Show AN TRAGEDY ta 9 FATS WHICH BEFFEL T TK it RAL AMERICA A V ctet hotl lie tween veen angry a water and a i keah IT ceet hoc line 11 in which the latter lot lost A cowardly co arlly vr lly A ikird guided tho the eiten elien to the me it cue and u who ubo bo that remembers can hea hear without a thrill the namo name of the steam ship central america which sank in a t great storm on sept 12 1857 with most mos of her officers and crow nearly pas sex igers and in gold the central america was crowded with treasure laden people from cali call fornia on their way to new york aft er leaving havana on sept 8 she rai ran into a storm the steamer began to t leak and captain called upon tho the passengers to form lines and pass the buc bucket kete hour after lour hour the tern tem pest howled how led and the lingo huge vessel groaned as the immense seas broke against her hour after hour the men with the I 1 buck juck ets toiled for their lives slowly the water gained on them the tile officers exhorted the bucket gangs notto not to pau pause sefor for a moment if the shir ship was to bo be saved the wind roared and the storm increased in fury every pas stuck to his post and worked until lie fell to the deck exhausted then the women offered to take the places ol 01 their workout worn out fainting husbands an and a brothers but none of the men would allow it As the tile horror borror of the situation gradually dawned on the minds of the women and children the tile air was filled with sounds of terror but abo above ve the raging hurricane and the cries of lamentation roco roo the chorus of tho the bucket men cleave ohi ohl heave oh ohl stamp and go well bo be lolly jolly blather ohl all day long they sang this song and fought for life against the steadily rising water mrs easton muton a bride on her honeymoon trip passed bottles of wine to the heroic men to strengthen them in their desperate work all night long the struggle was continued and still the ocean gained inch by inch tho the women begged with tears in their eyes to be allowed to help they cheered the brave follows and wept when they saw them fall to the deck with white faces and trembling limbs during tho the nest next day the peril of the steamer was increased by the lack of food and water tho the hurricane tossed the sin sinking k ang hull bull about and shattered lier her spars and masts while the tile tired and sleepless men stuck to the buckets the women knelt and prayed to god for assistance si about 2 2 11 in the afternoon after afternoon joon a sail was seen to windward guns acro fired and signals of distress hoisted tile strange vessel which turned out to be the brig marine of boston answered the signals and n tried to approach bat the gale blew her about three miles away then the boats were made ready and the women and children prepared themselves they had to strip off nearly all of their clothes and put on life preservers many of the tile women bad had gold which they could not carry with the them two of them went to their state rooms and took out baga of 20 gold pieces which they threw down in the cabin inviting the others to take what they pleased the money rolled and jingled about on the floor while the two weeping women explained that they were returning lome home to enjoy the fortune which they had made in california and that they would b be beggars if the ship was lost none of the women dared to take more than two pieces of gold lest it might weigh them down the men still remained at their work sating sa fing that they would remain on board until another ship arrived as the marine marino could not take all the passengers and the women and children must bo be saved first am among ong those herc heroin s was billy birch the famous minstrel two of the lifeboats were smashed by the sea but three boats were filled with women and children many of the latter being infants the last boat to leave carried the calef engineer he solemnly promised the captain to return but the moment be got into the boat be he drew P pi knife anil and threatened to kill any one who followed him later on when the women and children were put on board the marine the chief on engineer ineer like the coward and liar he was refused to return n now the sinking steamship was eo so low in the ocean that almost every wave swept her deck some of the passengers go got t into the rigging while others tried to build a raft night came on the storm continued to rage the ship quivered and careened rockets soared up into tho the bellowing angry be heavens avens slowly the vessel filled with ith water and the doomed host clinging to her deck and rigging prepared for death there was no weep weeping ing and no shrieking no wringing of hands the captain stood at the wheel to the last all at th the ship as if in an agony of death herself made a plunge at on an angle of 45 degrees and with an appalling shriek from the engulfed mass she disappeared and nearly boo human beings were left struggling among tho the fierce waters the scene was horrifying and many who were vero saved afterward fainted at the mere memory of it A few held on to planks and spars all through the wild night and as the day broke the norwegian bark ellen arrived and picked up 49 of the men 1 I was forced out of my course juat just before I 1 met you said the captain of the ellen to the rescued passengers and when I 1 altered my course a bird flew aar across oss the ship once or twice and then darted into my face A few minutes later the bird repeated its movements I 1 thought it an extraordinary thing and while thinking on it in this way the mysterious bird reappeared and for the third time flew into my face this induced me to alter my course back to the original ono one aud and in a short time I 1 heard noises in the sea and discovered that I 1 was ia in the midst of sape shipwrecked eked people who ahall say what power guided tho tile flight of the frail messenger through the etorly air airy 1 tew New york herald |