Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-10-08
The American PlimsOll.
Chicago Tribune.

There is nothing new under the sun
In years gone by, American vessel
owner sunk their ships for the sake OF
the insurance, and sent the crews to
Davy Jones' locker for the sake of
their own pockets with the same hate
full callousncss Of conscience that En-
glish ship-owners show now. And
the pressing need Of the time brought
forth in America, as it has in Eng
land, a PlimsolI. He carried through
his reform, as the Englishman has
carried his.
Our Plimsoll was named Sidney S.
Burton. He lived in Cleveland, O.
Like all intelligent persons, he read
the dailypapers. He noticed a strik-
ln9 similarity in the details of steam
boat accidents on the Mississippi and
Ohio. One boat might be burned,
another snaggeI, and another explod-
ed, but the disaster always happened
IN the same lonely spot, the shattered
hull always sank IN deep water,
and the missing boat was always
heavily insured. Burton read this
and pondered upon it. He decided
that here was an abuse to right, but
he did not see his way clear to the
right Of it. He was only a private
citizen, without any influence beyond
that possessed by every honest man.
While he was hesitating, the famous
boat, Martha Washington, burned
The spark that fired her kindled Bur
tons wrath to white heat. Hence
forth he was man of one idea, and
so a man of tremendous power. The
Martha Washington went down at
midnight, carrying with her some
shriveled corpses, and vast lot of
costly notwithstanding to the
bills of lading, not according to the
truth. And the truth prevailed. For
Burton hurried down to Cincinnati,
whispered his suspicion to the insur-
ance agents, and then, having started
them on mission Of discovery,
shouted his beliefs to tie public
ilciS WIS lHlCtlSc cACllcillcHl, lclli-
peled only by the possibility that in
vestigation might reveal nothing
Meanwhile Burton was threatened,
as Plimsoll has been, with libcl-suits,
arrest, and murder But the insur-
ance men went to the scene of the
wreck. Their graphing irons soon
located the site Of the half-burned
hull. Down went the divers, and up
came the boxes of silks, and laces,
and wines, and other costly things,
which had been insured at Cincinnati
When they were opened, the silks
were sawdust, the old laces were old
leather, and the winc-bottles were
filled with water. The load of the
Martha Washington really consisted
of the streetsweepings of Il city; it
had been insured as a collection Of
the costlest goods. When this tell
tale story reached Cincinnati, the
murderous merchants implicated,
gladly gave themselves into the hands
of the police, in order to escape those
OF the mob. a long trial followed.
The man supposed to be the chief
culprit, Lyman Cole, escaped legal
punishment, but he skunk into shame
full obscurity, like Terry after Brod
erick's murder, like tho outcast thieves
of the New York Ring, like the pre-
destined victims of Plimsoll crusade.
The trial stopped the system of mur-
der, and Burton, having done his
work, stepped quietly back into OBJ
livion. His name fingers only in
the memories of a few, while Plim-
soils has been on every tongue; but
the task undertaken by the American
was as difficult, rs dangerous, and as
worthily done as that by which the
Englishman now gains the admira-
ton of 4 world.