The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-24


And there was a touch of gentleness
about his silent manner as he stood
uncovered before the stricken widow.
They understood each other, though
neither spoke for some time. It would
not have been necessary to impart
the sad news. But he told Gus wife,
not roughly and brusquely, but quietly,
OF her loss and theirs. The poor wom-
an was almost frantic She had longed
for her husbands coming. They were
poor and scarcely the necessities of life
could be provided many days longer
To her grief was added poverty and
want But not for long. The child
| recovered, for that very evening one
OF the best physicians in the city be-
came regular attendant at his bed
side. The next morning a letter was
left for the widow. 1t contained a
check for $500. The papers had
meant that Gus mates would take
care of his widow and child.
L have recently met in Gloucester
one Howard Blackburn, who was for
years Gloucester fisherman. About
! ten years ago this man had one of the
most marvellous adventures at sea on
record. He, with a 1ory mate named
! WEIGH. were caught out in a frightful
snOwstorm hauling their travis on
! Burgess Bank, off Newfoundland. The
/ wind shifted and blew with almost
hurricane force They were compelled
10 abandon the lines and pull for their
+ lives. The seas ran higher and higher
and every effort 10 pun in the direction
of the small schooner anchored well to
windward was in vain, and knocking
the head out of one of the small kegs
used for buOyS a drag was made and
they lay to that. Tossed up and down
on the foaming pillows, their tiny boat
shipped barrels of water and the ice
formed in large Jumps and dashed
against the boats sides and against
its occupants with great force. and
the little dory was in constant danger
of swapping.
During the long and weary watches
of that night the occupants of the
dory, hungry. cold and bleeding, could
see the glare of the flash lights that
ship mates on board the schooner kept
burning in the vain hope that the poor
sailors might reach the ship in safety.
AS the night wore on, the dory, half
filled with ice and water. drifted to lee
ward, and before daylight was out of
sight of the flash lights. In the mean
time Welch was gradually dying from
hunger and cold. Blackburn lost his
mittens and, standing amidst the ice
and water in the boat, his hands and
feet had begun to freeze. His dory
mate, discoura ged and faint. lay in the
stern of the boat, and his stony stare
and pitiful appeals told Blackburn as
plainly as words that he was dying.
Realizing his own pitiful position,
and the utter hOpeleSsness of his mates
condition, he tucked him Np lovingly
and gently in the stern of the boat
that he might be as comfortable as
possible while he vet lived. And then, |
with the most wonderful presence of |
mind, incomprehenSible nerve and grit, !
he sat down on the thwart, and facing /
his dying comrade, pitiful to see in his /
hopeless and freezing condition, grasped |
the oars firmly that his hands might /
freeze in a curved position and not /
straight, rendering him entirely help /
less. a few hours more and his dOry /
mate was dead. As he had lain there
in the bottom of the boat, he knew he
was freezing to death and his last
words were: I am going, Howard.
Good-by, and God bless you. Howard.
l can trust you, and now make me
promise. If you ever reach shore.
take me with you. Good-by.
God bless you"
Words cannot describe the suffering,
the physical pain and mental anguish
through which this poor fisherman
passed. Nor can the pen do credit to
the fortitude, the manhood, the hero
ism and noble nature of the man.
For four days, without food or water.
he struggled on, bearing with him the
dead body of his comrade. His feet
were stiff and freezing, and the flesh
was gradually slipping off of his hands
ION contact with the aors. On the
fifth day he reached shore. In his
Hretched condition. after all his suffer-
ng, in his touching devotion, he spent
hours in fulfilling the dying request of
lis lost comrade. After finally getting
he corpse safely on shore, he started
n quest of food. Some good, simple
people took him in and cared for him
md bathed his frozen hands and feet, II
md some days after he reached 4
He lost both hands and his feet be- {
anne warped out OF shape. rendering
Tim forever liable to do any manual !
abor But the good people of Glou !
ester recognized in Blackburn a hero {
md he was established in a small '
liquor business by them. He is as mod !
st as he is brave, and, While rough /
nd brusque, he is as gentle as child.
II his daily life he is as he was in
hose dark hours when adrift upon the
ocean. generous and no
lie. He is the friend OF the widow and
rphan, the sick and the needy. and no
ne in need ever appeals in vain to the
Gloucester fisherman.
AS l stood in his small store mot
UNI shop, for Gloucester grants no
quor license now talking to him one
Amy afternoon, a burly fisherman en-
cred. HallOa, Howard HallOa, Billy
-as the greeting to each other when
Bill hurried to inquire of him if he
new of the sad condition of Mrs. -,
own in Duncan street. He told of her
lness, of a sick child, of her poverty
tTicken condition. Her rent was over
ue. Notice had been given her to
AGATE, unless her rent was paid with
a very short, specified time. Il
ever heard of this before" said
blackburn, after hearing the mans
-ory; Il will investigate the matter"
nd he did. The poor woman was not
ected and her suffering in other ways
as alleviated All are not able to
i've as Blackburn is, but 1 have yet
see among men of their correspond
lg level in life a more courageous,
.arless. brave, generous and moral set
ian the Gloucester fishermen.