The Portland daily press., 1884-01-21

| DOOY Ol HEeu OdES6Hb III DondlL Ol lu5 OUQ
| Fellows of New Bedford; Mr.. BeIlyea of Bos-
| ton, looking for his sister, Mrs. r. b. Belyea,
and niece, Mrs. Alice Atkinson; and Mr.. Cur.
rier of Fitchburg, in search of the body Of Mr..
Kellogg of Fitehburg, a near relative.
| At dawn heavy Northeast snow storm was
| prevailing, but By o'clock the weather mod
Grated sufficiently to warrant the tug Nellie in
| venturing into the sound at that hour, and the
parry boarded the tug, which was commanded
| and piloted by Capt. Hart.
| Within two hours the Nellie steamed within
| sighting distance of the wreck of the steamer,
and upon approaching closerit was ascertained
| that about fifty feet of her bow and deck were
| ont of water the bow resting, as heretofore,
| upon the rocks Of DEVILS Bridge, while the
| stern had slowed around point or two into
! deeper water. From distance, it appeared as
| If three bodies were hanging in the ratlines OF
| the mizzen rigging.
By the time The Nellie had run within can
non shot distance of the wreck, the snow had
changed to sleet, the wind began blowing
fiercely from the North-north-east, and it was
found impossible to approach within quarter
of mile of the Columbus, owing to the fact
that the ledge forming DEVILS Bridge extend
ed that distance to the eastward of the ship.
The Nellie skirted the buoy on the East, and
ran within one eighth of a mile of the wharf
landing at Gay Head light The sea was run
ming so high that the tug could not approach
the wharf, and yawl was launched, in which
some of the correspondents and some visitors
set out for Gay Head.
With great danger and difficulty the party
landed, as waves 20 feet high dashed over the
frail structure of piles and boards. All landed
safely, however, and proceeded to the light
house. Here it was ascerteined that ten per-
sons, all told, had landed safely froHs the
wreck, all of whom were alive and, under the
circumstances, doing remarkably well. Those
found alive at Gay Head are as follows:
VIM. Spaulding, of Boston, purser.
Henry Collins, of Taunton, second assistant
engineer.
John Hines, of Boston, fireman.
Thomas Butler, of Prince Edwards Island,
fireman.
VIM r Mcdonald, of Boston, quartarmas-
ter.
Thomas o'Leary, seaman; Michael Keefe
and Edward o O'Brien, walters; all of St.Johns,
N.F.
James Brown, of Lawrence, and j. Tibbetts
passengers.
Purser Spaulding was in the residence OF the
lighthouse keeper, his head done up in ban
dages and wearing the clothes in which he had
swami ON the wreck to the ifeboat. While
the officers and seamen we're relating their ex-
periences, the visitors, guided by native half
breeds, started off to the various points in the
vicinity where bodies had been reported as
being placed after having been picked up by
natives along the beach.
The first place visited was the meeting
house." a dilapidated and storm-beaten
wild and dreary coast. Here were found five
bodies-four men and one woman. As the
party entered the tumble-down temple OF
worship and beheld the outstretched forms
upon the floor, Mr.. Bellyea OF Lynn. of the
visiting party, cried out, "That is my dear
niece ALICE and he knelt before the PROSTATE
and dishgured remains, weeping copvulsivelv.
The grief of the man was contagious and
there were few dry eyes among the members of
the party. Mrs Atkinson's s body was terribly
manOlnd and pOVarnd with blood from
head to foot. The top OF her head was
crushed in, eyes starting out of their sockets
and nose dismembered She had on only her
undergarments aud was identified by them.
Mr.. Currier, who had been walking among
the other bodies, uplifted heavy tarDaulin
which covered the last of the bodies to be ex-
amined, which proved to be that OF George
Kellogg of Fitchburg, in search of whose
body Mr.. Currier had come.
The remaining three bodies were uniden-
titled. One of them is that of passenger who
died in the lifeboat while on the way from
the wreck to land. Another was of a passen-
ger washed ashore yesterday. Mr.. Kellogg had
leII the vessel in boat with Quartermaster
dropped dead from exposure.
The party then procesded to the beach
where 1t was reported a number Of bodies were
lying. As one of the natives lifted the taFpau-
lin from the form of the victim reached Rev.
Mr.. Dunning OF Lawrence, Mass, sprang for
tended band of the corpse, crying, "Ohl Mer-
ciful God, it is Henryl 1t is Henry Batchel-
der, my poor sisters husband; poor Henry,
dear boy, FAREWELL" The reverend gentleman
was overcome with emotion, and as he low
cred the frozen tarpaulin over the corpse he
sobbed Historically.
Then the gentlemen started on long tramp
over q barren waste through foot of snow to
hut where it was reported there were more
bodies. A laborious walk of three miles brought
= koaza -fr1
on that part OF Gay Head bluff known as Lob
sterville. Nothing but a vast expanse OF sea
and snow could be seen from this locality.
On entering a cabin which was watched over
byla half breed Indian woman, Mr.. Belly9a dis
covered the body of his sister, Mrs a. B, Bel
yea OF Lynn. The brother was much affected
and cried bitterly when he saw the shocking
condition of the remains. The body was terri
bly, mutilated from contact with wreckage, and
probably by being dashed on the jagged rocks
of Gay Head bluff. Unlike her niece, Mrs.
Bellyea's face was calm. The niece, Mrs. At
kinson, had her hands full of hair which evil
IDENTIFY had been torn from her head in the
agony of death.
There we're five other bodies in the hut, four
being men and one mulatto man, but no
one was able to identity more of them and the
party sought its way to the beach taking up its
course along the rocky shore back to Cav
Head light. Along this stretch of shore were
found nine corpses, all more or less disfigured,
the l2ce OF eacn containing such an expression
of horror as would be calculated to haunt the
beholders.
None of the corpses along the beach were
identified aud they we're left where they were
placed by the natives who had recovered them
from the waters. Later on they were removed
to places of shelter along the coast.
The natives would not allow the bodie e5 to
be removed unless the expenses OF recovering
them were paid. Besides by this time the
storm had begun to increase and shortly a
heavy gale was blowing from the northeast ac-
eompaned by snow and sleet. It was piercing
cold aud everything was coatei with ice.
The bodies of Mr.. Bellyea, Lynn; Mrs. At
kinson, Woodstock, N. B.; Mr.. kellogg, Fitch
burg, and Mr.. Batchelder, Boston, were con-
yeyed by yoke of oxen and cart to the wharf
where they were placed on board the tug.
While the visitors were searching for the re-
mains of their relatives the officers and men of
the wrecked vessel were relating their expert
aneea