Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-03

companions prepared to join me. although
they owned up later that at first they were
bit reluctant to Quit the dredge until
they felt quite satisfied that it was no
ghost pulling the oars
THE boys descended to the rowboat by
means of the chain that had aided me to
escape, and then we pulled away from our
my wet underwear. and refused to make a
change until we were safe on shore The
rowing seemed to keep me warm.
I'VE had not the least idea in which direc-
ton to row in order to strike land. Neither
did we know how far We We're from land
for We had not seen any indications of it
for several days. For all We knew we were
miles out at sea- As this thought occurred
to us. and we were reminded that we were
without food and water. we felt like kick
ing ourselves. But you can bet that not
man in the crowd had the least inclina
ton to turn back to the dredgers
About an hour after We had deserted the
dTedge we saw lights moving hurriadly
about on the deck of one of the boats in
the fleet and few minutes later a SEARCH
light was turned upon the water. but we
were out of its reach. We felt however
that our escape had been discovered and
that IL we were not to be retaken It would
be necessary to put good many miles be-
tween US and the enemy. So we rowed for
all we were worth and found to my sur
prise that man could perspire even on a
cold night and with no clothing on but /,
underwear
I'VE were considerably puzzled to know
how our captain and his men could have
recovered SO soon from the effects of the
rum they had drank as to be able to learn
of our desertion. We felt pretty certain
that the dredgers would not report on u.s.
Later on this was all made plain to us.
On Land Once More.
"At daybreak we found ourselves in sight
of land and if ever men on water were
tbap to at
the real dirt, we four were. We gave a
hearty cheer and pulled for the shore with
new strength, and thirty minutes later
stood on terra firma. tired and wet, but
happy.
"One of our crowd had some matches in
his pocket, SO he and the other boys i'm
mediately set about gathering some fire.
wood. while got into dry suit as soon as
possible. for by this time I was shivering
like a leaf We soon had good blaze
started, however. and 1t was not long be-
fore got thoroughly warmed up.
las we sat around the fire discussing the
situation we were in, one of the boys
glanced out over the bay and saw a boat
approaching. He declared 1t was our dredge
and the rest of us admitted that it looked
very much like her. SO We decided to make
tracks about as fast as shank's horses
would let US.
I'VE grabbed up our bundles. and my
compa Mons made a hasty retreat into the
bush But before I followed suit step
ped out into plain view Of the dirty craft,
and putting thumb to my nose, shouted
some of the most uncomplimentary things
about the captain and his mates that a
man could think of. OF course. they couldn't
hear a word said. but it relieved my mind
wonderfully. I never ached so In my life
to get hold of man and give him GOOD
thrashing as did that wretch of a captain
at that moment. / should have left mighty
little of the fellow; nothing but a grease
spot.
Find Friends at Last.
mot one of us knew where we were. We
had somehow imagined all along that when
we struck land we would find ourselves on
a sort of Broadway. But here we were in
the 'bush'-not sign of street, avenue or
even road in sight We didn't know which
way to turn, but finally decided to just let
Providence guide our footsteps. And He
debut not until after we had spent about
seventy hours wandering aimlessly about
without a thing to eat except some roots
that we gathered IN the woods. Then We
suddenly came upon a little grocery store.
located at the forks Of road. and / can
assure you that we felt in pretty good
humor when We laid eyes on that rude
building. 49,
''The grocer was a little old Irishman,
with one of the biggest hearts you ever
heard of. 1 was the only man in the bunch
who had any money and my pile was
small one--a little over 81. The only food
this man could provide us with was ginger
snaps, and 1 bought several pounds of
them. lr r.
when we succeeded in making the man
understand our predicament he went be-
hind his counter and, to our surprise,
brought out four big plugs of tobacco and
handed them TO US as a present. AS you
can easily imagine, it was one that we
appreciated, especially each plug was
about a foot long. Then the man directed
us to farmer, a mile or two down the
road, assuring us that he would shelter
us for the night.
I'VE helped this farmer about the place
that afternoon, and in the evening he gave
us a splendid supper. after which he
ranged nice warm beds for us in the attic.
In the morning we had another splendid
meal. and then the good woman of the
house put US up enough food to last day
or two. When we left that locality we had
a better opinion of the people in Yankee
dom than we did when we quit the oyster
dredger.
1.-The farmer told us that we would find
party of eight men camped some distance
down the road. and as they were Ger
Information. We had no trouble in find
ing their camp, and when we approached
were amozed to find that they were the
eight men of our original party who had
been transferred from the trader to an
other boat Of our feet. They had gone
through an experience much similar to
ours, had stolen boat shortly before we
had deserted, and had left their employer
sence. Then we understood that it was
for this party instead of US that the dredge
owners were searching that night that we
deserted.
I'VE joined forces and together tramped
it nearly three days and finally struck
Richmond. where most of the men found
employment l came up to Fredericksburg
stopped there a while and then came on to
Washington When I arrived here I was
directed to the Central Union Mission by
some kind-hearted citizen and l found a
pleasant home at this institution"
Mr.. Steiner is now the trusted engineer
at the mission building, and not a soul
connected with that institution doubts for
moment his wonderful escape from the
kidnapers of the Chesapeake bay
There Are Exceptions.
The Star reporter learns that almost
every day some poor fellow with just such
a story as that narrated above is taken in
at some one Of the numerous shelters or
charitable institutions in Washington. The
superintendent and others say that the
experiences these men relate are something
terrible. Sometimes they have been so
abused by these brutal captains to be |
untitled for work the balance of their lives. |
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