The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1903-11-13

AN BIN B 'OAT

.Ill d n i. .EN i q: B 3.
lA BOY Drifted Over Five Hundred:
/: Miles MI on the Ocean,
IBUr WAS RESCUED Il', AT LAST,
f;He Was Nearly starved to Death
When Picked UP on the
Coast of Georgia by a
ss IS. Steamer.
IE on the coast Of Georgia the stea.
! liner El Dorado, bound from Calves
ISton to New York, last week picked up
by accident an open Cuban fishing
Eboat, q dying boy and story of Monte
|,Cristo improbability. The story, as
tstold by the New York World, is
Ebourne.out by indisputable evidence.
1.-THE boy is now In a hospital in New
tssYork and the boat is on board the Ell
dorado. Here is the story as told by
1.-THE World: 81
The sole occupant of the boat, Jose
Vega, a twelve-year-old waif OF
Havana, had drifted in the "canoa,"
Eas the Cubans term this type of yes
lsel, from Cuba to the waters OF the
EUnited States. The distance Of the
idrift had been $40 miles, the time six
l!days--for the Gulf stream sweeps
Things along at the rate of eighty
miles day-and the boy during this
interval had been without food or
drink, Capt. @. D. Prescott, El Do
RADIO, calls it the most remarkable
drift within his knowledge.
GARMENTS HIS ONLY. FOOD.
when the boy started involuntarily
from Havana on his trip through the
Florida Straits he wore pair Of
trousers and a red shirt. Capt. Pres
cott found him with only ragged
remnant OF the trousers. In his per-
fishing hunger the castaway had eaten
his garments. He had also tried to
quench an agonizing thirst with salt
water, which had made him delirious,
and caused his lips to swell and crack
and his eyes and skin to hecome in
famed. The brown skin of the Cuban
boy peeled off in patches, his black
hair had been bleached yellow brown
aud his body had wasted to a skele-
ton.
After the rescue the bit Of human
flotsam revived, under the skilful
treatment Of Capt. Prescott, with
wonderful rapidity. He was picked
up on August 10. After he was taken
to St. Vincent's hospital, Jose, who
Speaks only Spanish, was able to tell
bis story, which he interrupted with
constant appeals for food. The doc
tors would allow only a little beef
Juice, broth and ice-cream. When his
nurse gave him the ice-cream his dark
eyes lighted up, his face broke into
smiles and he said: ''Mantecado
'"Fie!ns(cold ice-cream.) Thereafter
Fepti calling Ia Spanish for More
: ! ice:cream. "A -
CAsTAWAY TELLS HIS STORY.
Jose is a bright boY-a Child ce the
Havana streets. This is his story as
be told it. while lying on his cot In
the hospital, to World reporter:
My name is jose Vega. My father
do not remember. His name was
Andres Vega, He was fisherman
and the canoa' belonged to him. My
father sold the boat to Chinaman
and went to the war.
My father was a Spanish volun-
teer. He was killed in a fight with
the Cubans at RlncOn, near Havana.
My mother, Luizsa Fernandez, lived
until after the end of the war.
went to school for three months be-
fore my mother died, but since her
death have not had to go to school.
Il have a married sister, about
twenty years old, but she lives in
Mexico. L have no home. l don't
have to work. sleep ont Of doors,
sometimes in boat, sometimes in a
box and sometimes under shack.
Friends give me bowl of soup,
or some rice and chicken or piece Of
bread, sometimes, and again l 60
hungry. There is always plenty Of
fruit and | can always find bananas,
il notlllIg else.
Sebastian is another boy with
whom play in the streets and about
6le water. Sebastian is good swim
nlcf and can swim little.
OUT AND OUT FROM THE LAND.n
L and Sebastian borrowed Inv faith
er's boal from the Chinaman. The
Cilinaman let us take it on the day
tilaU l kept going out and out from
oiie land.
We tcok the canoa' and went
swimming of the Reina Battery Of
Havana. a breeze came up hard and
turned the boat over. Sebastian
s"aa ashore, leaving me by the boat.
l. tried 70 manage the boat, but could
loI. Alter a while turned it right
side over and got In.
"FIlc boat kept going more out,
nore OUT. and l could do nothing.
Once l Jumped out and started to
swim toward the shore, but it was too
fnr away. Then 1 swan back to the
'Canua.'
Il had lost the oar. The other
fellow had left me and l could not
manage 1t alone.
| went to sleep that night and /
wasu't hungry at first. Next day the
sun was burning. got hungry, but
there was nothing to eat. and 1 was
thirsty, but there was nothing to
drink.
" kopt Uotttnp xyorca opd uorca