bee., 1888-10-14


with a slab about ten feet long and six
inches thick tor the foundation of
pier. They were lowering it down and
| was just showing it into position when
it commenced to slip towards me, and in
trying to get out of the way | slipped
and fell. Before l could get up it was
on me and pressed me face downwards
in the soft mud. tried to make chan
mel to crawl out, but every time | did
the sides caved in, and the rock pressed
me down still further. so quit. | was
in sevcnty-hve feet of water, and
the men sent down couldn't stand
it and had to leave me. In the
meantime they tclegraped round the
country and old Joe Battle came down
Wednesday morning. / had always
thought | would get out, but, although
did not know how long | had been
there, was giving up hope when / felt
Joe put his hand on me. He had lost a
thumb and recognized him when he
caught my hand, and knew he'd stay
by me. He did stay, and got out that
night but during the last few hours the
signal cord got foul and couldn't sig
nal and they thought | was dead. and
that was how they came to print my
obituary. Poor Joe was killed by the
bursting of an air pipe in Lake Michi-
gan.
One time I was crushed by Il steamer;
and then | thought | was gone. 1t was
the MOllie Abel that sank near Leav-
enwurth. She had a siX-foot plank torn
from the bottom, and the full force of
the pumps would just raise her about
four feet and no higher. | dug out II
channel beneath her and worked my
way along it on my back carrying plank
to fit the leak. when one of
the pumps stopped, and she
settled down on me. The channel
was the only thing saved me, but
| she pressed so closely that | thought my
time had come. They started up the
pump, however, and rs she slowly
swung up rapidly slid out
"Yes, the sea hides many secrets, and
some of them should never be told.
was employed by the Underwriters
| months to save my life. A gang of cut
| throats, who called themselves vessel
owners. were in the habit Of heavily in
| suring uuseaworthy vessels, and then
| putting to sea and scuttling them. !
was sent to investigate, and found a
number of such. One of them, the
! Sarah Minge, sank just out of Balti-
more, and had to go down twice, the
| second time to bring up the plank that
contained the augur holes. | did it, and
was witness, and after that was warned
| to leave town.
"Yes, I've recovered a good many
bodies, and l guess l took the most
from the Morning Light after she
sank off Bangor, Me. They were all
easy TO move except one. The
matches had been battened down, and
they had been drowned like rats in a
hole. We knocked off the matches and
l went below, but all we had to do was
to catch corpse, tow it to the open
hatch, push it through, and it would
rise to the surface and be secured. There
was one long-whiskered old man, how
ever, that would not rise. pushed him
up dozen times, and next time I'd
come back, he'd be rolling back and
forth at the foot of the hatchway.
finally left him alone until the rest
were all up, and then my partner and
carried him up between us. When they
were dressing him for burial, they
found he had been weighted down with
belt full of gold, but there was moth
ing to say to whom he or it belonged.
There was Swedish woman drowned
in the same vessel, and when we came
to her we found two sweet little twins
clasped to her breast. She had
shawl wrapped around them
and her, crossed in front and
tied behind, and her arms were
folded around as il TO protect them, but