The Washington times., 1912-03-08


The love of life so strong within
them, they could not picture con-
summation to which they were
being slowly driven, when, jammed into
the narrow chambers at the very top
of the mighty structure, their remorse-
less enemy would seize them at last.
But they were nearer the end than
they could have imagined, even il they
had accepted and coOlly reasoned upon
the facts that were so plain before
them; and, after all, il was not TO
come come upon them only after they had had
fought their way to the highest loft
and into the last corner.
. link of this strange chain of fatal
events now carries us to the spot where
Ign once existed. That place was sunk
deep beneath the waters. All of the
cruisers, battleships, and other vessels
that had been at anchor or at mornings
there had gone under. One only, the
boast of the American Navy. the UNI
conquerable Uncle Sam, which, in the
last great war that the world had
known, had borne the starry flag to
voices and filled their eyes with tears
Of pride, had escaped, through the in
comparable seamanship of Captain Rob-
ert Decatur, who had been her com
mandef FOR thirty years.
But though the Uncle Sam managed to
float upon the rising food, she was
unable to get away because of the OBJ
structlons lodged about the great
curious eddy that the raging cur
rents formed over what was once the
widest part of that stream kept her
revolving round ard round, never de-
parting far in any direction, and, with
majestic strength, riding down or
brushing aside the floating timbers,
wooden houses and other wreckage that
pounded against her mighty steel sides.
Just at the time when the waters had
mounted to the eighteenth story Of the
beleaBuered Municipal building, sud-
den change occurred in these currents.
Ihey swept westward with resistless
force, and the Uncle Sam was carried
directly over the drowned city. First
she encountered the cables of the Mar
nattan bridge. striking them near the
western tower and, swinging around,
WfenChed the tower itself from its
foundations and hurled it beneath the
waters
Cher she pushed on. riding with the
tlrhid flood nigh above he buried roofs.
nnding no otheT obstruction in her way
lhtii SHE approached the Municipal
LuIIdinG; which was stoutly resisting
Inc push OF the waves.
nos" who were near tho windows
ana on the balconies. on the eastern
S,d" o; the building, saw the great bat
,iHship coming out of the gray gloom
Tx" sN1G diluvian monster and before
Ih'N "Guld comprehend what it was, Ii
crashed. prov on, into the steel-rit bed
walls, driving them in as II thev hal
Deen the armored sides of an enemy.
so tremendous was 'he momentum OF
the striking mass that the huge vessel
passed. lik" Il prOinclile, through walls
ana hCOrS ana partitions. But as she
omergeh in the central court the whole
vast s,rrc;ur" came laundering down
upor Der. ana ship and /, ilding to-
Eether sank beneath the boiling waves
But out Of the awful tangle OF steel
flrners thlt whipped the air and the
water ms II some terrible spiderv life
acles or chn"ce which defy all the laws
OF nr1hab il:tN and reason, a small boat
q leVlLm, that had belonged to the
Cncio SAT- was cast forth, and fioated
away, half submerged but unsuitable:
ana clinging to its thwartS. struggling
for breath, insane with terror were
two men. the sole survivors OF all those
thousands.
One OF them was seaman who had
taken refuge with Il crowd OF comrades
IN the boat before the tattlcshiD rushed
down upon the building All of his
G ,,'Mnr 1 hhd been hurIcd, out and lost
when the blow came, while his present
companion was swept in and lodged
against the th"Irts And so those
Two walls Grave or IN the raging
waves Eot" OF them We're bleeding
non, many wounds, hut they had no
Tie boat, though filled with water,
was so light that It could not sink
w 'pN'l, II WAS DdUaSted. and amid
all Its wild GyratiOns It kept right side
up. Even the ccaseless dOwnpour from
the sky could not drive Il beneath the
waves.
After n while the currents that had
been setting westward changed their
direction, and the boat was driven
toward the north. 1t swept on past top
ping skyscrapcrs until it was over the
place where Madison Square once
spread Its lawns, looked down upon by
gigantic structures. most OF which had
now either Crumbled and disappeared
or were swaying to their fan Here
there was an eddy, and the boat turned
round and round amid floating debris
until two other draEglcd creatures, who
had been clinging to floating objects,
succeeded by desperate efforts In pull
ing themselves into II. Others tried, but
failed, and no one lent a helping hand
Those who were already in the boat
neither opposed nor aided the efforts of
those who hattled to enter it. Nc
words were heard in the fearful uproai
only inartiCulate cries
Suddenly the current changed again
and the boat, with its daZed occupants
was hurried off in the direction OF the
Hudson Night was now beginning once
more to drop an ohsCurinC curtain over
the scene. and under that curtain the