The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-01

crew 1t is judged the woman had false
teeth, as all the teeth are missing. On a
finger was a chased ring tie with the words
forget me not" Body of girl twenty years
old. with blue eyes, dark brown hair, light
complexion and a full set OF teeth. The
body was clad in underclothing. with black
corset and a wooden Jacket Body of
mulatto girl twenty years old, evidently one
of the mattresses on the Portland. Body OF
woman about forty-five years old, five
feet three inches in height weight about
two hundred pounds She had on a black
spetticoat and a dark dress. a gold watch
was found on the body with the monogram
y. G. E. engraved on the case. The body
may be that of Mrs. Jennie Edmunds, of Il
Marion Stout East Boston a dispatch this
afternoon stated that a body had been iden-
titled as that of Mrs. Mitchell, of North
that the body described above, and now
thought to be that of Mrs. Edmunds,
is the one referred to. Body of a
woman sixty or sixty-live years old The
face Is very badly distfgured and the body
was almost entirely nude The only means
the initials Il. w c. followed by the fig
ures 70 Another while girl about twenty
years old. fully dressed, also the body of
colored waiter about twenty-five years old.
The descriptions of three bodies at East
ham could not be obtained here tonight.
The exact number Of persons VINO were
carried away from Boston by the Portland
viii probably never be known. no list of
passengers was retained on shore when the
vessel left last Saturday. Many estimates
OF the number on board have been made,
but the estimates have seldom agreed. G.
Steamship Company who arrived here on
the tug VIM. II. Smith last night, places
the total number of persons on the steamer
at 100 possibly 105 This estimate, how
ever, is generally regarded as rather small
It has been stated that the number was as
high 155. but Mr.. Williams denied that so
many sailed on the Portland. 1t is probable
that 100, including passengers and crew, is
near the correct number.
VIEWS OF MARINERS.
Nearly every sea captain and mariner on
the cape. on being asked for an opinion.
states that every one OF board undoubtedly
was lost. One feature of the disaster is the
absence of any fragment of ifeboat or
liferaft among the varied mass of wreck
age from the Portland which has been
washed ashore. One theory is that the
boats and liferafts were carried far out to
sea and were not blown anywhere near the
coast. Old mariners say they cannot I'M
derstand why the steamer, which. about
o'clock Saturday night, just before the gale
broke In It's full fury. was sighted between
thatcher,s island and Eastern point poi Cape
into Gloucester harbor when ii was appar-
ent from the fall of the barometer that
violent nOrtheaster was approaching. Why
the Portland ever left Boston at all Satur-
day night is what puzzles marine men on
Cape Cod.
Portland was last reported before she went
TO her doom. There are many theories Of
fered In explanation Of how the vessel
reached point near the tip end of Cape
Cod. although the exact location where she
went to pieces will probably never be known.
1t is generally believed here that the wreck
occurred at a point about ten or possibly
fifteen miles north of Peaked Hill bars,
which would be from forty-five to fifty
miles from where she was sighted by the
Maud S. The tremendous seas which she
must have encountered off Cape Ann UNI
doubtedly damaged her, and when Captain
Blanchard saw that he could proceed no
farther eastward it was thought by some
that he resolved to make for the open sea
The time that the Portland was lost is
placed at from to 10 o'clock Sunday fore
noe The watches found on the bodies
Wasred ashore had nearly all stopped be-
tween those hours. The wreck could not
have occurred between those hours Satur-
day night, in the Judgment of all competent
authorities. in that case the wreckage
would have been washed ashore at points
In Massachusetts bay Furthermore, the
force of the storm at 10 o'clock Saturday
night was not sufficiently heavy to cause
TIE vessel to founder.
When the wreck was at first reported it
on the terrible Peaked Hill bars. which
known among mariners ms the graveyard of
the New England coast, This theory was
quickly put to flight, however. by careful
Investigation. In the first place. the patrol
at the Peaked Hill bars. at Peak HIS
life-saying station, was on the alert
throughout the great storm, and the men
on duty there saw or heard nothing to indi-
cate that a steamer had been dashed to
pieces on the shoals. The fierce gale caused
such tremendous tide shat a vessel of the
Portlands draught would have passed over
the bars in safety and run ashore on the
beach, In fact, large schooner in dis
tress, drawing more water than the Port
land. passed over the shallowest part Of
the bars and brought up on the beach.
SHARP SIGNALS HEARD.
Another incident that tends to place the
bme of the wreck on Sunday morning was
reported by the crew of the Race Point life
saving station. Race Point forms the tip
of Cape Cod The life-saving crew there.
during the height of the Storm heard four
sharp whistles from a steamer which was
recognized as a danger signal. The signal
was heard at about 7:45 o'clock, and the
crew hastily manned the boats to give as
sistance If possible. A terrible tempest was
raging, and it was so thick that it was i'm
possible to see any distance off shore The
crew could locate no steamer, and the
blasts of a whistle were heard only once
The men are positive that they heard
steamer whistle and are now of the opin-
Ion that II came from .the Portland some
time before she foundered, for it is gener-
ally believed she went to the bottom, and
was not wrecked by going on shore.
= The opinion is also general here that the
boat was gradually battered to pieces by
the mountainous seas. the upper fittings be-
ing carried away until the water began to
pour in her. The fact that her wheel was
9ound with ropes attached on the Orleans
shore, is taken to indicate that the pilots
were Dowerless to control the vessels course
in the bay and that they We're obliged to
lash the wheel. When the hull went under
the upper deck and fittings, ginger bread
work. ETC., probably became loosened by
the action of the seas. These parts of the
ship, not including the furnishings. were
practically the only ones of the vessel that
were strewn along the outer coast of Cape
Cod. The absence of any very large sec
tions is accounted for on the theory that the
hull itself went to the bottom. The largest
piece of wreckage reported up to sunset was
a piece about thirty feet long Before the
Apampr plunge
passengers and crew, it would seem, adopted
all means at their command to save their
lives, as is shown by the large number of
life preservers and belts found among the
first portions of the wreckage.
The first body from the wreck came ashore