The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-05-23

De woman. pducou. IL ulgub NC
wicked to take my own life, but to die by
my own hand, and a helpless human
creature calling to me for aida woman
at that-well, that would be unmanly. /
thrust my pistol into my pocket, ran for a
boat and was soon pulling Justify at pair
of oars. The wind was blowing a gale,
and part of the time could not distin-
guish the object of my sacrifice. Besides,
1t was growing dark The sea became
wild. / found that could scarcely keep.
my oars, although yoI see that am a
muscular man. From looking to save
anybody else, my struggle soon became
for myself. Odd isn't it--trying to keep
afloat, when a few minutes before was
on the point of shooting myself2 But
it's true. l didn't want to be overcome
by the waves. / would die if l wanted to,
but / didn't want to have TO die. was
soon blown out of sight of land. How 1
managed to live was miracle.
"At last the wind subsidized and the
water became a trifie quieter, but had
lost my bearings and was without COM
pass. Morning came and l saw an ocean
steamer in the distance. 1t spied me and
picked me up. 1t was bound for Rio
Janiero. Under the circumstances con-
Guided to live until we arrived there. 1t
would be unkind to go out on the deck
and blow my brains out after all that
kindness. 1t would have been so disagree
able to everybody on.board. was not
pennniless nor friendless, and / now had
a debt to repay. All went smoothly for
days, but after we had passed the equator
a terrible storm struck US. Our vessel be-
came disabled and sprung a leak. We
were dashed on to the rocky shoals near
Pernambuco, and there were Just two of
us who lived to reach land. ! was twenty
hours in the water. You can not conceive
of a man fighting harder against the ele-
ments and death. Didn't / want to die?
Not that way. l believed / was going to
be the only survivor, if l survived, of that
terrible disaster. Finally / was washed
ashore more dead than alive. Some saw
ages picked me up, robbed me of what
iewelry l had, and l feared they would
slaughter me- After / had got strong
enough to travel l tried to induce some of
the natives to guide me to the nearest
town. 1t was difficult matter. After
awhile l discovered that a sailor from
the lost vessel had lived to join me.
We started together. The terrors of that
Journey were about as bad as can be inn
agined. Without much clothing, without
decent food, in constant danger OF snakes
and wild animals, and suspicious of the
all. we at last reached civilization, such as
it was. From Pernambuco we got passage
to San Salvador. and had made arrange
ments for passage to Cuba when we were
both stricken with yellow fever. The
sailor died. Why | didn't die is mys-
terry. Godsl but it was awful l was
really afraid l was going to die. prayed
TO God to let me live. wanted to get
back to my native country. There was
something horribly repulsive-the idea OF
rotting away down there. l didn't seem
to have the nerve to face death in that
moment. 1t was taste OF perditiOn, but
l came through it. l survived on charity
until l made my way to Rio Janiero.
found an old acquaintance there, and the
way 10 Havana was easy. In Cuba grew
morbid again. L bought another dose of
poison, and was on the point of swallow
ing it when 1 was arrested by the officials,
who mistook me for some great embezzler
who had fled from the United States, and
my poison, as well as everything else, was
taken from me.
1T took weeks to establish my inno-
encc, and then 1 was challenged to duel
by an officer whom / had berated for his
stupidity. We fought. You see this scar
down here on my neck? 1t took me a
month longer to recover from that. BY
that time my longing for home returned.
/ arrived in New York three days ago.
What L came for don't just know"
The sun had gone down. Yet it was
light enough to see the ever-changing
landscape as the train rolled rapidly on.
The man OF trials and disappointments
ceased his story and again gazed out OF
the window. 4 few minutes later he left
the compartment. The two listeners ex-
changed glances of incredulity.
'Hes a rare romancer, at any rate,
said one.
"If he's liar he's the most serious one
1 ever knew" remarked another. "He's
mysterious. Half of the time believed
he was in solemn earnest and the other
hall"