The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-05-31
A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE.

4 u l..
February 1o.-My Dear Parents, and
Sisters and Brothers: If you could
realize the terrible experience I have
| passed through since | began this let
ter yesterday you would fall on your
knees and thank God that / am still
spared to you. We are not out of dam
ger yet by any means, but still we are
not beyond reach of Gods power, and
His mercy is great. So we are trust
ing by His help to escape. | may not
be spared to post this 10 you. If SO, it
may be a long time before you know
what has happened to us. But if we
ever reach a land of safety I will want
to have a letter ready to send to you,
lest you should be anxious about us
So while Captain Morris has gone
ashore l will write you a few lines to
ing what the danger is. So | will com
mence where / left off yesterday. Cap
tain Morris was on shore finishing up
his business preparatory to departure,
and | was alone in the saloon, writing,
when the guns commenced booming
again. | did not mind it at first, but
it kept growing louder and coming near
er, and | began to ger alarmed, and went
to the door. just then
A SHELL CAME WHIZZING
over our ship and | saw the men all
running for shelter, so | ran back into
the room, almost beside myself, for Ar
thur was on shore and | was alone
Presently the second officer came in,
as pale as death and fearfully agitated,
and said:
Mrs. Morris, do not be alarmed;
there is no great danger just now"
But his looks belied his words Then
the chief engineer, looking quite as
white as the second officer, told me not
to be AFRAID All this time the shells
were coming faster and faster, and
dropping all around us, and we did not
know what minute one would drop on
our ship and send us into eternity.
Meantime the people from all quar-
tiers were flying wherever they thought
there would be protection [ learned
since that Mr.. Wright and Mr.. Allan
came in with the intention of taking
me away for safety, but while the cap
tain was on shore exposed to the dam
ger they did not like to ask me to leave.
OF course, | should not have gone be-
fore Arthur came back, under any cir
cumstances; but let me tell you, my
dears, it is one thing to sit back in an
easy chair and read of the lombard |
ment, but quite another thing to be I'M
der fire yourself and see the shells drop |
ping all about you and hear them wtir- |
ring through the air like evil spirits. |
One dropped not twenty yards from our
ship, IN coal heap, and exploded |
There was nothing but a black cloud of |
coal to be seen for a while, and what |
an immense whole it left in the pile 1! |
One piece of shell went through the !
jacket of one of our sailors, tearing the |
front out of his gown. The fourth en-
gineer of the Toxton Hall, ship lying |
beside us, was quite badly
WOUNDED IN THE SHOULDER |
while flying from the ship to a place |
of refuge. He had to be taken to a |
surgeon on shore TO have his wound |
dressed. AS soon as the firing COM !
menCed Arthur started to return to the |
ship, but he did not know whether he |
would reach it, for the shells were drop |
ping in the water all around him. But |
while Mr.. Wright and Mr.. Allan were |
trying to comfort me, Art. came rushing |
in and said:
Get on a hat and coat and come;
| am going to take you over under
yonder hill, where there is not so much
danger
was not long getting ready, but the
nil was quite long distance off, and
the journey there was one | shall never
forget Captain Morris was on one side
Of me and the chief engineer on the
other l ran as fast as I could. but
before we were half wav I became SO
,aint from exhaustion that I should not
rave been able to go any further had I
,een alone: but Arthur and Mr. Allan
l,uoSt carried me along, and I kept
- rs well IS l could Now. do not
il;o'- We rere cowardly, for we were
~ from dutv but from danger.
nd even the Russian officers and sol
iers I'm fnr shelter 70 the Mace we