Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1895-03-09
ADRIFT IN MIDOCEAN.
BODIES OF MOTHER AND BABE
PASSED AT SEA.
Baby's Cheeks We're Rosy Red and Its
Long Brown Curis FIoated Out Upon
the water-Nothiug to Show Why
They Were Kept AfioAt.


out Of Pentland firth. when she met
with bad weather For days she bat
tied against head winds and furious
seas. at times barely able to make any
progress. For nine days after leaving
the firth the barometer did not rise
above 20. and for three days it re-
manned at 2S.10. Captain Hodge,
while he had encountered really no
violent gales, knew that he must be
on the edge of a cyclonic storm, and
he kept well to the north, thinking to
skirt the storm and avoid the worst
of it.
One afternoon the Glendevon was
making about eight knots in very
heavy sea, but a favorable wind. The
forestaysail was set, but Captain
Hodge, expecting that the wind would
yeer around at any minute, gave or
ders to prepare to take it in. He was
busily engaged on the bridge at the
time aud BOatswain Blow was forward
at the extreme bow preparatory to
taking in the sail. As ne was work
ing there he saw a wave larger than
the others slowly approaching the snip
Ia perfect mountain of water, whose
crest lowered high above the decks.
Blow stopped to watch it come on.
II was standing there looking at
it, said he when telling the story.
.'when suddenly l saw on the very
crest child's body.
- My God!' cried, there's q baby
For minute it hung right over
the ships bows, on the crest of the
wave. and thought sure that it was
going to be cast aboard, but when the
wave broke it was washed alongside,
missing the ship by less than six
inches. But ! had had plenty of time
to observe it closely, and if I should
ever see it in life I'd know it immedi-
ately.
The child was a girl, about 8 years
old. She wore a black frock. and
about her shoulders was a little white
shawl, pinned closely about her
throat. Her hair was brown, and.
soaked through as it was, foated in
long curls in the water. She lay
partly on her size and partly on her
back. giving me good view of her
face. Her cheeks were as red as if
she were alive, her eyes were open,
and her little mouth was parted in
sort Of a smile. There was nothing
repulsive about her, for she could not
have been in the water more than
day. Ia a minute she had been swept
away. lost forever. but l had time to
see these things, and see that she had
no life Bolton"
When he reported the matter to
Captain Hodge later in the day the
latter asked him why he had not called
his attention to it at the time and Blow
said that he was afraid of arousing the
superstitions OF the men.
Il was lucky thing, he said after
ward, that the baby had not been
washed on board. for there would
surely have been trouble. as nothing
could have happened which, according
to sailor superstitions, would have
caused worse luck. As it was, all that
night the crew talked of little else
than the strange way in which the
ocean had almost cast a little waif on
board in the midst of bowling gale
But the Glendevon was not yet done
with strange sights, says the Chicago
Times. The next morning found her
about sixty miles from the spot where
the baby had been seen. The wind
had shifted to the north and the ship
was making between three and four
knots an hour. About half-past 10
Captain Hodge sent Mate Hopper and
Boatswain Blow forward to put out an
oil bag on either side Of the bow.
While they were at work there was
washed past the ship. SO close to it
that it could almost have been touched
with the hand, the body of a woman,
evidently between 80 and 40 years of
age. She was OF dark complexion
and had long, black hair. She wore
brown skirt and black shirt waist
that had evidently been fastened by
belt, but which hung loose at the
waist. There was no life belt on the
body. Hopper and Blow walked aft
as the steamer passed the body and
were able to see it very we'll. Said
Mate Hopper:
IF we had had boat hook handy
we could have pulled the body on
board, it was so close"
BOaeswain Blow said that this body
could not have been in the water any
longer than the baby had, as there
was not the slightest signs of decom-
position on the face or on the hands.
This is the most remarkable ex-
perience | ever had in all my seafaring
life" said Captain Hodge," nor have
/ heard Of any like it. The fact that
these bodies were floating on the
water without any means OF support
is most curious, and cannot explain
it. They we're not dashed to any
thing, nor had they life belts on, yet
at the same time they could not have
been in the water more than twenty
four hours, for the haby's cheeks were
red, they tell me, and the little thing
loo1ed as II it were alive. Besides,
there are no life belts made that a
baby could wear: it would slip right
through one. That laundering board
of trade fills a steamer up with belts,
but in spite OF the fact that thousands
a. I. 4