Wichita eagle., 1888-07-15
SOLDIER AND SHARK.

Inspector of Police Patrick f. McLaGgh
lin is not only great oarsman and swim
neI. but also great story teller His
occasional departures from tho conven
tional and generally accepted princi Piles
which govern yarn spinning have. it is
true. cast slight shadow athwart his
veracity. but he is nevertheless listened
to with respectful attention when he starts
out to entertain his friends with relations
of his adventures. AS an oarsman and
swimmer. however, this renown is IN
dimmed by his aforesaid reputation. The
inspector passes most of his spare time
during the spring and summer at the
Varuna Boat club house, at Bay Ridge
he Is q memb Der of the club and the happy
owner Of one of the handiest and most
perfect rowing shells. When he is not
on the water in his pet craft. he is in the
water IN bathing suit Sometimes
however. as on occasions Of very cold
weather, such as that of the past week,
he goes down to the club house for the
fun of the thing and sits there surrounded
by other members Then he tells stories
This happened day or two ago. The In
spector hsd had his dip and had emerged
from the utter He hastily donned his
clothes, carefully brushed his iron gray
hair, glanced at his 800 presentation
watch and sat down among the other
members.
"Wss the water cold. Inspector" asked
one.
Gold? I should think it was. It re-
minded me-
Then the other members drew their
chairs nearer and entreated him to tell
them what the chilly state Of the water
reminded him Of
sit reminded me OF very queer and
unpleasant adventure during the war"
The chairs edged little nearer and one
OF two HAS, long drawn out, were heard
above the noise of the moving of seats.
"But the story is strictly true, he went
on, land should not relate it if it were
not for the fact that there are several
gentlemen living in Brooklyn who were
witnesses Of the events | refer to. Ono
of these is Sergt. Holbrook, Of the
. Central squad, stationed at police head
quarters, and another is Capt. Folk, Of
the Twelfth precinct"
Then followed several assurances that
not single Varuna flannel shirt covered
q breast that could for a moment entertain
a doubt of it.
''In 1862, began the inspector,"I Joined
Company E, Of the One Hundred and
Seyenty-third Metropolitan regiment. 1t
was police regiment. and Holbrook and
Folk belonged to it also. On the 18th Of
December we shipped for New Orleans on
the steamer Continental. LOO. strong.
The steamer was pretty crowded, as you
may imagine, and comfort and cleanliness
were at discount But perhaps chief
among our discomforts were the plentiful
ness Of salt pork and the absence of sea
water soap or fresh water to wash in.
We lived on the salt pork and tried to
wash in salt water with fresh water SOAP
and | tell you there were good many
dirty faces and pairs of hands on board
on the second day out. 1t had been rain
ing pretty hard up to the third day out
from New York harbor, and | was on
duty on deck, as dirty as the rest, when
we reached the Gulf of Mexico As
marched up and down the deck of the
steamer. which was pitching and rolling
heavily, noticed that the yawls which
hung from the davits were half full Of
rain water. determined to have wash,
and slipped below and got towel and
o piece Of fresh water soap But
| found it tough job. Just as /
would get my hands nearly into the
fresh water in the boat, as l leaned over
the gunwale, the roll Of the steamer to
leeward would swing her away from me-
And there had to wait, leaning half over
the side, until the roll tho other way
swung her back again. Then off she
would swing again. just giving me time
to dip my fingers into the rain water
This went on for some minutes and had
scarcely done more than wash my hands,
SO l made up my mind to make bold
dash for clean face, | put the soap
down, scooped my hands together and
waited for the return swing of the yawl.
determined to scoop mp some rain water
and throw it over my face The steamer
somehow suddenly stopped rolling for q
few seconds, and began pitching. with
the yawl just a few inches out of my
reach. Leaning over the gUnwale l made
one supreme effort to reach the water in
the yawl But unfortunately, at that
very moment. the steamer rolled the way
| had not expected, and before had time
to express an opinion about it found my
self several fathoms under water | had
pitched over the gunwale and slipped be-
tween the side OF the steamer and the
yawl. As soon as | realized the situa-
ton / was impressed with its serious
ness. This was as began to rise to the
surface. which did slowly. and with diff
Guilty, as | had on my full uniform and
heavy pair of top boots. storm was
rising rapidly. and the steamer was going
at fourteen knots, so that by the time |
rose to the surface, in a trough between
two waves that seemed to be as high as
mountains, could see nothing Of the
steamer. In another second | was lifted
on to the top of roll, ana there saw the
steamer quite distance away. tried to
shout, but my voice failed me, and my
heart pretty well failed me too. In an
other moment | was again on top OF
q wave, and glanced toward the ship.
could Just see two or three faces looking
over the side. and ! judged by seeing some
arms waving that | was seen. Presently
l saw what looked like large box thrown
overheard, aud made up my mind that
it was intended as life buoy. This re-
vived my sinking hopes. for | felt that if
they had seen me on the ship and threw
something overheard to me they would
stop her and put a boat out to pick NE up.
/ learned afterward that Holbrook had
seen me fall overheard, and had shouted
out to the r,nn at the wheel:
MAN ove-boardT
"A man named Connor-who, BY the
way, was last week asked to help to
gain admission to soldiers home-was
on guard at the time and near the pilot
house. The pilot had not heard the cry.
and kept the steamer right on her course.
stop the shipr shouted Conner to the
pilot.
But he kept right along.
"'Stop the ship, sayr again yelled tho