A BATHER'S STRANGE STORY.

Evening Post, Volume XLVI, Issue 132, 2 December 1893, Page 2 (Supplement)

A BATHER'S STRANGE STORY.

» A New Haven merchant, Louis Norton, was washed ashore at Atlantic City, New Jersey, lately. Some officials were walking along the pier at 11.30 p.m., when they heard a cry for help and saw a man struggling in the surf under tfie pier. They rushed into the water, and with considerable difficulty dragged the man ashore. He fainted as soon as he reached the strand. Next morning he said he left home to go bathing. He went to the Cove, and there took a small boat and rowed out beyond the lighthouse. Near the new breakwater he undressed, leapt overboard, and swam around the boat. Another boat was approaching, but he paid no attention to it. When he was some distance from' his boat the two men in the second craft steered close to his boat and made the two fast. One of them sprang in and took his clothes. Norton says he swam to his boat as quickly as possible, and had just: placed his hand on the rail when one of the men struck him on the head with an oar, stunning him. When he recovered consciousness, he found himself on board a small fruit schooner. He was bound hand andfoot. The two men had returned his clotheß, but had robbed him of money and valuables amounting to about 400dols. Norton says he was kept continually bound, except his hands were released at intervals that he might eat. On the afternoon of the second day the schooner was anchored, and the men lowered their small boat and rowed away, leaving him bound upon the deck. While the men were absent Norton freed his hands, cut the rope which ran to trie anchor, and managed to run the schooner before the wind. He was soon out of sight of land, and kept watcn in hope of signalling a passing ship. Several times he saw craft in the distance, but owing to the slowness of his boat he could not run close to them. There was plenty to eat and drink on board the schooner. His head troubled him, owing to the blow which he had received and the heat and constant exposure. On the Tuesday he caught the forerunner of a storm, and his little boat raced rapidly through the water. Everything went well with him that night, but with sunrise the wind had increased. Several times during the trip he sighted vessels, but could not get near enough to make himself understood. On Thursday morning the storm reached its height and the boat capsized. He clung to the overturned craft but was finally swept away. He succeeded, however, in grasping a piece of planking and clung to it, working himself towards land when the tide rose. Norton telegraphed to his uucle, a dry goods merchant of New Haven, and conversed with his friends over the longdistance telephone. He is of medium height and slightly built, and appears to have sufferedconsiderable exposure to the wind and sun.