The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1891-01-07
ROBBED BY THE WAVES.
HUSBAND KILLED AND BOY DROWNED
WAS THIS WoMAN's LOT.

band Was the Captain of an Ill Fate
shiP-Wreolhed i'm n Series of Typhoon
The steamship City of Rio de Janeil
numbered among her passengers lad
whose experiences involve tale OF dill
shipwreck and sad bereavement. Mr.
u q. Fownes is a tall, rather sEghtl
oullt woman, whose pale face still beal
only too plainly the marks of the terribl
sufferings she has had to endure, and yt
teiissa tale of no common courage and {
r,iro forutude She was called upon q
the residence of her sister, Mrs. B. f
Keith, l,lS6 Twenty-frst street, and tn
Following is the substance of her ga
story.
The ship Lizzie Troup, hailing from s.
John. n. B, sailed on Sept. Is, 1890, fror
Nsgasad with ballast bound for Puge
sound. For the first twenty-four hour
all went we'll, but on the night of the iatf
When she was out about 100 miles, it bt
gan to blow a hurricane. which quick
changed to the revolving winds of the ty
phoon. There had been time. however
to shorten sail. and only the lower tor
sail was then carried away. This win
storm lasted thirty-six hours, and in !
the lrgotul and many other vessels wer
lost, while the Lizzie Troup was re
prieved.
On Saturday, Sept. 81, until noon tn
winds had abated considerably, and al
SUI was set to keep the vessel well off tn
Japanese shores. Suddenly, almost with
out moments notice. a second typhool
came upon the vessel. The wind blew
hrst from the northeast, then veered ran
Idly round to east, southeast, south-soutb
eastand south, Ticking every inch of can
vas from the masts. smashing the spars
ana hurting them away in splinters
and breaking the mainmast and foremost
and even tearing the copper sheathin!
from the vessels sides.
A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE.
Al possible means Of guidance zone
the storm tossed waters speedily hurrie,
the doomed craft to the coral bound coas
Of the island of Olin, in the Loocho,
group, which she hal for 30 many hour
fought to free herself from. The frs
blow on the reef carried away the bows
second knocked the bottom clean out
carrying away the keel entirely, aud let
ting all the ballast fall out, while the re
mainder Of the hull was tossed like ;
broken egg shell high on a reef not lO(
yards from Land
Capt. FowRes. the husband OF the lad
who told the story, did all that a mar
could, and acted as brave man should
lie stood by his vessel, encouraged hi
CREW, and then. when they had been tol,
to save themselves AS best they might, h,
loek''d to his wife and 2-year-old son.
f"E won't last long" he said; lou,
time has come Let us meet the enc
courageously."
He took the child in his arms and
steadied himself and wife against the
deck house Hardly had he done SO
when huge wave came crashing in on
top of them, smashed in the decks and
carried all who chung to the planks into
the vessels bottomless hold. Mrs
Fownes' own words best describe the
scene:
I'VE had all been at the stern of the
vessel, and when tue decks were broken
in felt myself carried forward, and was
thrust up by the force of the waters
through an opening in the fore part of
the ship. There was held fast, a wire
cable around my ankle and my BODY
damned in between the broken beams
From this place could SEQ my husband
had claInbered onto portion of the
deck house which remained, but the
child, my boy, was gonel Hardly know
ing what was doing | 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.
ersh ashore. and IA rope was passed to
me and they laid me on the beach.
CAST 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 suocumbed. 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 mum
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
never before had white people among
them, though they are we'll acquainted
with the customs of Americans, aud their
laws are similar. An inquest was held
by the natives, and the bodies were re-
specially buried, and a stone monu.
ment, properly inscribed, shows where
Capt. Fownes rests. He never rallied
after being brought ashore, and his wife
never knew how the child was torn from
his arms.
The rest Of her story is very simple.
No steamers ever calling in at the closed
port, she was taken in junk to Dukin.
thence TO Kagoshilna, Kobe, and finally
to Yokohama, where she remained fo
seventeen days. At each stopping pla
the Japanese held an official inquiry il
the cause Of the wreck, and fuunis
Mrs, Fownes with the reports of til
quiry in the Japanese language
Francisco Chronicle.
Sidney Cooper, the famous
painter, is now 81 years old.
possesses excellent health, and
or six hours day to painting,
nine hours grf NJ fka f,x,aoA,