The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1905-09-21
SAVE BOAT AND CREW
Kenosha Life Saving Crew Res
cues Crew of the Schooner
wonder" Of Chicago
DRIFTS FOR MANY HOURS
The Schooner Had Sprung a Leak
off of Crosse Point Early on Thurs
day Morning and Crew of Two
Men Were Exhausted

Flying a signal of distress, her
crew of two men almost famished
through lack of food and exhausted
from work at the pumps for more
than fifteen hours without rest or
sleep, the little schooner Wonder"
sailing out of Chicago, was picked up
by the Kenosha Life Saving crew just
after O'Clock Thursday evening.
When the life savers reached the
boat she was sinking rapidly in the
deep water a half mile south and
east of the Kenosha harbor. With
the arrival of the life boat two of the
members of the crew were put on
board the sinking vessel and began
working at the pumps while Captain
Cameron went to the wheel and with
the aid of the captain and mate of the
boat they managed to bring her into
harbor and beach her in the mud near
the life saving station. The two men
who had sailed the boat on what
seemed to be its last journey were
taken to the station and cared for and
AdtSA luSy WGuI TO AL11CdSOs
The voyage of the "Wonder'' had
been most exciting one and it is
probable that two men were never
nearer death in the lake and escaped.
The little boat is owned in Chicago
and is sailed by crew of two men,
consisting of Capt. ]. H. Walton and
Mate w. M, Burns, both residents of
Chicago. During the season she had
been used for carrying sawdust and
lumber between the Michigan ports
and Pullman.
Captain Walton had left Pentwater
on Tuesday night with a northeast
wind behind him and had expected to
reach Chicago early Thursday morn
ing. He and his one man crew had
managed the boat in the gale and was
moving along at great rate Of speed.
Just after midnight Thursday morn
ing when in mid1ake forty miles off
Crosse Point the old vessel sprung a
leak. Mate Burns was on watch when
the accident occurred and hurried1y
calling Walton to aid him he went to
the pumps. From that time until the
life saving crew took charge of the
vessel the men worked at the pumps.
The water was coming into the boat
in such quantities that both men were
forced to bend all their energies to
keep the pumps going and the boat
was allowed to drift. For time the
men hoped to be able to beach her
somewhere along the lake shore near
Evanston, but the schooner drifted
far out into the lake. Burns then took
going into the cabin secured an old
red tablec1oth and tearing it into two
pieces one of them was tasted to the
mast as a distress signal. Then he
went back to the pumps and for the
rest of the time the two men remained
there. They had nothing to eat or
drink during the time.
At 4 O'Clock Thursday afternoon
the outlook at the life saving station
sighted the red flag of distress on the
vessel and the members of the crew
at once launched the life boat and
started to the rescue. In the mean
time Walton and Burns, overcome by
their long fight against the water,
had deserted the ship to her fate and
were arrayed in life presrevers, plan
ming to take to the water when the old
boat finally went down. When the
life savers reached the boat great
waves we're breaking over the decks
and the deck load had been partially
carried away.
Hundreds of people who had wit
messed the start of the life saving