Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 February 1920 — MADE BRAVE FIGHT FOR LIFE [ARTICLE]

MADE BRAVE FIGHT FOR LIFE

Half-Breed Sailor, Wrecked Off Philippine*, Simply Determined Ha Would Not Die. Among the crew of the Polgat, a ship that foundered off Malabon, In the Philippines, was a half-breed sailor named Alejandro Lorenro. In the moment of the ship’s sinking he z was agile enough, and enough, i to leap dear of the wreck and escape , the deadly suction of the disappearing J vessel. He was alive and uninjured, but he was many miles from shore, and there was no help In sight. After swimming for an hour he found a hatch cover on which he rested. Then pushing the haftch cover nhend, he started for San Nicolas. He t was just reaching shallow water when the tide carried him out to sea again. As night came on the wind Increased and the waves tossed him and his liatdi cover hack and forth till he was almost exhausted, being washed toward the Cavite shore. For several hours he drifted in, but just as- his hope grew strong the tide and WtTO!” swept him in spite of his struggles once more out to sea. Something brushed against his leg. , He thought that It was a shark and screamed in fear. “It did not touch । me, or I should have gone mad,” he | said. The water was cold, the night , was dark and the rain beat down on । him. He heard a cry In the darkness, • and pushed his hatch cover in the di- | reetton whence the sound came. He j found a Filipino boy, another survivor of the wreck, clinging to an oil |

box. They drifted together. When daylight came they could see boats, but could not make themselves heard or seen. They were tortured by thirst, salt water got into their mouths, they drifted all day. Night came again. Soon after dark they saw the lights of a breakwater, and with new hopes noticed that the lights grew larger and more distinct. They were being washed toward the shore. But the boy could not hold out Taken with cramps, he lost his hold on the oil box and went down. The man was washed Into the middle of the bay and drifted all night. At dawn he was almost ready to give up, hut the wind and waves headed him for the shore and he took heart. Then he saw boats and used his last strength in trylng>to reach them. The boatmen saw him, were able to get to him in time and picked him out of the water. There was not much of the man left, and shrieking for water, he collapsed in the bottom of the boat. As he lay on a pallet, after he found himself able to talk again, his rescuers spoke of his wonderful endurance. Alejandro In reply said that, of course, he had jjone the best he could. He wanted to live, he said,— New York Herald.