The Dickinson press., 1891-02-07
ROBBED By THE WAVES.
HUSBAND KILLED AND BOY DROWNED
WAS THIS woMAN's LOT.

The steamship City of Rio do Janeiro
among her passengers n lady
whose experiences involve q tale of dire
and sad bereavement. Mrs.
B. G.. Fownes is a tall, rather slightly
built woman, whose pale face still bears
only too plainly the marks of the terrible
sufferings she has hadto endure, and yet
tells q tale Of no common courage and Of
rare fortitude. She was called upon ut
the residence of her sister, Mrs. B. r.
Keith, 1876 Twenty-irst street, and the
following is the substance of her sad
story:
The ship Lizzie Troup, mailing from st.
John, N. B., sailed on Sept. Is, 1890, from
Nagasaki with ballast bound for Puget
sound. For the first twenty-four hours
all went we'll, but on the night of the 10th,
when she was out about 100 miles, it be-
gan to blow a hurricane, which quickly
changed to the revolving winds of the ty-
phoon. There had been time, however,
to shorten sail, and only the lower top
sail was then carried away. This wind
storm lasted thirty-siX hours, and in it
the Irgotul and many other vessels were
lost, while the Lizzie Troup was re-
prieved.
On Saturday, Sept. 81, until Don the
winds had abated considerably, and all
sail was set to keep the vessel we'll off the
Japanese shores. Suddenly, almost with
out q moments notice., a second typhoon
came upon tho vessel. The wind blew
first from the northeast, then veerel rap
idly round to east, southeast, south-south-
east and south, Ticking everyinch of can
vas from the masts, smashing the spars,
and hurting them away in splintcrs,
and breaking the mainmast andforemast,
and even tearing the copper sheathing
from the vessels sides.
A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE.
All possible means of guidance gone,
the storm tossed waters speedily hurried
the doomedcraftt to the coral bound coast
of the island of Okin, i'll the Loochoo
group, which she had for so many hours
fought to FREQ herself from. The first
blow on the reef carried away the bows,
second knocked the bottom clean out,
carrying away the keel entirely, and let
ting all the ballast fall out, while tho re-
mainder of tho hull was tossed like a
broken egg shell high on IL reef not 100
yards from land.
Capt. Fownes, the husband of tho lady
who told the story, did all that a man
could, and acted as Il brave man should.
TIo stood by his vessel, encouraged his
crew, and then, when they had been told
to save themselves as bestthey might, he
looked to his wife and 2-year-old son.
at won't last long," he said; "our
time has come. Let us meet the end
courageously."
He took the child in his arms and
steadied himself and wife against the
deck house. Hardly had he done 50
when a huge wave came crashing in on
top of them, smashed in the decks and
carried all who chung to tho planks into
the vessels bottomless hold. Mrs.
Fownes' own words best describe the
scene:
1--WE had all been at the stern of the
vessel, and when tine decks were broken
i'll l felt myself carried forward, and was
thrust up by the force of the waters
through an opening i'll the fore part of
the ship. There l was lseld fast, a wiro
cable around my ankle and my body
jammed in between the broken beams.
From this place l could see my husband
had clambered onto a portion of the
deck house which remained, but tho
child, my boy, was gone! Hardly know
ing what l was doing 1 managed to free
my foot, and by tearing my clothes off
from the waist down was able to liberate
my body. In he meantime my husband
signed to mo to try to crawl over the
rocks to the shore. One of the sailors
had succeeded in landing, and, bringing
natives with him, managed to drag sew
eral ashore, and a rope was passed to
me and they laid me on the beach.
Asst ON A FOREIGN SHORE.
Capt. Fownes himself was rescued,
but only to die. There was no doctor at
hand when he landed, and in two hours
he succumbed. He was very badly in
jured internally and his ribs were broken
in. An aged carpenter named George
Kobe, of Hamburg, Germany, was also
brought ashore, but died five days after
ward from exhaustion. Of those that
tried to save themselves the second mate
and eight sailors were carried off into
the surf and were never seen again.
One fearfully mangled body was all
the sea gave up. The people saved num-
bered ten, including the first mate. The
entire number of persons on board was
twenty-five. Nine men and the baby
boy were drowned, the captain and car.
penter died after being rescued, and
nine men and Mrs. Fownes survived.
The natives Of the little island had
before had white people among
them, though they are we'll acquainted
with the customs of Americans, and theil
laws are similar. An inquest was hello
by the natives, and the bodies were re
spectfully buried, and a stone monu
ment, properly inscribed, shows wher,
Capt. Fownes rests. He never ralliet
after being brought ashore, and his wifi
never knew how the child was torn iron
his arms.
The rest Of her story is very simple
No steamers ever calling" in at the close
port, she was taken in a junk to Dukin
thence to Kagoshima, Kobe, and finall
to Yokohama, where she remained fc
seventeen days. At each stopping plac
the japanese held an official inquiry int
the cause of the wreck, and furnishe
Mrs. Fownes with the reports of the i,
quiry in the japanese language.-Sa
Francisco Chronicle.
Sidney Cooper, the famous BIRTHS
painter, is nov 81 years old. He sti
nosaesses excellent health. and pives fl,
or six hours a day to painting. He slee!
nine hours out Of the twenty-four az
AveG abstemiously.
The First Step.
Perhaps you are run down, can't ca
can't sleep, can't think, can't do anythil
to your satisfaction, and you wond
what ails you. You should heed Il
warning, you are taking the first step
nervous prostration, You need