Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-13
A LOGMAN,s ROMANCE.
Saved From the Pennsylvania Floods by
q Girl Whom He Afterward Married.


Harrisburg Special to the New York Sun.
John Prowley, a young fisherman, whose
good-natured habits have made him popular
for many miles along the Susquehanna river,
walked into the Perry county court house the
other day and asked for a marriage license.
His face was not 80 brown that it did not betray
his bushes when he announced the name of
his prospective bride, but it was not because
she had ever been guilty Of a wrongdoing that
he flushed. The girl was Mary Yerger and he
was very proud Of her. They had lived within
ten miles of each other for years, but 1t was
not until the recent great food in Pennsylva-
mia that they we're brought to an acquaintance.
John is q carpenters son and he industriously
aided his father to provide for a large family
by fishing and plotting fishing parties from the
big towns around the river. Most Of his time
was spent along the Susquehanna, near which
his parents lived.
WHEN THE JUNE FLOOD CAME
people from all parts of the country hurried to
the river to see its sights. Mary Yerger and q
boy, son Of the farmer with whom she lived,
loitered on the waters edge until dusk of the
day when the water had reached its highest
mark. Few persons had tarried SO long, but
she and the boy forgot the time while looking
out on the swift waters at boom-log catcher.
He was standing in frail skiff hooking the
big booms with long pole and towing them to
land on the opposite side Of the river. Boom
after boom was thus secured, and he oper-
ated with such vigorous regularity that it
seemed his strength would soon be exhausted.
He had just landed one of unusual size,
which took all his strength, and Mary thought
he would rest a while before going into the
troublesome waters again. But he didn't and,
wiping the perspiratiOn from his brow with a
part of his torn shirt sleeve, he quickly rowed
out and was headed toward a large walnut log.
Before he reached the coveted prize his boat
had been caught between a mass of the booms,
which ground it to pieces like thing of glass.
He escaped most miraculously from instant
death by climbing over the logs and reaching
the water. He tried to swim for the shore, but
1t was plainly seen that he was much too over
come to get even half the distance. The cur
rent was swift and he was beginning to 60
down with it.
THE RESCUE.
Mary Yerger knew that he would drown un-
less she saved him, for nobody else was in
sight. 1t was perilous attempt, but she did
not hesitate. She was not the kind of woman
to see human life thus sacrificed without at
least an effort to rescue, and with almost su-
perhuman strength she dragged into the water
a row boat that had been pulled up on elevated
ground, safe from the rising water. When she
reached the man he was SO nearly exhausted
her assistance. That night from the same
table at which John Prowley ate his supper
Mary Yerger's meal was also taken. It was at
Johns home and the two sat around the table
long time, telling their experience of the
early evening to Johns parents and their other
children. Mary always thereafter a well
come guest at the Prowley home and John
spent much of his time in her company. It
was with proud satisfaction that John related
this circumstance while the clerk was filling
fNrrt -.
married now, and they expect to get pretty
good start toward housekeeping when the
lumbermans exchange of Williamsport pays
for the logs which John caught.
LEGAL FIGHT.
Two hundred million feet of these huge boom
logs are now lying along the banks and are
covering the islands of the river from Williams
port to the Chesapeake bay. Each log con-
tains the private mark of its owner, and agents
of the exchange have been out since the high
water receded identifying them and taking ac-
count of stock. The "Algerines" and those on
whose land the logs lodged when the flood
went down are holding them for the salvage
money which an old state law allows. In the
courts OF all the counties bordering ON the
river the lumbermans exchange has entered
suits against the persons to recover their
property upon the payment of 10 cents for
each log, but the 'Algerines" are making hard
hight against the exchange on the ground that
the law gives them authority to claim so cents.
In one OF the counties IT'S log catchers are in
cluded in one proceeding. and they have en-
gagged all the lawyers in that county to defend
them. In some of the counties the exchange
has made amicable settlements, and portable
saw mills are now going mp at different places
along the river to cut the logs into lumber. 1t
was a novel sight when the logs came down the
river, and they caused untold destruction in
their passage. They carried with them bridges,
fences, houses and barns, and many of the large
island farms were so completely covered with
the piles of logs that one could not touch his
foot on a spot of ground.