Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-23
REcoLLEcTIoNs OF
 A FORTY INNER.
teresting Events of Voyage to Cali fornia-17 Years in Gold Regions.

In the fall of 1S49 the 14e-ton, two- nasted schooner Boston lay moored at ler dock at Norwich. Stevedores were busy transferring lumber and bricks 10 the hold and decks. The lumber wa ;awn and shaped ready to be assem- oled into seven houses, two stories, some of them, and the bricks were for the chimneys.
 All the available space tween decks was slowed with a miscellaneous asert- nent of. baggage and mining equip nent: also provisions of a nature to withstand the ravages of time were covered through the hatchway and packed into every semblance of space nat could be found, for the Boston was ping on a long voyage-to country h which lumber was scarce, but trees were plentiful. Her destination was sacramento, Cal, via the Straits of Magellan.
 When made ready to sail, the Bos- :ons intrepid commander, Capt. Jona- han Nash, with a crew of seven men, ook leave of their relatives and friends Lnd went aboard. The lines were cast off, and the schooner, settling almost o the gunwales, began the first leg 'f her journey. her prov heading tow IrLS that 1gnlS fatnuS which had 1ured 10 many fortune seekers to the realms wherein they met death or achieved wealth., or perhaps they realized both, One of the crew of the Boston was Tohn 7O'Brien, and as the schooner wore away from her dock man houted: You are in your coffin Fohn.,' The man who volunteered this parting salute, however, had better ;tock of pessimism than of prescience, or John O'Brien is still in the flesh, in sood health, and keen of mind at the lge of S8 years. For the past 40 rears he has resided on his farm in dohegan..
 The Sole Survivor.
 Mr.. O'Brien is the sole survivor of he eight adventurous forty miners that iailed the briny deep on a nine months royage which ended in docking at Sac 'amento sin June, 1850. They had no ierious mishap aside from breaking he rudder near Magellan straits Re- Iairs were made without much trouble )nce the schooner was blown danger ,usly near the coast of Africa, but hey managed by tacking to get off arther into the ocean to safety,
 MT. OBrien remained in California en years, then yearning to see the cenes of his boyhood, for he was born Preston, he returned by steamer to 'anama, crossing the isthmus by rail nd thence by steamer to New York.
 
 avs was crude affair. Some of it Fas laid on swampy ground which leaved and fell and rose again as rains passed over it. In looking from car window MT. OIBrien says that he as seen the engine settle almost out sight. and then rise into view again, hen the cars would follow suit, but, 'eing sailor, he didn't mind such pectaealar stunts. A heavy toll was aken in lives in the construction of he railroad, says MT. O'Brien. For very tie laid, a laberer's life was for cited.
 MT. O'Brien remained east a few 1onths, then the California gold germ 5hich was in his system resumed ac- iVities and he went back to California y way of the isthmus, this time re- laining seven years.
 The aged miner recounts many in- eresting and thrilling scenes and ad- entures which he experienced during is sojourn of 1T years in the regions awards which so many wanderers