The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-08-25
GIRL LEAPED FROM
OCEAN LINERS DECK
Officers Plunge to the Rescue--Bessie
Finklestein's Grief at the Loss
of Her Escort.
BY Exclusive Wire from The Associated Press

by Exclusive Wire from The Associated Presa
New York, Aug. A.--Somewhere on
the Atlantic ocean, bound for Holland,
Bessie Finklesteln Is closely guarded to
keep her from making second attempt
at killing herself. On the same
steamer, the Rotterdam, of the Hol-
land American Steamship company,
Second officer A. Levi is modestly
avoiding the congra tulations of the
passengers, and Quartermaster Van
Huss is sharing in the glory of having
assisted in the rescue of Miss Finkle-
stein.
Among those who boarded the Rot
terdam at Hoboken yesterday morning
were Miss Finklestein and three men.
She wore black picture hat and a
long automobile coat. The young wo-
man carried large bouquet of flowers.
She seemed to be very happy. Two of
the men who had accompanied her to
the ship, at the signal for all ashore"
who were not to sail, bade her good
bye. The third stood by her as she
waved to her friends on the dock
They called to her, giving messages
for her to deliver to friends in Hol-
land. The young woman's escort ex-
cused himself for a minute. Miss Fin
klestein was playing with her bouquet
as the Rotterdam cast off. The ship
was just under way when the young
woman saw her escort hurrying along
the dock, presumably headed for the
ferry to New York.
She called to him to come back. If
he had wanted to, he could not have
done so. The Rotterdam was clear Of
the dock Miss Finkestein's friends
rushed after the truant, and were soon
out of sight.
The young woman threw her bouquet
10 the deck, put her hands to her eyes,
and started weeping. Then she
screamed. A second later and she
seemed to have regained her compo-
sure. Her face was very white, and
her eyes very dark. She walked to the
rail in a leisurely way, and jumped into
forty feet of water.
officer Levi was on the bridge,
dressed in uniform, including white
gloves and gold lace. He did not take
time even to throw off his cap, but
dived off the bridge over the high sides
Of the vessel into the water. A few
quick strokes brought him to the side
of the woman, who had sunk twice, but
was buoyed up by her skirts. AS he
reached for her, she pleaded with him
to let her die. When he caught hold
of her, she attempted to strangle him.
The water closed over the two and
Quartermaster Van Hass plunged in to
the rescue. Before Van Hass reacher
the man and woman who was fighting
that she might drown, Levi struck her
twice, stunning her. Van Hass helped
to hold her head above water.
The propeller of the Rotterdam was
reversed at the first alarm, stopping
the ships headway. A rope, with buoy
attached, was thrown to the men, who
were nearly exhausted. Then the
sailors swung out the port winch der
rick, which is used in hosting cargoes
aboard or ashore. A sailor slid down
the ropes to lend helping hand. The
two men needed the aid of the sailor to
tie ropes about them. When he was
sure they were secure, the sailor cried
to his comrades on the deck to 'haul
away" In this way, the girl, the off,
Ger, quartermaster and sailor were
hoisted aboard.
There had been absolute silence on
the part of the people gathered on the
dock to wave farewll to their trends,
but when they saw that the rescue had
proved successful, they gave cheer,
which was answered by the passengers
on the Rotterdam.
Officials of the company said yester-
day Afternoon that the young woman
must have been quickly revived. Other
wise she would have been sent ashore
Those who We're on the dock at the
time of the rescue say that the young
woman was not brought back to con-
sciousness in time to wave farewell to
three men on a ferryboat bound for
Christopher street.