The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-02-25
ROBBED BY THE WAVES
HUSBAND KILLED AND BOY DROWNED
WAS THIS WoMAN's LOT.

1
ship-wsscksd in ssrios Of Typhoons.
The steamship City of Rio de Janeiro
numbered among her passengers lady
| whose experiences involve tale Of dire
shipwreck and sad bereavement. Mrs.
| B. 6. Fownes is tall. rather slightly
built woman, whose pale face still bears
only too plainly the marks of the terrible
| sufferings she has had 10 endure. and vet
| tells tale Of no common courage and OF
rare fortitude. She was called upon nj
the residence Of her sister, Mrs. b. r.
| Keith. l.138 Twenty-frst street, and the
| following is the substance of her sad
| story:
| The ship Lizzie Troup. hailing from St
John. N. B., sailed on Sept. Is, 1890, from
/ NagasaG with ballast bound for Puget
| sound. For tho first twenty-four hour.
all went well, but on the night of the 10th,
| when she was on. about leo miles, il be
| gan to blow hurricane. which quickly
changed to tbs revolving winds of the ty.
phoon. There had been time. however
to shorter sail, and only the lower top
sail was thci: carried away. This wind
| storm lasted thirty-six hours, and in il
the Irgotul and many other vessels were
lost, while the Lizzie Troup was re
prieved.
On Saturday, Sept. 81, until noon the
winds had abated considerably, and all
sail was set to keep the vessel well off the
Japanese shores. Suddenly, almost with.
out moments notice. second typhoon
came upon the vessel. The wind blew
first from the northeast. then veered rap
idly round to east. southeast, south-south.
east and south, Ticking every inch of can.
vas from the masts. smashing the spars,
and hurting them away in sphnters,
and breaking the mainmast and foremost,
and even tearing the copper sheathin2
from the vessels sides.
A TERRIBLR EXPERIENCE.
All possible means of guidance gone,
the storm tossed waters speedily hurried
the doomed craft to the coral bound coast
of the island of Okin, IN the Loochoc
group. which she had for so many hour.
fought to free herself from. The frs,
blow on the reef carried away the bows,
a second knocked the bottom clean out,
carrying away the keel entirely, and let
ting all the ballast fall out, while the re-
mainder of the hull was tossed like a
broken egg shell high on reef not I0e
yards from land.
Capt. Fownes, the husband of the lady
who told the story, did all that man
could, and acted as brave man should
!, L.. L
crew. and then, when they had been told
to save themselves as best they might, hs
looked to his wife and 2-year-old SON.
1T won't last long" he said; .'our
time has come. Let Us meet the end
courageously."
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 the decks were broken
in felt myself carried forward. and was
thrust up by the force of the waters
through an opening II the fore part Of
the ship. There ! was held fast, a wire
cable around my ankle and my BODY
jammed in between the broken beams
From this place could see my husband
had clambered onto a portion of the
deck house which remained, bat the
child, my boy, was gone! Hardly know
ing what was doing | managed to free
my foot. and by tearing my clothes off
from the waist down was able TO hberate
my body. In he meantime my husband
signed to me to try to crawl over the
rocks to the shore One of the sailors
had succeeded lii landing, and, bringing
natives with him, managed 10 drag sev-
eral ashore, AM rope was passed 70 1
me and they laid me On the beach.
CAST on FOREIGN SHORE.
Capt Fownes himself was rescued.
bat only TO die There was no doctor at
hand when he landed, and in two hours
he sUccumb bed. He was very badly ia- /
jured internally and MS ribs were broken /
in. An aged carpenter named George /
Kobe, of Hamburg, Germany, was also I
brought ashore. but died FIVE days after 4
ward from exhaustion. OF those that 4
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, aud
nine men and Hrs Fownes survived
The natives of the little island had
reyer before had white people among
them. though they are well acquainted
with the customs Of Americans, and their
laws are similar. An inquest was held
by the natives, and tire bodies were re-
.pectfuliy buried, and a stone monu-
rnent. properly inscribed. shows where
Capt Fownes rests. he lever rallied
after being brought ashore. and his wife
FEVER knew how the Child was torn from
his arms.
The rest CT her story is very simple. .
No steamers ever calling in at the closed
port, she was taken IN a junk to Duksn,
thence 20 KagoshimA, Kooe. and finally
70 Yokohama, where she remained for
.evsnteen daya At each stopping place
he japanese held al Official inquiry into
ne canse Ct the wreck. and furnished
Mrs. Fownes with TIE reports Of the iu-
suiry in tbs japanese lAnguase.-Szn
Yancisco Chronicle.