The Worthington advance., 1876-06-22

NE no "orkee You Washee oil right!"
S;9,s,;o THIN sSt to he a:1ss =! ::d Nay
So, taking her hat,
She got up and gat,
And is still going Rast, dare say. ,
->e>-----:;,,.1 1es>5 ;,
The Story ofthe "Palata1e.'
The passengers of the Palatine, it
would appear. were wealthy Dutch
emigrants who were coming over to
America to settle near Philadelphia.
There is much difference of opin.
ion concerning the date, some placing
1t as early as 1870 while others think
it was as late as 1850. Nothing definite
can be determined but Mr.. Perry's
grandmother, who is now seventy.six
years of age, and retains her faculties
in remarkable degree. remembers
distinctly of her grandmother tellino
her repeatedly that she was twelve
years old when the Palatine came
ashore.
If this reckoning can be depended
on, the Palatine must have been
wrecked during the winter of l75O-5l.
She came ashore, rs tradition reports,
on bright Sabbath morning between
Christmas and New.Year's, striking on
the e'outer end Of Sandy Point, the
northern point of the island. The un-
fortunate passengers, who doubtless
commenced this voyage with bright
hopes of happy future in the New
World, whose attractions at that time
were currently believed by the COM
mon people in many parts of Europe to
vie with those Of the garden of Eden
before the fall, were doomed to suffer
almost inconceivable miseries. For
six weeks they lay off and on, skirting
the coasts of Delaware, during period
Of peculiarly fine weather, almost in
sight of the region they were
hoping soon to make their home.
while an unnecessary and en-
forced starvation was daily reducing
their numbers, and leading the surviv.
ers to pray for death as welcome re-
lease from further suffering.
were quite wealthy, had with them
money and valuables, and the officers
Of the ship, headed by the chief mate,
the captain having died or been killed
during the passage, cut off the passen-
gers supply of provisions and water,
though there was an ample supply of
both on board. The pangs of hunger
and thirst compelled the unarmed,
helpless starving wretches to buy at
exhorbitant prices the miserable frag.
ments that the crew chose to deal out
to them. Twenty guilders for a cup
of water and fifty rix-dollars for =
ships biscuit soon reduced the wealth
Of the most opulent among them, and
completely impoverished the poorer
ones. With tiendish atr0city almost
unparalleled in the annals of selfish
ness the officers and crew enforced
their rules with impartial severity,
AID in few weeks all but a few who
were among the richest of them were
penniless.
Soon the grim skeleton starvation
stared them in the face, and as day
succeeded day the broad waters of the
Atlantic closed over the remains of
those who few weeks before had been
envied for their good fortune and their
fair prospects.
At last even the brutal officers,
whose villainy no words in our Ian
guage can adequately express, became
satisfied that they had got all the
plunder that was TO he had, and left
the ship in boats, landing perhaps on
Long Island, to- make their way to
New York, carrying with them un.
doubtedly a remOrse which preyed up.
on their souls, as hunger and thirst
had RnaWed at the vitals of their hap
less victims. The famished, dying
remnant of the once prosperous and
happy company had no control over
the ship, and she drifted wherever
wind and tide might take her. How
long she drifted, with the wintry
winds whistling through her cordage,
and the pillows breaking around and
across her, we shall never know. We
may picture to ourselves these dying
immigrants in the helpless vessel jour.
neying over a waste of strange waters.
Drifting here, drifting there land
always in sight, yet always lnaccessi.
BILE some dying from weakness and
despair, some from surfeit when the
crew had gone and the provisions were
left unguarded, all more or less deliri.
Gus, and some raving mad. When the
ship struck on Sandy Point, the wreck.
ers went out to her in boats, and re.
1uOFCN oA euO pssSSCn3CAo SlAAo uts&s
survived starvation, disease, and des.
pair, except one woman. who obstina-
tely refused to leave the wreck. These
poor miserable skeletons were taken
to the homes of the islanders and hos.
pitably cared for. Edward Sands and
Captain Simon Ray were at that time
the leading men on the island, and it
was to their homes the most of these
unfortunate people were taken; and
or a level spot of ground at the south
west part of the island, which then
formed part of Captain Rays estate,
are still to be seen some of the graves
where those who died here were buri-
ed. Edward Sands was Mr.. Perry's
grandmother',s great grandfather, and
when the survivors of those who were
taken to hi house had sufficiently re.
covered to leave the island, one of
them insisted upon his accepting some
memento Of their. gratitude for the
klndness shown to them during their
Stay' and gave to his little daughter a
dress pattern Of India calico. Calicoes
or chintz patches, as dress patterns Of