Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-07-20
Letter From Scotland.
Or W. q. kEvlLLs WRITES or MS TRIP
ACROSS the ocESN.
THE VOYAGE NAS MOST PLEASANT.
Incidents BY The way--C ConenIences OF a
Modern Steamship ieebesss In Sight.
1 lCorresp ondenco Keowee t,ourier. /

uinlcuit TO realize that i am i'm Scot
land, nearly 1000 miles away from
dear old South Carolina, but such i
the case. Our vessel sailed into thi
great city this morning at about
O'Clock, after very satisfactory voy
age. In this letter the writer will
give description of his trip to thi
place.
On June 9th left Yorkville i,
my buggy for Rock Hill at 4.3O il
the afternoon, accompanied by tw,
members of my family. After
pleasant ride over the splendid roat
between Yorkville and Rock Hill W,
reached the latter place about fifteer
minutes before the train, was due
The train was on time, and when
got on l was gratitied to find m,
dear friend, DR.. Thornwell, on board
with whom / had delightful inter
course as far as Fort Mill. In Char
lotte | met some dear friends while
waited for the train which was tt
carry me to Washington. The trair
was an hour late. 1t arrived at II
O'Clock and was soon on it's way to
wards Washington. There wer,
friends on this train whom | haC
known for some time.
1t is almost impossible for person
to go anywhere in these times with.
out meeting people whom he ha,
known before. The railway and
other modern conveniences have
brought che race close together.
just after the conductor had an
nounced Salisbury there was con.
siderable jar felt by the passengers
and the train stopped. No one
dreamed that anything serious had
occurred. But in a few minutes il
was found that the train had run
Into an open switch and had struck
some freight cars which were stand
ing on the track. The engineer and
iiremen were killed. 1t was sad
sight to see them lying lifeless under
the debris. 1t was dark, and with
the small lights on hand we could
not see very well, but as far az we
could discern, the engineer had his
hand on the throttle. Faithful fell
low! This accident caused delay
of two and half hours.
The train reached Washington at
| p. M, June 9th, instead of 8 IL. M,
the schedule time. After about a
half hours stay in Washington,
was on my way to New York, reach.
ing this gigantic and interesting city
at 8 p. m. June 10Th was spent in
purchasing articles for the trip and
in attending to other matters touch
ing the journey. That night / was
joined by six persons, led by DR..
Rlce, of Atlanta, who were to go to
Europe with me, or rather with
whom was to go. The next morn
ing two others appeared. This COM
pleted our party. Saturday morn
ing, June 11th, was o very busy
time with DR.. Rice and myself, as
we saw it was necessary to make
some changes in our itinerary.
BY way of parenthesis, | would
say to the reader, if you ever decide
to go to Europe give yourself plenty
of time in which TO get ready.
We FASTENED from our hotel at
the last moment to go to the steamer,
which was scheduled to leave New
York at 3 p. m., June 11th. To my
surprise, found there Mr.. and Mrs.
&. E. Graham, of Greenville, S. c.,
and Mr.. and Mrs. Sam Martin, of
New York, but formerly of Atlanta,
to bid some of us good bye.
We soon boarded the Astoria of
the Anchor Line for Glasgow, Scot
land. A large number of friends Of
the passengers were on the steamer
to bid them farewell, etc. After a
while the gong was sounded, n signal
for all except the passengers to get
off. The vessel pulled out at 3.15
p. m, apparently, and as was after
wards demonstrated, in splendid con-
dition. We had on board 90 first
class passengers, 220 second class
passengers, l40 steerage passengers
and 134 in the crew--total $50. We
also had about 1000 tons of freight.
This ship is 48O feet long and has a
capacity of 5,O8G tons. 1t is well
fitted up and furnished with many
conveniences-bath rooms, barber
shops, electric lights all over her, etc.
All of the stewards seemed to be
Scotchmen and they were very polite
and competent. The Scotch patron
ize this line of steamers very much,
and | never get tired of hearing a
genuine Scotchman talk. In tact
always feel like taking off my hat to
a Scotchman.
The Astoria is not one of the
largest vessels; but there are some
decided advantages in travelling in a
smaller vessel. The people are more
social and are not burdened with so
many Inconvenience in dressing
properly, etc. The people who were
on the Astoria this time were very
congenial. There were large num-
ber of Southerners on board. There
were twenty passengers at my table
in the dining room and eighteen of
them were from the South. This
made it very pleasant. Seats at the
table were selected for the passen-
gers about an hour after we left New
York. Each person gets certain
seat at the table and he keeps this
seat through all the voyage. We
had with US some right distinguished
men. Among them were Admiral
j. G. Watson, U. S. N, and Gen.
Jos. Breckenridge, U. S. A. Both
of these men are elders in the Pres
byterian church and were on their
way to the Pan. Presbyterian Coun-
Gil in Liverpool.
A pilot went out with us from
New York about ten miles, to keep
us in the right way as we were going
out into the deep sea. There are
quite number of these men whose
business it is to bring vessels in as
they come into New York from