The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-11-03

we remained" he writes, "at 100
10 200 yards from the Pulaski await
ing with feelings of intensely painful
anxiety the closing scene of the awful
catastrophe. The wind was blowing
freshly and keenly from the east, the
sea rolling in heavy black waves be-
low US, whilst the sky was partially
ooscured by flying clouds. The galley
llsntS or the steamer were still burn
ing brilliantly and as she rose and fell
with the heaving ocean, she appeared
as II illuminated for some fete This
orllllant and holiday appearance, COM
pared with the utter wretchedness and
despair of the helpless human beings
IN her, who were rapidly approaching
that awful moment when the ocean
was to swallow up them and her. pre-
scented contrast the most touching
and painful.
From our position we could per-
ceive that she was fast settling in the
water, and in profound silence and
with the most intensely painful feel
lngS. we awaited the moment when
nearly 200 human beings, many of
them our intimate friends, were to
experience the agony of the last NOR
tai struggle, in the darkness of the
night, on the wild abyss of the ocean,
remote from friends or human succor,
and suddenly called from the deep
slumber which had followed day of
happiness and of hope, to meet, not
only a fearful death themselves, but
to witness the expiring agonies and
to hear the dying shrieks of those
most dear to them.
The mass above the waters grad
ually diminished and in a moment
every light was extinguished and all
was darkness. AS the water approach
ed the upper deck, a single wave
swept over the whole of the galley
lights and with them hope also SEEM
ed to be extinguished.
Went Down With the Wreck.
"Soon afterwards a heavy crash was
heard, followed by a loud and piercing
Shrek. The boat had broken in two;
then came the cracking OF planks, as
if the decks were breaking up; shrin
wild and prolonged shrieks ensued
with the quick and agonizng cry of
the dying, all rising at once and ring
ing wildly over the waste of waters
In a few minutes the burst of frantic
dispair and anguish had ceased; the
larger portion of the sufferers had ex-
perienced the short and bitter pang of
death and had sunk to rise no more.
Instead of shrieks were now heard the
long and deep halloo for assistance
from persons who were clinging to
SUN dSHl6lilS Vi luG Wreck DIS Ln6y
| had grasped when they were precip-
itated into the ocean by the breaking
of the boat and separation Of the deck
from the hull"
The narrative tells of a meeting in
the darkness of the night with the raft
on which Col. Walker and nine other
person were seeking safely and de-
| scribes some of the horrors which
| floated on the bosom of the deep. After
| frightful sufferings the party in the
boat reached land, though not before
some of its members had died of their
wounds or been drowned in the waves.
Those in the raft, after sufferings in
credible to believe, also managed to
reach a haven. The passenger whose
narrative has been quoted concludes
his vivid and thrilling account of the
destruction of the Pulaski in these
words:
"One day had just elapsed since the
deep sound of the bursting boiler had
awoke 200 human beings, in the dark
ness of the night and in the midst of
the wild ocean, from their unsuspect-
ing SAUNDERS to the certainty of a