The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1894-02-07

nicely arranged, but IN others 1t was
rolled in heap. The lamps had been
taken down and the oil poured out Of
them, and we found banging on a mai.
some wicks which had been taken from
candles. Neither here nor in the deck
house above could we find so much as
the heel of boot or shoe.
From between decks we proceeded to
the cabin, the doors Of which were shut,
but not locked. The first sight to greet
our eyes was that of human body hang
ing by a rope around it's neck in the
main cabin. There was no odor emanat-
ing from the dead The body had simply
shriveled up until it was hardly more
than a skeleton. The frame was that o.
a large man, but the weight Of the body
was not above 50pounds. On table just
beyond where the man was hanging was
the ships log, and near it were an ink
bottle and pen.
The captain took the log on deck and
very soon announced that it contained
some particulars of what had occurred
aboard. We then made a search of the
cabin and found the ships papers, about
5000 in gold pieces, a bag containing 1926
in silver, several rifles and revolvers,
three watches. some legal papers which
had belonged 70 the captain and quite
number of other things Neither the
ships flag nor any charts were to be
found, while not a compass, quadrant or
sextant could be turned up. The entries
in the logbook for the first two weeks
were in the captains handwriting. Then
came a note written in different hand
and saying:
eve found out that they had deceived
us and sent them adrift in one Of the
BOATS"
Ten days later another entry, in still
another hand, referred to some of the
people sailing away in the longbOat.
Later on there was an entry to the effect
that the ship had been dismasted, and
then not line had been written for
months. The man hanging by the neck
and swinging to and fro like pendulum
with every roll Of the ship had been the
last survivor. He had written on page
of the logbook in trembling hand:
81 have been alone for the last 10 days,
and for the last four have fasted-nei-
Their food nor drink"
On the next day, or the next, before
he had grown too weak, he had arranged
the rope and put an end to his sufferings.
After the ship left Rio the gold hunters
must have found oct that Cross had de-
ceived thesn. Perhaps the captain and
the mate in5erfered Ia his behalf and for
that reason wers sent afoat with him.
The second mate WAC not a navigator,
and sven if he IS attempting 50 return
to Rio the loss Of the nassts pat ID @zss CT
his power. One would argue that the
wreck ought to have been sighted and
the men taken off, but if sighted by any
craft beyond those mentioned they net-
Their relieved nor reported her. 1t is
likely that at least 50 people left her in
the boats, but none Of them was picked
up nor reached an island. Every scrap
of everything which could be used to
sustain life had been picked up, and at
last the sole survivor had found himself
slowly dying for the want Of food and
had ended his life a day or two sooner
by means of the moose.
We took everything of value that we
could find aboard the wreck and left her
to drive with wind and wave. The cap
tain had a mind to scuttle her or set her
afre, but finally decided to do neither. l
think it was because he did not like to
meddle with the corpse. 1t would have
seemed heartless to burn it in the cabin
or to know that it went to the bottom
hanging there like murderer, and we
simply rowed back to our ship and left
the lonely hulk and it's lonely burden to
wander about until some terrible gale
should hide them from the sight of other
men.
They Found Seats.