The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-11-01
THRICE DROWNED.
4 MAN WHO MADE THAT RECORD
TELLS HIS EXPERIENCES.
Some Old ~,tions Exploded-Events OF
His Life Didn't Pass Before Him-scarce-
ly Thought of Death-Just Struggled to
Get to the Surface.


"I've been drowned three times (Which
means that will die only by hanging. ac-
cording to waterman lore), " says an expe-
rienced bather, land in each case the sen
sations have been different. They agreed
in only one characteristic-I can lay my
hand on my heart and swear that they
never were funny.
THE first time / was drowned was
when was small Perhaps that is why
the events Of my life didn't pass before me
in rapid review as / sank. At any rate,
simply rolled into the Hackensack river in
front of my father, who was fishing, went
20 the bottom like stone, was found after
much diving, brought 10 land an apparent
corpse and revived only after hours of
hard work. All knew of il was striking
the water, swallowing a young Niagara
and then waking up in bed; also a good
licking, which followed. Not even did
have the terrible pains Of coming back TO
life which some writers have portrayed so
yividly that really no self respecting person
should get revived without them.
The second time was in the Harlem.
had some reputation among my fellows
as diver, and one day swan 10 fence
that ran far into the river 10 divide two
estates and dived under it There was just
space enough between the fence and the
bottom TO wriggle through. wriggled and
my bathing hose caught in a nail In
twisting 10 free myself the string around
my waist got snarled hopelessly around
the nail and l hung there Not until the
breath began 10 leave me and TO bubble
out of my nose did feel alarmed. Then l
stretched and fought 10 get my nose above
kv,@ lIr,f 20. 10,
about a foot from the surface.
II could see the sun shining through
the green water and the sunbeams ripping
on the fence where it was submerged, but
/ couldn't get TO the air that was so near.
Finally my chest seemed TO collapse and
my remaining breath left me with what
seemed the roar of a tugboat blowing off
steam
when l came TO, was on the shore
with people kneading me- The nail had
broken and had floated into view, face
down. gagged little, swallowed whis-
ky, vomited it and was all right, sound as
a trivet, with the exception of deep cut
along my back where the nail had dug in
to me. / hadn't felt a bit Of pain from
this, nor did feel any pain on recovering
consciousness. Frequently have | felt
worse after being doused by big roller
and swallowing too much of it. Sensa-
tionsg If l had any, l can't remember
them. Positively all am conscious of is
that just before lost my senses thought
with much vigor, 'D-n that nail.
The third time l drowned more DELHI
erately, and perhaps having become accus-
toned to the operation was more in the
proper mood TO take notes. We had
brought a sloop into Jamaica bay through
Rockaway inlet before a whole gale and
had anchored off "A shanty on one of the
big channels The slOop swung so thar
all aboard were able to step ashore from
her stern. |, with hip rubber boots,
climbed out TO the bowsprit TO adjust tho
running gear. a big wave rolled the craft,
the bobstay on which | was standing
broke, and down | went. Instantly my
boots filled and anchored me to the bottom
as firmly as if l had two pals filled with
water tied TO my feet
II hadn'6 lost my head and even before
L touched bottom had realized that | must
get the boots Off But the task proved
impossible. | was hardly able 10 fight
against the pressure of the water enough
10 reach them, and when lifted one leg
the swift current whirlcd iae around like
"a top. Quicker than it takes TO tell had
tried and abandoned the attempt. l stood
up straight and looked toward the surface
Fifteen feet above me in the bright green,
thin water | could see the sharp black keel
of the sloop, but ! couldn' { move
Suddenly shadowy, twisting some
thing came between me and the dim light |
that came from the surface / thought il
was an eel, but it came again and again
with n regularity in its movement that
convinced me it was rope dangling from
and swirling in the current |
tried to grasp it, but couldn't reach it.
Every time it came it eyaded me. | was
far gone then; my breath was leaving me
sobbingly and every heart beat made
dreadful crashing i'm my head with mad
dening pain in the ears The last | re.
member Is that | was crying, not because
was going TO die, but pettishly because /
couldn { grasp the rope. Somehow / seized
1t just as | lost consciousness and was
pulled up by the captain, who had seen
me go down, but had been unable to do
anything because he couldn't swim He
had thrown the rope over as i sank.
came up just far enough TO be seen; then
went down again, but the captain man
aged to catch me with the boathook. He
had TO get help before he could lift the wa
terlogged boots and me, and it took an
hour or more this time to bring life back.
AS matter of fact, all who worked over
me did so merely in desperation, feeling
sure that it was useless.
when l came 10, the whole world,
heaven, ocean and land, whirled and reeled
nadly around me, the sky i'm particular
iarting TO and fro like crazy thing. /
got inexpressibly sick-so sick that want.
ID 20 get back to insensibility. This stage,
conjecture must have been the time
when those who were working over me
,aw the first flutter of life Then darkness
and light came in great flashes, each flash
ike blow on my eycballs Then | opened
my eyes and saw the sun, and, thank hcay-
IA, it was steady in the sky and tho sea
was where it belonged After that sim
ply was very seasick Then | was all
right New York Press