The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1893-12-12

tation rose the chorus OF the bucket
men:
Heave, OIL heave, OIL stamp and go,
Wen be jolly blather, OIL
All day long they sang this song and
fought for life against the steadily ris-
ing water. Mrs. Easton, bride on her
honeymoon trip, passed bottles of wine
to the heroic men to strengthen them in
their desperate work. All night long
the struggle was continued, and still the
ocean gained inch by inch. The women
begged, with tears in their eyes, to be
allowed to help. They cheered the brave
fellows and wept when they saw them
fall to the deck with white faces and
trembling limbs.
During the next day the peril of the
steamer was increased by the lack OF food
and water. The hurricane tossed the
sinking hull about and shattered her
spars and masts While the tired and
sleepless men stuck to the buckets the
women l1nelt and prayed to God for as
sistance.
About o'clock in the afternoon sail
was seen to windward. Guns were fired
and signals of distress hoisted. The
strange vessel, which turned out to be
the brig Marine of Boston. answered the
signals and tried to approach, but the
gale blew her about three miles away.
Then the boats were made ready, and
the women and children prepared them
selves. They had to strip off nearly all
of their clothes and put on life preserv-
ers. Many of the women had gold,
which they could not carry with the
them. Twoof them went to their state
rooms and took out bags of $40 gold
pieces, which they threw down in the
cabin, inviting the others to take what
they pleased The money rolled and
iingled about on the floor, while the two
weeping women explained that they were
returning home to enjoy the fortune
which they had made in California, and
that they would be beggars if the ship
was lost. None of the women dared to
take more than two pieces of gold lest it
might weigh them down.
The men still remained at their work,
saying that they would remain on board
until another ship arrived, as the Marine
could not take all the passengers, and
the women and children must be saved
first. Among those heroes was Billy
Birch, the famous minstrel.
Two of the lifeboats were smashed by
the sea, but three boats were filled with
women and children, many of the latter
being infants. The last boat to leave
carried the chief engineer. He solemnly
promised the captain to return, but the
moment he got into the boat he drew
knife and threatened to kill any one who
followed him. Later on, when the wom-
en- and children were put on board the
Marine, the chief engineer, like the cow
ard and liar he was, refused to return.
Now the sinking steamship was so low
! in the ocean that almost every wave
swept her deck. Some of the passengers
got into the rigging, while others tried
to build raft Night came on. The
storm continued to rage The ship quiv-
cred and careened. Rockets scared up
into the believing, angry heavens. Slow
ly the vessel filed with water, and the
doomed host clinging to her deck and
rigging prepared for death. There was
no weeping and no shrieking, no wiring
ing of hands. The captain stood at the
wheel to the last.
All at once the ship, as if in an agony
of death herself, made plunge at an
angle of 45 degrees, and with an appall-
ing shrek from the engulfed mass she
disappeared, and nearly 500 human be-
ings were left struggling among the
fierce waters. The scene was horrifying,
and many who were saved afterward
tainted at the mere memory of it.
A few held on to planks and spars all
through the wild night, and as the day
broke the Norwegian bark Ellen arrived
and picked up 40 Of the men.
81 was forced out of my course just
before | met you" said the captain Of
the Ellen to the rescued passengers,
land when / altered my course bird
flew across the ship once or twice, and
then darted into my face. A few min
utes later the bird repeated its move
ments. | thought it an extraordinary
thing, and while thinking on it in this
way the mysterious bird reappeared, and
for the third time flew into my face.
This induced me to alter my course back
to the original one, and in short time
heard noises in the sea and discovered
that was in the midst of shipwrecked
people"
Who shall say what power guided the
fight of the frail messenger through the
stormy air?-New York Herald. e-s,
CURACAO, A QUEER ISLAND.