Durango semi-weekly herald., 1903-04-20
A CYCLONE
ON THE
OCEAN
hrilling Experience Of Mr.. c.
L. Petherbridge Of SiIverton,
While Enroute by Water,
from New York to Calves
ton

ton
The following letter was written
by MIR. C. L. Petherbridge for The
Herald after arriving at Galveston.
1t will be found of interest to every
reader:
fremont Hotel, Galveston, April s. '03.
Editor Herald:
Thinking an account of my trip from
New York to this place might be OF
interest TO some of your readers | vii.
endeavor to tell you how we put IN
the time and what occurred on that
memorable voyage.
left New York Saturday after
noon, March 2Sth, at 4:30, on TIM
steamship Nueces of the Mallory line.
We had been billed to leave at
O'Clock, but a delay of one and half
hours was made necessary to enable
them to take on an additional amount
of freight This one and half hours
time became very important factor
in our future welfare later on, to
which | will allude when the occasion
requires it.
We had scarcely left the wharf be-
hind when the crew on the forward
deck. in lowering the derrick to its
accustomed place of storage during
the voyage. allowed it to get the best
of them in its descent, and it came
down with roaring noise made by
the swift revolving tackles and the un-
coiling of the rope to the amaZement
s.f ar
twenty passengers who were standing
near, taking their last look at the
city as we started for the ocean. The
alarm was given and all ran for places
of safety. save one man, who seemed
to be dazed with excitement or para
lyzed with fear, who stood his ground,
saw it coming, and was struck by 1t
and crushed to the deck. | was stand
ing within ten feet of him and saw it
all
We rushed to his aid, expecting to
find him dead, but the derrick had
struck safeguard rail in its descent
and he had only gotten glance blow.
AS we picked him up blood rushed
from his mouth to the deck and we
could see that he was badly cut abou.
the head and face. The captain
stopped the boat and whistled for the
tug which had left us scarcely hVe
minutes before, to come to us, and he
was taken back. Poor fellow. He
got a tremendous blow, but 1t was his
own fault. presume he is dead by
this time. This was omen NO. two
The third was sure to follow. The
truth of which assertion was only too
clearly verified by events which trans
pired later on. However, undaunted
by such fears, we. the passengers,
of whom there were about forty, COM
menced to visit each other and to form
each others acquaintances. In all
VOYAGES of this kind among promls-
cuous gathering of so many there are
sure TO he some who are little more
congenial to associate with than oth-
ers, and small parties or companies
formed of themselves are the inevlta-
Bile results. ! soon formed the ac-
quaintance of two gentlemen. Messrs'
Arthur G. Lake and George j. Dreissl-
cacker, knights of the grip, repre-
sentatiyes of the firm of IL. b. Claflln
& Co. of New York, who were on their
way to Galveston to canvass the state
OF Texas in their respective lines oil
goods for the fall trade They both
were very approachable gentlemen,
and it was but a short time before
our mutual friendship was assured. !
met a Mr.. A. j. Hodgson of Averill,
Mass. who was on his way to Cuba.
He was very polished and refined,
though retiring in manners enter
tain for him great admiration. 1t al
forded me much pleasure to give MIN
the benefit of my trip and experience
there, and predicted for him a stay oil
only FIVE or six days, so confident was
that the heat at this season OF the
year would drive him away.
There were three young men from
Philadelphia who were raised on The
lap of luxury with no care, save that
OF their own amusement, going to Tex
as to become wild and woolly terrors
of those far off plains. They were gay
bows. full of fun and amusement and
with some originality, but their world
Law before them. They certainly had
not seen much of it in the past.
Just before our allotted time for de-
parture had arrived most beautiful
woman came aboard, accompanied by
a middle-aged gentleman of affiuence
and refinement, and they were shown
to their apartments. He made
many inquiries of the matroness as to
the comforts she could render his
! niece, and importuned her to supply
her every want SO as to make her trip
AS pleasant as possible. He then ad-
monished her to take good care of her
self. (Which important duty l think
he could have left for some of the
gentry to perform, for there would
have been no lack of volunteers who
would have been willing to have serv-
ed during the entire trip. kissed her
goodbye and passed down the gang