The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1904-06-10
Under a Cake Of Ice!

1t was three o'clock on a clear
March afternoon when Henry Duncan,
ak on shoulder, walked whistling out
of the village of Winterport on the
-Penobscot River. He followed the
main road for about hundred rods,
and then took by-path through the
fields that led him down to the wa
ter, nearly half-mile north OF the
town.
His goal was a dock between two
old wharves. where lay his coasting
schooner, the Elsie. tied up the pre-
vfous December, when the Penobscot
froze over, and now, although the
river had been open fortnight, still
thickly ice-clad from the tapping OF
the water against her sides. 1t was
his mission that afternoon to cut on
this winter coat, and begin to get his
vessel ready for the seasons business.
Duncan sprang lightly down the
slippery bank, and stood on the old
wharf, with it's sodden legends and
brown, rotting cobwork covered with
masses of clinging rockweed. The
tide has just begun to rise, but was
still some distance below tle school-
er's rudder; the hard mud bottom
of the dock was bare, except for few
stranded ice-cakes.
1t had been a cold winter and the
coating on the Elsie was in some
places more than foot in thickness.
The melting warmth of the March
sun had set the water flowing between
the outside planks and their covering.
tie from the side. If it were creased
into sections with an ak and then cut
more deeply, it would fall off in great
slabs.
Descending short ladder at the
head of the dock, he took off his coat,
laid 1t upon an ice-cake behind him.
and began chopping away at the mass
that concealed the outlines of his YES
sci near the stern. At first he worked
with considerable caution; but as the
ice was Unexpectedly hard and came
of in very small pieces, he grew a
little impatient and struck more Wig
orously.
There was sharp cracking. and a
section more than ten feet long and
nearly as high as the schooners side
split off bodily.
Duncan saw it coming, but SO quick
ly did it drop that he had no time to
, get out Of the way. 1t fell across his
nod bno han orJ nj
ming him down upon the mud.
The plight in which the young own
er so Unexpectedly found himself was
both painful and dangerous. There
he lay, fiat on his back. covered from
the tips of his toes almost to his
shoulders by slab CT ice Weighing
several hundred pounds.
The under side was rough with ir-
regular bosses. and these, pressing
down upon the mud, held up the cake
from his body; otherwise his life
would surely have been crushed out in
short time.
So far as he could tell, no bones
had been broken, but his body and
lower limbs were fastened into abso-
lutte immobility His arms, however,
were free, and he could breathe with
no great difficulty. Pressing his
hands strongly against the edge of the
slab, he attempted to drag himself
from under it. But struggle as hard
as he might, he found to his great
alarm that he could not work him
self backward the friction of an inch.
He began to shout for aid:
Hi! Hi! Hi! Help"
The narrow dock resounded with
his cries. From the opposite shore
of the river faint echo rolled back.
How could they help hearing him in
the village, half mile below? He
became silent and waited. Surely
rescue would soon come. But at the
end Of ten minutes no approaching
.footstep had gladdened his ears.
Again he sent forth shout after shout;
but still there wss no response The
dock was In an unfrequented spot.
under high bank. and the wharves
that hemmed it in prevented his voice
from being heard. Evidently it was
useless to count on assistance from
Others.
Duncan turned his head and looked
out across the level river. It was a
sbeautiful afternoon. The Penobscot
seemed rejoicing in its freedom from
the chains of winter. No breeze ri.s-
pied the surface visible between the
wharf-ends. An occasional ice-cake.
drifting slowly by, was the only thing
that broke the monotony Of the
smooth. blue current.
The pressure upon the prisoners
body vas becoming heavier and more
painful. chilling 1t and checking the
circulation. He could just breathe.
and that was all. PUN and strain az
he might, he could not extricate him