The Penn's Grove record., 1889-07-06
Some Of the Brave Deeds Which Our
True-Hearted Women Have Done.

The signal bravery OF o New York
woman-Mrs. William r. Grace, wife
of the ex-Mayor-ought never to be
disassociated from the memory of the
S~eawanhaka disaster. When the boat
took fire there was q wild scramble
among the passengers for life preserv-
ers. Mrs. Grace secured and
buckled it around her waist. As she
was about to leap into the water q fee
BILE old man, who chung in terror to a
mast, attracted her attention. He had
no life preserver. Mrs. Grace I'M
buckled hers, fastened it about him,
took her place on the deck, and faced
eternity with smile Of absolute resign
alton. The old man proved to be Mr..
Duryea, proprietor of the famous Glen
Cove Starch Works. Providence spared
both him and the heroic lady.
In 1872 q New York woman earned
an international reputation for bravery
by taking command of a disabled ship
and bringing it safely to port after a
perilous Journey of twenty-one days.
The ship Sharon, 1900 tons, of st.
John, N. B., sailed from New York on
February IA, 1872, bound for Liver
pool with O general cargo. On the
Banks Of Newfoundland she encounter
ed q terrific gale. The cargo shifted
and the ship was hove on her beam
ends. A terrible sea was running. The
m~izzenmast snapped, and in order to
right the ship other masts had to be
cut away. Captain Wilson, the skip
per, dislocated his collar bone and had
his shoulder broken. All the officers
and most of the crew were disabled.
The ship was leaking and drifting,
and hope had been given up by all
aboard except Mrs. Wilson, the cap
of iron will-power, an excellent sailor
and a skillful navigator. She took her
husbands place, exacted q promise
from three ignorant deck hands to obey
her commands, rugged up a jury mast,
and on March IS, 1872, locked the dis
abled ship in the harbor Of st. Thomas.
Ten years ago Mrs. Wilson was appoint
| ed a Custom House ~inspectress. Col
lector Magone removed her last year.
Friends OF the courageous lady are
making an effort to have her reap
pointed.
Neither the flash Of bayonets nor the
roar of musketry had any terrors for
Mabel Spellissy during the Orange
riots of July, 1871. Mabel was a New
Yorker of Irish parentage. Her cou-
sin, a fearless youth Of 10, and one OF
the rioters, had been shot down by the
soldiers. As he lay dying on the side,
walk, near Twenty-ffth street and
Eighth avenue, Mabel knelt over him
and wept Historically as she kissed his
pallid lips. As loon as the poor boys
eyes had shut out the light forever.
Mabel's face flushed, then blanched,
then flushed again. For a moment she
gazed upon her dead cousin with q
fixed, ~unearthly stare. Then deliber'
ately taking q revolver from his pocket,
she sprang to her feet, and, elbowine
her way to the front of a terrorized
crowd, sent bullet after bullet whizzine
into the Orangemen's ranks.
Instances of woman's bravery croI
up almost every summer at one or the
other of our seaside resorts. Two nota'
BILE cases present themselves. At Long
Branch last season o charming young
New Yorker, Maud Marion, late OF the
Casino, saved two children from drown
ing at imminent personal danger. Mol
lie Sherwood, another estimable young
actress, risked her life to rescue from
oceans NAV a metropolitan belle named
Fannie johnson, who wal at the time
an absolute stranger to her.
There are hundreds Of physically
brave women in New York. There are
thousands of heroines, women Of the
noblest kind of coursge-the courage
that smiles in spite of tribulation, thu
courage hat enables hearts full of gen
ial impulse and affection to live uncom'
planning ON with others dry and with
cred as the stubble of the field.