The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1894-05-25

has not been dashed and churned for
months a She was to-day by the fierce
wind that has been sweeping down
from the north for the past thirty-siN
hours Late to.aight il j. believed
Z that twelve or fifteen lives have been
I los; along The shore off this city and
4 its suburbs. The only other point re-
porting loss OF life is Milwaukee. where
six Of the schooner Cummings crew
were drowned this afternoon before
4 they could he RESCUED hv the life->aving
crew. Half dozen schocners and
smaller craft have foundered off this
city during the day; n score or more
are dismantled and stove in. making
an almost hopeless fight against the
gale and the huge waves that every
\ few minutes sweep over them. endan-
gering the lives of those who are still
on board. 1t has been "A day of heroic
effort and great suffering for the life
saving crews scattered along the shore.
At least thirty vessels are anchored
outside the harbor waiting for the
storm To snbside All are more or less
damaged and the signals of distress
that have appeared among them from
time to time during the day have kept
the life-savers busy.
Twenty-Five or thirty men have been
brought in. all exhausted and suffer
ing intensely from exposure and cold.
4 In several eases help arrived too late,
and a corpse was found among the
half-conscious sailors who. benumbed
by the cold and una ole to protect them
selves. were almost beaten TO death by
the furious waves. At midnight the
storm has not abatcd. and every hour
increases the peril Of those on board
J.. numerous vessels outside the har-
Dor. pulling AT their anchors and in
Z imminent danger OF being brought into
collision with each other or of being
pounded to pieces on the beach.
Scenes Of horror that chilled the
blood of thousands, of spectators were
enacted in the harbor for two miles be-
low the Illinois Central depot in the
early evening. As the storm increased
s in violence during the afternoon the
waves grew mountain high. dashing
over the hrealIwatcr. deluging the
4 tracks and enveloping the passing
/ trains with torrents of spray. out in
I the harbor dozen three-masted
I schooners. heavily laden with lumber
from Michigan. were riding al anchor.
I a few minutes after o'clock three of
the number hoisted signals OF dis
tress and citizens on shore tcle-
4 phoned to the police and fire
departments a. well as to the
I g. .af-s IN
park few minutes late the three
masted Evening Star. his city.
parted her chains and came for the
shore like rocket. She struck the
heavy piling of the breakwater and
her timbers crushed in as though they
were egg shells As the vessel struck
the six sailors aboard jumped
for their lives. Five landed on a
pile Of scrap iron, going down on all
fours. but a sixth. Norwegian named
Olson. missed land by couple Of feet
and went down into the waves The
cheers that had broken from thousands
of spectators turned into groan as
the man disappeared from view.
Hardly had the Star struck when
there was shout from the throng OF
excited on-lookers. and il was seen
that another three-masted schooner
had parted her ropes and was coming
ashore. This was the Jack Thomp.
SON. also undertaken. She followed
the path of the star. and came helm.
on on the previous unfortunate.
The shock precipitated into the
water the timber on the star.
board side. and upon which the five
members of the crew were standing
Four Of the them clung TO big plank
TO which they held on like grim death
meanwhile yelling at the top of theii
voices for help. The fifth man coule
not be seen for moment. but wa
finally discovered hanging by on'
hand to spar a couple o
hundred yards north. BY tni
time the lifeboat had arrived
from jackson park. but it was evident
that any attempt to launch il would
only result in its being crushed e
pieces, and the crew turned their ut
tention to the rescue of the men in thu
water Several unsuccessful efforts 4
east lines were made. but finally ;
rocket was thrown across the raft ans
caught by one of the sailors
The throng held it's breath as thu
rope was slowly drawn in, for j
seemed a. though every wave would
wash the unfortunates back into thu
waters; but when the land was reached
and the benumbed men were helpe,
ashore the rescuers were rewarded bl
a roar like a reverberation OF artillery
In the meantime the other membe
of the crew had been washed into ;
pier abutting Twenty-second street
where he managed to cling to the pill
ing and was pulled up by some Of thu
spectators
Shortly after 0 o'clock the two
masted Murphy. lumber-la den. came
ashore within fifty yards of th'
Thompson. She was driven so clos
to land her crew had little difficulty il
jumping ashore. The waves swep
the decks of all three vessels clear
and within an hour the beach for
couple of miles was strewn with lum
: Der.
The Evenincr STAR and the Thomps