Evening journal., 1903-04-06
CRAZED BY FEAR
SAILORS DROWN
THE LIFE SAVERS
After Being Taken From
Wrecked Ship They Cap
size Boat and Sink
SAD END, OF THE VOLuN TEERS

! rrst mate Richard Stiegeman and
Seaman Henry Mitchell, After Brave
Rescue of Sailors, Meet watery
crave-Vesssl in Thie City.
With the Stars and Stripes at half.
mast for the death Of its finst mate and
a member OF the crew, tho bark Lii
liam, Of Boston, yesterday moved slow
ly up the Christiana river and tied fast
at the wharf Of the American Car and
Foundry Company. where it will dis
charge the cargo of lumber.
Captain Theodore Krum told the
story that lies back of the dropping
flag, a simple story of the perils of the
sea that lost nothing from the plain
ness Of the telling and the unexpressed
lemoton that underlay the calm. oven
ltones of the narrator.
THE man for whom that flag flies. 4"
he said. was the bravest and best /
ever knew. lie was as close to me as
a brother. When / go back to Boston
Will have a marble memorial of him
placed in my cemstery plot.
I'VE left Brunswick, Ca, on Thurs
day, March 26, with a cargo Of yellow
pine. Scarcely had we reached the
open sea when a terrific gale came up
out of the northeast. II yeered to the
southeast ,on Sunday, and on Monday
it made another change to south-s0uth-
r west. For the greater part of this
time we were running under bare pole
or were hove to in an effort to ride out
: the storm.
) AT daybrealS on Monday we sighted
$ the bow and part of the rigging of a
Z ship. It was the steamship John J. Hill
OF Philadelphia The gale was ther
a blowing with hurricane force and tn,
-isea was running high and strong. TIT
lookout thought he Eaw signs of life OF
the wreck and we ran down to her.
I'VE could soon see that her crew
+ was in the rigging and on the forecas-
tie head Every wave dashed ovel
them, and some Of them were beateh
almost into insensibility. They waved
their hands desperately. The shrielSinl
Of the gale Through the rigging drown
ed their cries.
The Mate Volunteered.
Il looked at my boats and then at my
crew. Before l could say a word tht
first mate, Richard Stiegeman, Of Bal
timore, stepped in front OF the crew
o and said: / am going to save thos,
1 men. Who viii go with meY
r Henry Mitchell, a colored man
S whom l had shipped at Brunswick
came forward without a word and stoos
h beside the mate. In another minute
B. line had been mare fast to tn chow o
!, a small boat and Stiegeman and Mitch
S ell were rowing toward the wreck.
'Stiegeman, who was a marvelOu
d lbOatman, so Unanswered the boat tina
= four men were tagen off without dif
=, fculty. have since learned that thes
s were Engineer Thomas Atwell, Stewar,
# HughMcMakin and two Spanish sailors
They came within a ships lengtl
of the Lillian on the return trip M
two mon were rowing. called out
Now. only one man get up at a tim
and jump into the ships rigging wheI
she dips towards YOU A huge wav
n drought them within leaping distanc
I of the rigging Frantic with desire Z
y escape death. all four men Of the Hill
men stood up. The motion of the wav
. threw them against the side of the boa
q and in an instant the boat was car
sized and they were struggling in tn
water
Il called to them as they were strue
Cling in the water to hang onto the Ut
turned boat and we would haul thW
n in by the line that was still fastened I
! her bow but just then the rope partel
The boat was hurried away on th
> huge racing waves.
~ 1--WE had been lying hove-to. and
took us some time to get under way
e1 pursuit Of the doomed men. l wei
ne aloft and followed their movemen
with my glasses. When last
70. saw them, three hours after they hf
IN been swept into the sea. three me
were stin cinging 10 the drifting boa
." They we're then so far away that he
was out Of the question.
ne "All this time we were flying sigma
lie Of distress-two flags upside down
ar the mizzen rigging. A four-mast
schooner. the Perry Setter, came in
up sight and went her way unheedin
ma Then the steamship Excelsior came II
ne tened to our story and took off G
OF survivors from the wreck of the JOl
'se ]. Hill. When we left the scene at
he o'clock in the afternoon the wreck W
on fire This was on the edge Of d
we Gulf, about fifty miles distant fro
MIA Cape Romain."
"a Dead Mate Well Liked.
lot The dead mate was mnn of superi
he education. He was well-knOwn amoi
by shipping men. He was 20 years old al
ia unmarried. His ability and fideli
ick were to have been rewarded with
the captaincy after this trip CAPITA
les, Krum. who owns the Lillian, had ma