The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-12
Three Negroes Rescued by Surfman
Capps After Desperate Battle
With the Sea.
FURIOUS STORM ON THE OCEAN
BIG LINERS TOSSED ABOUT AND
SWEPT By HUGE WAVES.
Clergyman Killed and Another Man
Injured-FearsOme Experiences
Aboard the Vessels.

NORFOLK, Va, Oct. 1.-THE northeast
gale that has ragged over this region since
Thursday has nearly spent its power but
for miles and miles along the Virginia coast
the beach. is Uttered with wreckage and
throughout this entire section of the coun-
try devastation lies in the wake of the
storm. Thousands of people crowded trains
to the coast to-day and saw the wrecks
of the big barges Ocean Belle and Georgia
near Virginia Beach.
There is nothing left but an indiscriminate
tangle of debris along the shore at Dam
Neck TO mark the end of the three-masted
schooner Nellie w. Hewlett. The body of
Capt. George L. Evans, of the Georgia.
washed ashore late last night two miles
south OF the Sea Tack life-saving station.
and is now at that station. The body OF
George Peters, the colored seaman of the
same vessel, has not been recovered.
The rescue of the remaining three negroes
of the crew by Surfman William Capps. Of
Sea Tack station, was one of the most he
roic acts in the history of the surfmen on
the Virginia coast. Capps, while two miles
from any other human being, and patrolling
his stretch between the stations, saw one
negro over one hundred yards off shore in
the roaring surf. Without a moments con-
sideration of the peril he was facing he
stripped and plunged into the sea that was
already a seething mass of wreckage from
the barges, and after a half-hour battle,
single-handed and alone. brought the un-
conscious man ashore. He had not recov-
cred his breath before he discerned through
rift in the spume another form and once
more he went into the surf. This time. by
reason OF his exhausted condition. his strue-
gle was harder one, but he eventually s1c-
ceeded in saving the negro. Placing both
men under the lee of a cluff. he started
back to the station To give the alarm. when
he saw the third negro i'm the waves and
Tor third time plunged in and brought an
unconscious man ashore. Capps did not
cease his work until all three men had been
cared FOR at the station. and until midnight
he resumed his regular trick at patroIi7nr
the storm-swept coast
While nothing new is reported i'm the way
OF wrecks OH the coast. there is absolutely
no method OF securing information from
points more than six miles south of Virginia
Beach. The entire coast telegraph system
is Frustrated, and it will be some days be-
fore communication can be restored
The Old Dominion steamer Hamilton from
New York, reached Norfolk at o clock this
morning after a terrible experience in the
gale. The steamer was not damaged to any
great extent and Will continue her schedule
but the suffering of the passengers. par
ticularly those in the steerage was heart
rending. Locked in the bowels of the pIung-
Ing and lurching ship, these foreigners men
women and children became panic-stricken
and their shrieks of terror could be heard
above the gale. Many of them were bruised
by the tossing of the boat aid three received
fractured limbs, aside from other hurts
These three are at the hospital here, two
men and one woman.
Among the first-class passengers the fear
OF death In the storm was as great as among
those below. tife-preservers were worn con-
stantly by nearly every one, and some
women became hysterical and collapsed.
Few on board expected the Hamilton would
survive the blow. but Captain Boaz profit
ing by his experience in last months hurri-
cane. kept the situation in hand throughout
and brought his boat To her pier in safety
Anchored off Virginia beach. with no sign
of life abroard, two large sea-gong
barges. Both are slowly but surely drag
| ging toward the beach, and unless there is
| further break in the force of the gale both
may be wrecks before morning. What fate
| has befallen their crew is yet To develop.
| This afternoon two tramp steamers them
selves battling head on with the sea, passed
within hailing distance of both barges bur
neither paused. and the supposition on shore
| is that the crews either have perished or
l CONTINUED ON PAGE s, COL. %