The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-12-01
NOT ONE SURVIVOR
Remains to Tell the Awful
Story of the Portland.
BODIES WASHING ASHORE
Storm Breaks Out Again, With
Wind and Snow.

steamship Portland, plying between Bos-
ton and Portland, was swallowed by the
sea in last Sundays storm, off High HEAD.
OF all the ships company, of over a BUN
dred souls. not one survived and the story
Of the disaster will never be told. Six
teen bodies have come ashore, and it Is not
likely that many more will be recovered.
The crew of the Race Point life-saving
station. which is located at the tip OF
Cape Cod. report that on Sunday morn
ing, during the height of the storm, they
heard four sharp whistles from steamer
which was recognized as danger signal.
The signal was heard at about 7:4e
O'Clock, and the crew hastily manned the
boats to give assistance if possible. The
weather was so thick that it was i'm
possible 10 see any distance off shore.
The crew could locate no steamer and the
blasts of a whistle were heard only once.
The men are now of the opinion that 1t
came from the Portland some time before
she foundered, for it is generally believed
that 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
being carried away until the water began
to pour into her. The fact that her wheel
was found, with ropes attached, on the
Orleans shore, is taken to indicate that
the pilots were powerless TO control the
vessels course in the bay and that they
~. 81
The absence of any very large sections
Of wreckage from the Portland on the
coast is accounted for by the theory that
the huh itself went TO the bottom. The
larges piece Of wreckage reNorted up TO
sunset was piece about thirty feet long.
Before the Inflated steamer took her final
plunge the 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 at High Head, which is a few miles
further down the outer coast of the cape
from the Peaked Hill station. The next
bodies found were picked up at points
further south, on thA same day, and the
life-preservers, woodwork, two or three
pieces of baggage, lard, tobacco, paper
and other stuff from the cargo began to
pile up on the shore south of High Head.
Little wreckage was found north of that
point. The swift undertow off shore car
ried an immense amount of debris and
many bodies south as far as Mononomoy
FT~l.-
ern limit indicated that the wreck was
near High Head.
Large numbers of volunteers, including
several persons who had friends or rela-
tives on board the steamer, assisted the
surfmen in patro,ing the beaches. From
the tip end of Cape Cod TO Mononomoy
there are ten government life-saving sta
tons and all the crews have been on duty
almost constantly since last Saturday
evening, when the great blow set in.
On Monday several bodies were sighted
in the surf some distance from shore, but
they disappeared from view before they
could be secured. The body Of a man at
an undertaking room here is supposed to
be that of William Mosher. a business
man of Gorham. Me. A body. believed to
he that of John Walton. second engineer
of the Portland, came ashore off Nauset
yesterday.
Nearly every sea captain and mariner
on the Cape. on being asked for an opin-
ion, states thata everyone on board I'M
was lost.
One feature of the disaster IS the absence
OF any fragments of a lifeboat or life
ha III Of Oh
from the Portland which has been washed
ashore
One theory is that the boats and life
RATS were carried far out 70 sea and were
not blown anywhere near the coast Old
mariners say they cannot understand why
the steamer, which, about o'clock Sat
urday night, just before the gale broke in
its full fury. was sighted between Thatch-
ers Island and Eastern Point, Cape Ann.
by the schooner Maud s, did not put into
Gloucester harbor when Il was apparent
from the fall of the barometer that a
violent Northwestern was approaching.
Why the Portland ever left Boston at all
Saturday night is what puzzles marine
men on Cape Cod.
LIST OF BODIES ASHORE.
Following is a list of the bodies washed
ashore on the outside coast of Cape Cod
up to midnight tonight:
AT Orleans:
L. DUDLEY FREEMAN. Yarmouth,
Ne; a prominent attorney and member OF
the governors council
GEORGE w. DELANEY. 3 years Of
age, Boston.
At Wellheet:
GORGE GRAHAM colored porter Of the
Portland.
Al Provincetown:
VILLA MMOSHER, Gorham. Ne.
On Nauset beach:
Body Of a man. believed 70 be John ".
Walton. second engineer of the Portland.
Unknown:
At Provincetown-Body Of a woman
about 50 years 81 age, with no clothing on
the body except fragments OF underwear:
body OF an unknown colored man.
At Orleans-Body OF woman. As or 50
years old: devoid OF clothing when picked
up on Nauset beach by the Nauset life
saving crew.
Body Of a girl. % years old; cad IN
Body OF a mulatto girl - years old;
evidently one of the mattresses of the
Portland
Body OF woman about IS years u age
A gold watch was found on this body with
The monogram j. c. r" engraved or the
case. The BODY may oe thss OF Ms Jeu-
ME Edmunds OF Boston. A dispatch i1is
afternoon stated 5hst a body had been
Identified as that OF MIS-. Mitchell Of
North Easton. Dus a telegram tonight in
dicates taA; The 5ody Described above. and
ao~ sHoughs To be that of Airs t.dDuuds
i the one referred tn
Body 81 woman - % g years os age.
The face i badly disagtirsd ana ne ooav