The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-03-25

tance apart. Wells SWAN for the man
in distress. The Japanese sank. Wells
was carried on. The Japanese came
to the surface Wells struck out for
him. Then the Japanese sank and
was seen no more. His body was car
ried out to sea with the f1otsam and
jetsam. Wells, by the greatest effort,
managed to reach the stream wall
within few feet of the King street
bridge. He was cheered and congra-
tulated In few minutes he left for
his vessel, before leaving, however, ex-
pressing regret that he had been un-
able to save the japanese. Everyone
admired Wells. Even those who had
wildly shouted to him early in the bat
tie to leave the Japanese and save him.
self, were glad that he had made every
effort to rescue the one victim.
On the deck of the Rithet, Wells said
to the Advertiser man: 81 only did
what 1 couldn't help doing. 1t was not
the fault of the Japanese that I could
not save him. He behaved all right.
When first took hold of him thought
of stories [ had heard about people in
distress in the water drowning those
who attempted to help them. He be-
haved all right. j caught hold of the
collar of his shirt or kimono or coat
and fiOated him on his back. He must
have been quite exhausted, for he
made no struggle at all. 1 heard peo-
pie shouting to me to let him go and
save myself, but 1 gave the calls no
attention. l did not think | was in
much danger and l could not have the
idea of leaving the poor fellow. He
looked at me in a pitiful way and
groaned. | think he must have been
hurt. / saw the bridge looming ahead
and heard warnings about it. My first
thought was to try and stop against
the bridge, but then I thought the
way the current was running it would
break me to pieces by the collision.
There was no time to figure to any
extent. tightened my grip on the
cloth and simply dropped down to
get deep enough to miss the lower
works Of the bridge. I grazed some
thing. The Japanese struck. He must
have hit a timber. I felt him wrench
ed away from me hard. / tried to
hold him, but couldn't do it. l was
sorry to feel him go. If someone had
thrown a line before we came to the
bridge l would have brought him
along side without any trouble I Won
der why they didn't have some lines
on hand. l saw him twice after we
went under the bridge and tried to
get to him, but it was no use. Once
was about to dive after him, but l
was getting played out and besides the
water was so foul that you couldn't
see anything under it, The people
kept shouting to me and 1 kept get
ting more and more tired. l felt the
Japanese was gone and that had bet
ter look out for myself. There was
another bridge in sight and | worked
hard to get to the bank. | made it
all right and that's about all the story
l can tell you"
What part of the whole adventure
most impressed yOu?"
There was more than one thing that
seemed to me remarkable or vivid or
something like a book or a play on
the stage. Going under the bridge I
thought about twice, even if it was
only a second or so. One thing was
that | had lost the man and the other
was that my clothes might get so
heavy that they would hinder me, but
come to think of now, l had been wet
as to clothes for an hour. 1 kept won
dering all the time why there was no
line thrown. 1t seemed to me that the
fellows ashore were too excited to think
Of that. l heard lots of things that
were said, and the roar Of the water
was pretty loud, too. l heard them
tell me to let him go and save myself
and I heard one man shrek He's only
a Jap; you're fool. Save yourself
Right after l thought it might be a