Los Angeles herald., 1892-12-12
HOW DROWNING FEELS.
a Man Who Was Rescied Thought Of
Stocks and a Diamond Ring.

Man Who Was Rescued ThOugnt OF
Stocks and Diamond Ring.
"It's all rot about what fellow thinks
when he is drowning" said Plumper as he
drew bead of red fire on the end of his
cigar after late dinner. II have been
there myself. 1t makes me tired to read
those accounts in the newspapers, and to
hear it preached from the pulpits about
the flash of consciousness as they call it,
which comes to a man just as he goes
under water for the last time and gives up
the ghost. / believe when a man sinks he
has several moments Of consciousness and
his mind simply keeps working in the
same direction it did when he first went
down.
"I'll tell you how it was with myself.
While in New York few summers ago
left my wife at the Hoffman and ran down to
Seabright, on the Jersey coast, to see aman.'
Took bath of course from the Octagon
beach, Not much SURF water warm, and
it was delightful to get out a little way
from Shore cross my arms under my head
and lie there at full length atop of the
waves. know perfectly well what was
thinking about l had taken little flier
in September wheat the day before. Would
sell whenever it struck seventy-six cents.
Dead sure thing Broker said couldn't
possibly lose but had better put up 10 per
cent. margin as a mere matter of FORM
What should do with the proceeds2 That's
what occupied me. Buy the girl at the
Hoffman diamond ringl Surprise her
with it, How she would smile as l handed
her the box
'Hellol Who's there?' yelled as felt a
pretty heavy stroke on my right shoulder.
l Supposed some other swimmer was out
there with me and had accidentally given
me a kick. Didn't change my position at
all. Yes, the dear old girl had been beg
ging me for that ring a long time. How
pleased she will look as she goes up to the
window with it for nspection-turning
her hand to the light to get the different
sparkles I'll tell her it's forty carats fine
She doesn't know carat from cat.' And
chuckled with the fun of the thing and
took a big breath to swell my chest above
the water line. What's thatf'
Another rap on my right calf by some-
thing underneath me. In an instant I was
pulled below the surface, and realized that
| was being dragged down and out to sea.
made one desperate struggle to keep up,
took in quart of water or so instead of
the necessary cubic inches of air, felt a
choking sensation for a moment-a gasp
or two, and limbered. was gonel Dear
old mamma. Yes, wheat was bound to 90
up / stood by the ticker. Down she
started-752s- s-94-55ss-11a-3s-A1s Hang the
stuff! Close it OUT The tape had turned
into beautiful snake, which was slowly
wriggling out of my hands, while l tried
to poke it's head through diamond ring.
Dear old mamma That was ALL Twas
drowned
"The next thing knew l was lying on
the sand i'll the hot sun. A ring of men
and women stood around me- Two doc
tors were pumping my arms up and down
over my head to restore respiration. Some
body was cha1ing my feet to get up circu.
lation. was gasping, choking, struggling,
lighting, and the pain of it was terrible
Drowning wasn't bad at all, but the COM
ing back to life was terrible. came out
OF it all right. Talking it over with the
two bathmasters the next morning, they
said had been struck by shark or some
other big fish which saw me lying motion
less on the surface of the water 1t had
first given me nudge on the shoulder to
see what Was, and then made bite at
my leg, caught it's teeth in my bathing
suit and dragged me under. They said
they saw me go down and made rush for
me. The fish had broken loose, and was
timber as a rag on the bottom. Now this
just illustrates what said at the start
that fellow makes very easy drown of
it. and SO far from suffering review of his
past life in one lurid moment of conscious
ness goes off smoothly and dreamily into
the other world st. Louis Globe Demo-
crat.