The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-10-12
GHOuS UNDER WATER
Millionaire Corrigan Is Look
ing for the Divers
WHO TOOK THE JEWEL RY
From the Bodies of His Drown
ed Wife and Daughters.
WHO TOOK THE JEWELR

1
Captain James Corrigan. the millionair
ship owner of this city and the polio
have the remarkable theory that thievins
submarine divers stripped the sodles o
his wife and there daughters as they Ia!
at the bottom of Lake Erie. of 5000
worth of diamonds and other gems.
These ghouls of the deep, Captain Ger
rigan is convinced, descended in the 'Iak
last July, soon after they learned tina
| his yacht Idler had capsized in a sqIal
and that his family was drowned.
Captain Corrigan is known as a ver5
rich man to every one who sails or work.
on the lakes. Knowing his wealth, ner
fendish enough to spoil the drowned
yacht as gold mine to be quickly anc
safely worked.
When men conspired to rob the dead a.
the bottom Of the lake, they formed a rev
and most extraordinary plot The be-
reaved captain, who spent $4,000 to re.
cover the bodies of his beloved, who is
now pouring out his money to solve The
mystery Of this robbery, thinks that
while the robber-divers were at work in
the depths their accomplices on the Lake
surface were alarmed by approaching
vessels.
The alarm was sent to those below, who
quickly concealed their pIundsr under a
mound Of stones, and, ascending, sailed
away in their boat, looking like an lnr O.
cent party of fishermen.
The thieves returned, when favorable
opportunity presented, easily found their
plumber so safely hidden, and secured
their booty, stolen under circumstances
that perhaps never were paralleled.
OF all the $4,000 worth of jewelry that
was lost when the yacht went down. only
one pair of sleeve buttons has been re-
covered. They bear the initials az Co.
those of Captain Corrigan's daughter,
Jane, who was 20 years old.
But on these sleeve buttons are builded
Captain Corrigan's theory and his hope
that he will yet find the gems.
Il care nothing for the value of the
Jewels" the captain has said to Detective
Mintz. But I want them; must have
them, because they belonged to my wife
and daughters. would give almost any
thing I have In the world even for the
watch my wife carried
The man who had Miss James Sleeve
Russian diver and sailor He was one of
the divers employed by Captain Corrigan
to search the Idler's wreck.
When all the bodies of the unfortunates
who were drowned were finally recovered
not piece of jewelry was found on any
of them, although they were fully
dressed, for it was in the daytime that a
sudden sQuall esnt them TO their watery
grave
Miss James body was found last of all,
on September % last, by fishermen. 1t
was half buried in the sand near Will
loughby Beach, a few miles out of this
the yacht went down.
Captain Corrigan knew that Miss Jane
had carried money and jewelry in
chamois belt she always wore. He felt
sure that when her body was found, her
own, her mothers and her sisters gems
would be in this belt
The belt was gone.
patche detectives to arrest the divers he
had employed to search the wrecked
yacht. Samuels was arrested in Pittsburg
on October 5. The sleeve buttons were in
his possession. He was brought here and
locked I'D.
Then Captain Corrigan remembered
that when Samuels was employed by him
to search the sunken wreck he showed
familiarity with the boat, al
most impossible for one who saw it for
the first time.
Samuels is a clumsy fellow and pre-
tends to be stupid. The police have ques-
toned and requesdoned and cross ques-
toned him in the attempt to learn if sub
marine thieves robbed the Idler. where
they hid their plumber If they recovered
1t and what disposition they made of it.
Samuels remained silent; he cannot IN
ierstand."
But the question will yet be answered.
Where did you get those sleeve buttons
with the initials j. CO.
The bodies of Captain Corrigan's wife.
Of his daughter Ethel and of his grand
child were recovered soon after they were
drowned. Dozens of men. employed by
the captain. patrolled the shore for sixty
miles, keenly looking for the bodies of
Miss Ida Corrigan who was fifteen years
I'D. and Miss Jane.
Then determined to find them. CAPTAIN
Corrigan equipped a remarkable boat to
make the search, using ideas that had
never been used before in exploroinz a /
water bottom, but which. no doubt. viii /
oe used by wreckers hereafter
Corrigan took an ordinary dredging
Sow fifty feet long and twenty feet wide. I
With a fiat bottom. In the bottom of the
Sow he built two glass headlights six I
Get square so that he could look down
nto the water t
When the observer gets below the rip
bling surface it is not difficult to see q .
ong distance.
The scow had aboard an electric light
liant capable of supplying forty incandes-
ent lamps. These lights were lowered
rom the scow to the bottom OF the lake.
Illuminating it so That the bodies. If they
we're there, would be visible.
Captain Corrigan sat at the headlights
ooking down into the lake. expecting at
very moment TO Sc the faces Of his
lead daughters
His loving ingenuity was not rewarded
IN August = Miss Ida's body was dis
overed floating near where she net her
eath- A month later Miss James corpse
va. found
But the chamots belt was missing from,
,er waist. and ssnuels. the. diver. had
he sleeve buttons she wore.
Z