feel so about it, in fact, I thought little about it one way or the other, but it is a live question with me now, and I will tell you how it came about, for I wish you to aid me in this matter, and hope to have your sympathy also. I will not recall the terrible scenes through which we passed in that awful hour. James stood by me to the last, and when the officers and crew had manned the boats and gone ashore with as many as they could carry, there were still men struggling in the water and trying to keep afloat until a vessel that was in sight could come to our rescue. James was a good swimmer, but I could not swim at all. The flames would soon drive us to the' water, and I said, ‘Could you swim ashore?’ ‘Oh, yes’ said he, ‘easily enough, but Captain, I shall stay by you.’ I felt sure there was no help for me, and that he could render me no assistance, so I urged him to try and save himself. He made no answer, and we were soon driven into the water; he gave me directions how to manage in holding on to him so as to leave him as free in his motions as possible. I cannot dwell on this subject. In short, I became too much exhausted to hold on to him, when he held me with one hand and sustained us both. I urged him to save himself, as I was sure he could not save both of us, but, said he, 1 Captain? do you think I’ll desert my best friend in such a place as this ? No, sir ! if you go down, we will go together/ When we were picked up I was insensible. I soon recovered, but he never entirely recovered.[1] Now, William, you will have to wood up at Malden, I suppose?” “Yes,—can’t possibly go to Detroit without, you know.”
When the boat approached the wharf at the old town of Malden, Canada West, Curtis and Bill were playing cards. Looking up, they saw that the boat was stopping,
- ↑ The next summer I met this heroic colored man at Bennett’s Temperance House in Buffalo.
