The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-04-06
GHOSTS UNDER WATER.
Strange Things Seen by Divers in the Great
Lakes.
NesO York Si.n.

|
tain and crew had barely time to
escape by the boats. The wreck lay
in ninety feet of water. Itwas badly
broken up and rocked and swayed in
the water SO that l kept my balance
with difficulty as I worked among the
timbers. I was prying and chopplng
my way to the matches when from
some place about the wreck, but from
/! just where I never could tell, dead
man rose suddenly in front Of me.
"The corpse was not more than ten
feet away, erect in the water, facing
me, and seemed to me exactly as if it
had risen in alarm at my approach.
The man had died with both hands
tightly clutching his breast. His open
mouth, widely staring eyes, and dis
torted face made such a picture of
horror as I hope never to see again.
The corpse stood a second facing me,
and it seemed to me as if it's horror
was Of me and because Of my presence
there. I stood as if paralyzed, such
was my terror. The dead man rose at
last toward the surface and in such a
way that it deepened the impression
that had disturbed him in his sepul
chre, for it was for all the world as if
he were fleeing from me. Several
times before the corpse disappeared
beyond the line Of my vision it turned
in the water and seemed to gaze back
at me with that haunting look Of hor-
ror, the hands still clutching the
breast.
After the body had gone out Of sight
I tried to proceed with my work, but
1 was so much unstrung that fish
swimming by or the air hose tapping
against me gave me such painful starts
that I had to be signaled to be hauled
to the surface, and it was long time
before I could summon courage to go
down again. Never after that could |
go down hatchway into the cabin of
sunken vessel at such times without
shuddering over the thought that per-
haps some poor victim Of the wreck
was imprisoned there, and that he
would suddenly be released by the
lurchings of the hulk and appear to
me in all his swollen, wild-eyed hor
ror, Notwithstanding that all the time
I followed diving after my first start
ling experience never came again
face to face with an unexpected
corpse. The one l encountered on
that occasion must have been the
corpse Of an unfortunate stow-away,
for none Of the crew knew the dead
man nor Of his presence on the vessel.
Lake divers get big pay for their
work, but as there are good many in
the business, and jobs are sometimes
far between, they do we'll if they
average more than fair wages, taking
the year through. | have made as
much as 81, 900 in month, but there
were a good many months during
which I did not make dollar. Full
of peril as the life of lake diver is,
it is safety itself in comparison with
the life of lake sailor. [ would
rather take my chances, nine times
out Of ten, in going to the bottom and
working there among the eyer-prescnt
dangers that beset the diver than to
sail before the mast on the great lakes.
l didn't quit the life Of diver because
of its perils or its hardships. [ fol-
lowed the calling ten years, and after
escaping with my life by the narrow
est chance from threatening and i'm
minent dangers on the uncanny bottom
Of the lake, fathoms and fathoms
down in the subterranean gloom, |
was. compelled to abandon diving by
an accident that happened to me in
the full light of day and while breath
ing the free air of heaven, with no
sign Of danger nigh. | was preparing
to go down to search wreck off
Toledo. Before | was ready to de-
scend a keavy chain fell from the
derrick of the wrecking scow | was on,
just missed my head and striking me
on the right shoulder, crushing every
bone in it. The accident crippled me
so that | was untitled to resume work
as a diver and | reluctantly abandoned
the profession that had so much fasci-
nation for nc. The diver who went
down in my place on that wreck hav
ing been down long beyond the time it
was possible for any one to remain in
that water, the men above hauled him
in. He was dead, his life line having
been cut by a jagged piece of iron en-