The record-union., 1894-05-19


pital. where Penn, who is in critical
condition from chill and exposure, had
preceded them. The vessel drifted ashore
and was ground to pieces.
The MeLaren was ground to pieces 100
yards from shore. Her crew, COM
manded by Captain Johnston, was saved
by the life-saying crew, the last of them
being taken off at s o'clock. Joe Spollan
was killed by the breaking of a towpost.
His body is still among the timberS of
the vessel.
One of the most exciting features of the
storm was the imprisonment OF twenty
seven men who were working in the
waterworks crib of Lake View, one mile
from shore. Their only shelter was lum-
Der tower erected on the crib. and until that
was washed away at o'clock this after
noon the men were not believed to be in
any danger. 1t was close call, however,
after that time, since the water went over
the crib again and again in binding vol
umes.
Crowds of people lined the shore anx-
iously watching the crib from which a
distress signal fiuttered at various times
during the afternoon. The contractors
made frantic efforts to get the men away,
and offered the tug companies any
amount of money to make rescue, but
they refused to make the effort. AS night
fell the men on the crib hung up a red
lantern, which was burning steadily at
midnight, and the wind is gradually 60
ing down. 1t is believed all Of them will
be rescued early tomorrow.
The Myrtle. on which the chief loss of
life occurred, not single man of her crew
of six having escaped, was water-logged
when she appeared off the harbor in the
afternoon. She attempted TO anchor, but
was driven before the gale and struck the
schooner Evening Star, which up to that
time had been safely riding at anchor.
The Mrytle's jib broke, and drifting
away from the Evening Star she struck
the schooner Clifford, and her bow was
stove in. She began to sink rapidly. She
drifted out TO sea, her crew being plainly
visible as they were huddled together on
top of the cabin. One was washed away.
A heavy wave broke over her, and then
only three were visible. One of them
Jumped Oh plank and floated in close
to the breakwater, where he lost his hold
and went down. The two men on the
boat went down with her. 1t is known
that the Captain of the Myrtle was named
Wilson, but nothing more is known OF
he crew.
SIX LIVES LOST.
MILWAUKEE (Wis.), May 1S.-Hanging
to the rigging of the schooner M. j. Cum
mings, lust south of Milwaukee Light
house, tonight, are the bodies of a man
and a woman. the latter the stewardess
and the former a sailor. -Four others of
the crew, including the Captain, have
been drowned, and one, Robert Patter-
son, sailor, is saved.
1t was the fiercest storm that has swept
the west shore of Lake Michigan since
the crib disaster, two years ago, when
fourteen lives were lost. The Cummings
and the G, @. Barnes tried to enter the
harbor early in the day, but failed to
make the piers, and were soon drifting
toward the beach on Jones Island. An
unsuccessful effort was made by the life
saving crew to rescue all of the crew of
the Cummings, but they were nearly
drowned in the attempt. The liteboat
was overturned, the crew escaping almost
miraculously. The crew of the Barnes
escaped, and the vessel cannot be re-
leased as she is light and on q sandy
bottom.
The crew of the Cummings went into
the rigging, together with one Frank
Gordes, one of the life-saving crew, who
attempted 10 make a line fast. A line was
the breakers past the wreck and capsized
at Bay View. The ite-saving crew
reached the shore safely by clinging to
the boat, which was washed high and
dry.
Five men and woman persisted on the
wreck before the life-saving crew finally
reached the wreck. One Of the crew and
life saver were rescued.
The dead are: Captain John McCul-
Tough, Marine City; Mate Timothy Bo-
sower, Buffalo; Thomas Tcscott, sailor,
Marine City: unknown sailor, Marine
City; a sailor named Jim, Marine City;
the cook. woman, unknown.
Saved: Robert Patterson, Kingston,
Ont; Frank Gordes, surfman, No. 8,
Milwaukee Life-Saving Station.
The men who perished fell from their
perches in the crosstrees to the water and
sank out OF sight like pieces of lead.
Surfman Gordes, as soon as he boarded
the schooner, proceeded to lash the mem
bers of the crew TO the rigging, but it is
supposed they loosened the ropes to
change their positions, hoping to escape
the force of the blizzard of pelting snow
and rain, but were so stiff they could not
make new fastenings, and he could do
nothing for them. Captain Mccullough
was the first man to fall, shooting down
into the water as hundreds of field glasses
were trained on the scene from the shore,
and the others soon after the Captain.
The body of the woman is still lashed
to the rigging, to which she escaped when
the vessel began to sink.
Six thousand people lined the piers and
the shores of Jones Island and the MAIN
Templar, towing a scoW bearing the life
savers, left the pier 10 make the rescue of
the crew. One hundred feet OF line sep
arated the tug from the Scow, and back of
the scow was towed an empty surf boat.
With her bow to the waves, the knight
Templar permitted the STOW to drop
down toward the wreck. When the surf
boat was within fifty feet of the wreck a
human figure that had been clinging to
Z r,f fha
to throw up his hands and fall backward
into the boiling waves, being instantly
lost to sight. a short time before another
of those clinging to the ropes had also let
60 his hold and perished. A sigh went
up from the crowd as each body was lost
to sight, and then ali eyes were centered
on the surf boat as it dropped back beside
the sunken vessel. Two figures slowly
descended the shrouds of the mizzen
mast and clung to lines but few feet
above the waves. Five minutes passed
in an attempt made by the life-savers to
swing the lifeboat close to the waiting
men. A cheer went up from the crowd
on the shore as one hgure was seen to
leap from the rigging and land in the
boat. A minute later a second man
sprang far out. and as the boat assembled
wave it was seen that there were five
figures in the boat. Then a cheer that
drowned the roaring of the waves went
up from those on shore.
Slowly the long line that held the surf
boat was paid out, ard the two rescued
men were permitted to drift toward the
snore-one moment lost 10 sight in the
foaming breakers and again alive and
sure OF rescue, as the boat arose on the
top of some mighty billow. Along the
beach at the foot of Jones Island crowd
ran TO meet the rescued men, willing
hands were stretched out to reach them
and they were dragged from the surf to
place of safety.
There are no other wrecks, so far as
known, south of this city, though several
boats are reported in distress in the
vicinity of Racine Reef. Two little