The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-10

away, erect in the water. facing me, and
seemed to me exactly as II 1t had risen III
alarm at my approach The e., man had died 44,a
open mouth widely staring eyes and dis
torteo face made such picture of horror
as I hope never to see again The corpse
stood a second facing me- and it seemed to
me as If its horror was of me and because
Of my presence there. / stood as If par
alyzed. such wes my terror The dead man II,
such way that it deepened the impression
that 1 had disturbed him in his sepulchre,
for it was for all the world as If he were
corpse disappeared beyond the line of my
vision it turned in the water and seemed
to gaze back at me with that haunted look
CT horror, the hands still clutching the
breast After the body had gone out of
sight tried to proceed with my work, but
l was so much unstrung that hsh swim
ming by or the air hose Tapping against me
gave me such painful starts that had TO
be signalled to be hauled to the surface,
and it was long time before could sum-
mon courage to go down again. Never after
that could go down hatchway into the
cabin of a sunken vessel at such times
without shuddering over the thought that
perhaps some poor victim of the wreck was
imprisoned there. and that he would sud
denly be released by the lurchings or the
hulk and appear to me in all his swollen,
widowed horror Notwithstanding that all
the time | followed diving after my nrst
startling experience l never came agalll
face to face with an unexpected CORPSE.
The one / encountered on that occasion
must have been the corpse of an unfortu-
nate stowaway, for none of the crew knew
the dead man nor of his presence on the
vessel. .,,
Lake divers get big money for their
work but as there are a good many IN the
business and jobs are sometimes IaF pe-
tween they do we'll If they average more
than fair wages, taking the year through.
| have made as much as $1,000 In a month,
but there were a good many months curing
which / did not make dollar. Full OF peril
as the life of lake diver is, 1t IS saLeLy
itself in comparison with the life OF lake
sailor I would rather take my chances,
nine times out of ten, in going to the bot
tom and working there among the ever
present dangers that beset the diver tnan 10
sail before the mast on the, great lakes.
I didn't quit the life of a diver because
Of its perils or its hardships. / followed the
calling ten years, and after escaping Win
my life by the narrowest chance from
threatening and imminent dangers on the
uncanny bottom of the lake, fathoms and
fathoms down in the subterranean gloom,
I was compelled to abandon diving by an
accident that happened to me in the Iuil
light of day and while breathing the Tree
air of heaven with no sign of danger nigh.
I was preparing to so down to search
wreck off Toledo. Before was READY 10
descend O. heavy chain fell from the GER
rick of the wrecking scow l was on, Just
missing nv head and striking me on the
right shoulder, crushing every pone In IL.
The accident crippled me so that was url-
fitted to resume work as diver. and re-
luctantly abandoned the profession that mad
so much fascination for me. The diver VINO
went down in my place on that wreck, hav-
ing been down long beyond the time II was
possible for any one to remain In tnat
water the men above hauled him up. lie
was dead his lifeline having been cut by
a Jagged piece of iron on the hull. don
know whether that might have happened
to me or not If the chain hadn [ fallen upon
me and prevented my going down. Perhaps