The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1897-08-13

49, WALL ZIG tApCClCu HIS servants
would rob him-no doubt they did.
rms he considered but human nature,
n troubled nothing about it; but woe
10 the man or oma who in the slight
est degree neglected anything which his
comtort or Whim demanded! His de-
pendents soon understood their mas
ter's peculiarities, and by the exercise
or due care managed to keep their
places for years and years, and no
doubt grew rich upon the money he
wasted.
AS will soon be seen, I have related
all, or the greater part Of the above,
from hearsay. The following incident
IN Mr.. Loraine's life I can vouch for, as
heard it from his own lips.
In the year 1853 he was returning
from Australia. He did not tell me
what had taken him there, but 1 sus-
pect he went in search of health. He
was in a sailing vessel-the BLACK
Swan" was her name. There were
other passengers-men, women and
children. One night there was a crash,
a horrible grinding SOUND, a recoil, and
the BLACK Swan" quietly settled down
to the bottom of the ocean. Whether
the disaster was due to a collision or to
a sunken rock was never known. All
was over in five minutes, and Julian
Lorraine found himself swimming for
life, yet without a hope Of saving it.
IN swimming, as indeed in every
manly exercise, Lorraine was all but I'M
into a small boat, which, it appeared,
was gone When he felt 4 hand on his
collar and was pulled all but insensible
into a small boat, which, it appeared,
was the only one lowered, or, at any,
rate, was the only n that had sue
ceeded in getting away from the wreck.
The sea, fortunately, was COMPARE
lively smooth or the tiny boat could not
have outlived the night. When the
morning broke Julian Lorraine saw all
that survived of the ship and her
freight.
Himself, four sailors, three women,
and a baby in arms!
The sailors were pulling, not from
the hope of reaching land, but to keep
the boats head to the waves. The
mother, with her child clasped to her
breast, and the two other women, were
crouching in the stern sheets.
In the boat were a dozen biscuits and
a small key of water.
With the light all turned to Lorraine
for advice and aid. He was a man Of
commanding presence, to whom people
of a lower organization would natur-
ally turn in difficulties. He assumed
the responsibility.
He told the men to step the mast and
hoist what sail they thought safe, and
then to steer as close to the wind as
possible. He assured them that land
was not far off. His only reason, he
informed me, for taking this course, was
that he hated the labor of rowing. Any
hope of their lives being saved he
secuted.
However, before night-fall, they did
reach land-a bare rock, but land.
By this time one of the women was
lying in the bottom Of the boat, moan
ing, like one in agony. Her COM
panions of the same sex were %exchang-
ing frightened glances. The poor thing
was carried ashore, and the true state
of affairs communicated to the men. A
tent or screen was by the aid of the sail
and the oars hastily rugged up, and in
an hours time there were ten human
beings instead of nine on that barren
rock. But not for long. Before norm
ing the number was the same as when
they landed, only that the place of one
of the women was taken by a crying,
prematurely born infant.
The rough men and did what
they could for the poor little wretch.
The woman with a nursing baby gave
it a portion of what was rightfully her
own child's.
This, in Julian Loraine's opinion, was
the most rash and misplaced expression
| of false sentiment he had ever met
with.
Toward the evening of that day they
scraped a grave for the mother. They
did not fill it up at once, thinking that
bye and bye the child must be laid in
her arms.
At one time it seemed that it must
be SO. The sailors and the women, no
| doubt, thinking that a gentleman is
nearer heaven than themselves,
brought the poor little wailing atom
to Lorraine. and asked him to chris
ten it.
With death so close at hand to all,