The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1888-08-10

Five Women Drowned.
A most horrible drowning accident oc-
Cured at Pennsville on Wednesday even
ing, by which -four w~elLknown ladies and
a little girl, all residents of Pennsville, lost
their lives. The names of the victims are:
Mrs. Elijah Wheaton, aged ffty-fye; Mrs.
j.. T. Turner, aged forty-five; Mrs. Samuel
Wheaton, aged thirty-two; Mrs. Thomas
Finnegan, aged nineteen, and Miss Dora
Wheaton, aged six years.
Shortly after moo ON Wednesday a jolly
party left Pennsville for Pennsgrove, six
miles up the river, to take part in a church
picnic at the latter place, on the Flora B.,
a twenty-five ton sloop. The party con-
sisted of Captain Elijah Wheaton and wife,
Squire j. T. Turner and wife, Mrs. Samuel
Wheaton and her daughter Dora, Mrs.
Thomas Finnegan and Clayton Batten,
brother of Mrs. Samuel Wheaton, and Mrs.
Finnegan. The party arrived at Penns-
grove in an hour, and after en- oying a
short stay at Pennsgrove embarked for
home about 6 o'clock. After the sloop
left, Captain Wheaton, an experienced
navigator, having spent most of his life on
the water, noticed heavy and threatening
clouds in the southeast. At the request Of
some of the ladies Captain Wheaton took
two reefs in the mainsail and started down
the river for Pennsviile. The clouds kept
advancing, but there was just enough wind
to make the trip a pleasant one. When
about two miles above Pennsville the gale
suddenly came upon the little sloop, and
it came near overturning the boat. Cap
tain Wheaton told the ladies to go below
in the cabin, and gave orders TO Clayton
Batten to go forward and light up the iib,
so that the boat would have less head sail.
Before Batten got half way forward an
other puff of wind struck the boat and she
slowly careened over. While the sloop
was going over Squire Turner heard the
ladies in the cabin crying, and going to the
companionway grasped Mrs. Finnegan's
outstretehed hands. The other ladies in
the cabin, however, had hold of her dress,
and Mr.. Turner, seeing that he could not
rescue them, was compelled to let go to
save himself from being engulfed by the
rushing waters. The men climbed to the
windward, and were compelled to hear the
cries for help from the drowning ladies in
the cabin, but they were unable to lend
them a helping hand.
The tug E. L. Cain, Captain WARTS, of
Philadelphia, bound out with the schooner
]. S. Hopkins in tow, saw the sloop cap
sA[Cs shAit thC 0apbdih olNACtGu ltS Z W
throw off the schooner's hawser, and i'm
mediately steamed for the wreck, which
was about 500 yards off. He picked up
the men in the yawl-boat, put tn EN- aboard
the tug, and then went to the sloop and
made an effort TO get the bodies from the
cabin, but without success, owing to the
heavy sea. All night long the sturdy fish
ermen of Pennsyille patrolled the river and
beach in the hope of sighting the Inflated
sloop. At daybreak yesterday morning
the boat was sighted in Hamburg Cove,
between New Castle and Delaware City.
Twenty fishermen from Pennsville at once
started for the boat IN skiifs. The craft
was grounded in eleven feet of water, and
she was towed to the bar near by, where
the ebbing tide soon allowed Grant Gibbon
TO go into the cabin.
A most horrible sight met his eyes. The
bodies of the drowned ladies were floating
about the cabin, and the first body secured
by him was that of Mrs. Samuel Wheaton,
clasped in whose arms was her daughter,
Dora. The five ladies were tenderly trans
ferred to the skiffs, and shortly after the
fishermen silently pulled their oars for
Pennsville, ten miles. The solemn and
grief-stricken party arrived at the Penns-
vile wharf at 0 o'clock, and the bodies
MCTC LtLutElN lIdllSltIEtu W NdlllDg
wagons, and taken to the homes of friends.
There were at least 800 Relatives and
friends onthe wharf, and as the bodies were
taken out of the boats and carried away,
the sobbing and crying of the people were
most h~eartrending. Captain Wheaton,
whose wife, daughter-in-law, and grand
child were drowned, was almost overcome
with grief. He said that this accident was
the only one he ever had, and he did not
know that the sad affair was the result of
any carelessness on his part. "Elad been
alone" said he, II should nave put on
all sail after we left P~ennsgrove, and
would have got home before the cy-
clone struck us. As it was / thought
| would humor the ladies, and double reef
ed the sail, which retarded our speed. |
could have made the trip in fifteen minutes
more if the squat had not struck u.s." Mrs.
Turner, one of the victims of the disaster,
is the wife of j. t. Turner, who was also a
member of the party. Squire Turner is a
wealthy farmer residing near Pennsyille.
Mrs. Turner, when invited to accompany
the party, hesitated at first, desiring to go
by carriage to Pennsgrove, but her hus-
band assured her that the boat was per-
fectly safe, and she at last consented to join
the party. Mrs. Samuel Wheaton and Mrs.
L nnegdn are SlSUeTS- MTS. hnedtOn 10
the wife of Samuel Wheaton, of the firm
of Moore & Wheaton, proprietors of the
store in Pennsville. Mr.. Samuel Whea-
toms grief knows no bounds, having lost
his mother, Mrs. Elijah Wheaton, his wife
and his little daughter Dora by the acct
dent. The affair has cast a great gloom
over the little town of Pennsyillc. There
is a general suspension of business, and
people from all parts of the county are
Hooking into the village to hear the partic-
ulars of the sad disaster.
Gloucester County Prohibition Con-
ventiOn.
The Gloucester County Prohibition Con-