The herald., 1893-10-01
A REMINlscENcE.
Two Old-Timers Meet and Recall NJ
table Event.


Two Oid-Timers Meet and Recall NO
table Event.
Hon. W. A. Piper of San Francisco is
in Los Angeles on visit. He has never
before visited this section of the state,
although he represented it good many
years ago in congress when the third
congressional district extended from San
Francisco, inclusive, to San Diego. He
is astonished to find 30 fine city here,
and wonders where it can get its COM
mercial support from. Like great
many other San Franciscans, he took 1t
for granted that all the stories he had
heard about the marvellous growth of
this section were padded" and that
boom" was at the bottom OF them.
But he has seen enough already to sat-
isfy him that our growth and prosperity
are backed by something more substan-
tial than the 'suspiration of sweet
BREATH" He will remain in this vicin-
ity a couple OF weeks, and will deter
mine for himself the kind of country
we have.
He paid visit yesterday to the HER
AID office with friend, who started to
introduce him to q gentleman connected
With this paper.
This is Mr.. Piper" commenced the
friend, whom l wish to make you ac-
quainted with"
There is no need of making me.
acquainted with Captain Piper" said
the HERALD man quickly. THE cap
tain and stsrted for California together
from New Orleans ON the old steamer
Galveston, in February, 1919. and we
were shipwrecked together on that trip
q week after we left port"
The young man felt, OF course, that
there was no need of his services as an
introducer after that. Captain Piper
bewildered for a moment, but after a
few references to the events of the noted
trip, he and his new-found shipmate
entered into q conversation which was
replete with interest.
The Galveston sailed from New Or
leans for Chagres on the 10Th OF Febru-
ary, 1919. When a week out of port in
the Caribbean sea. her steam chest blew
up and her piston-rod broke. She WAS
almost utterly helpless, for she was
poorly supplied with sailing gear. A
remarkable incident in this connection
is that as soon as the accident occurred
and the steamer had lost headway,
thousands of eharks, some of them ex-
tremely large, at once came to the sur
face and surrounded the vessel. They .
were as thick as salmon in q spawning
stream. These hungry, voracious mon
etere seemed to know that an accident
had occurred and that there might be
chance for good feast If the ship went
down with ite six or seven hundred pas
sengere.
1t was not long before the captain of
the steamer had ascertained the extent
of the damage, and told the passengers
that the vessels machinery was entirely
disabled, and that we would have to
make such progress as we could towards
a port by placing the steamer under the
best canvas he could rig up. He said
the wind was favorable to reach Balize,
British Honduras. and for that port che
sailed away at a snail's pace, reaching it
in about 10 days after the accident.
From this point the great bulk of the
passengers went to Chagres
in coasting vessels that were in the
harbor, and small party was organized
to cross over to the Pacific ocean from
Omoa at the head of the bay OF Hon
duras. Captain Piper was amongst |
those who went to the Isthmus of Pana-
ma, and thence to San Francisco by |
sailing vessel. The other gentleman
crossed the continent from Omoa.
reaching Puerto la Union, in the bay OF
Fonseca, on the Pacific. Thence he pro- |
ceeded to Realijo, Nicaragua. and after |
waiting for several months secured pas. |
sage for San Francisco in the brig Laura |
Anne. Captain Piper made the through /
trip from New Orleans in less, than. six |
the HERALD gentleman in |
few days over eight months. o.
Strange as it may appear, these two
gentlemen. though living in this state
together for A years, and in the same
city for many years at a time, |
never became known to each other per-
sonally, till yesterday.