Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-12-18

| days on the banks of the Ohio river
was not a bad swimmer, and so diving
| down deep l thought | would come up
clear of the horses and wagon, but
instead I came up between the horses
and struck the pole of the wagon. L
climbed up on the back of one of the
horses and looked around me. All
about me the turbid waters of that
swollen river; above me the low ring
of clouds. for a storm was threatening;
the frightened horses, drenched with
the cold water and weighed down by
the wagon were desperately plunging,
snorting and swimming, and yet being
borne on by the rushing current; n
l, with my clothing soaked and weigh
/ ing me down like lead, sat on the
horse for a moment and took in the
horrible situation. Strange to say, L
was not frightened, but realized my
awful danger. l quickly noticed that
we were just at the edge of the cur
rent and l thought from the horses
I could lump clear of the current and
swim to the shore. Standing up l
made a leap but anne down on the
current side. I swan back and
climbed on the back of the lead horse
and loosened the brides. We were in
about twenty-five feet of water n
my weight on the horse was causing
him to sink SO l climbed over on the
back of the off horse and got upon
the names and again made a leap
toward the shore, but the current
seemed to make a whirlpool which fol-
| lowed the wagon and pulled me down,
so | swan back to the horse and pull
ing myself up got my feet against his
| side and, pushing out, made several
attempts to swim out of the current,
but finally went back to the horses,
got hold of the bits, held on and swan
! with them for about two hundred
yards when they got their feet fas-
! tened in the harness and we went down
to the bottom of the river. When we
struck the bottom it sounded as if we
had dropped into a kettle; it made a
hollow ringing sound. When | came
to the surface l did not strangle; l
locked after this all the time as was
an expert swimmer having, as | said,
| lived on the Ohio river all my life, and
/, had it not been that | was SO weighted
Town with clothing, / could without
I much difficulty have swan to the
shore. | swan with the current about
| th%ree-fourths of a mile. There was no
| skiff, no boat, no logs, no anything to
get hold of, as the river was falling
and the drift wood had all been car
ried out when it was the highest, and
| so I had to make the shore by my own
| exertions. The macintosh | had IN
aided me not a little. The water not
being able tt penetrate it, it spread
out on the surface of the water and
served as a sort of life preserver. /
! tell you it was a desperate old time
out there trying to swim in the aurbid
waters of that swollen river. l can
not say 1 did any thinking, but yet like
a panorama moving before me there
came into my mind things that I had
long forgotten-things that happened
in boyhood and on up through man
hoods years, and all these memory
visions as they passed BY were pic
lures of boyhood misdoings and man
hood mistakes-not a picture of a good
deed appeared on the moving canvas,
and | am sure there were a few, at
least, in my life that might have pre-
scented themselves; but this moving
panorama seemed more like phantasy
than reality, as always uppermost N
my mind was the one fixed thought
that l must reach the bend of the
river not far below me where the cur
rent ran close to the shore, and it was
here l hoped to get out.
Running along the band at this time
were fifty or se~venty-fve people all
waving ha~ndkerchiefs and hallowing at
me. l gave little heed to them, SEEM
ing only in a hal~f-conscious way 70
know that they were there. My one
thought was to make the shore at the
bend of the river and to this ] was
bending all my energy. My clothing
was weighing me down, my strength
was fast falling: could I reach the bend
OF the river? I must, | must reach it.
seemed to my whole thought, and with
the desperation OF a drowning man /
kept my head above water and pushed
on. When | was within eight or ten
feet of the shore q pole was reached
out to me and | got hold Of it, but my
hands were SO numb with cold that !
could not keep my grip and sank be-