The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-11-02
And ART JOIN
IN THIS TRAGEDY
SEA ENGULFs HELEN HUNT BE.
FORE LOVERS EYES.
John Boyle and Miss Hunt, American
Artists in Paris, Were to Have Been
Married as Soon as He Was Cured of
Defcr1nity.
New York World.

New York World
A romance, good to think about,
tragedy most terribly sad and sequel
of suffering that threatens great ca
reer, have all come to light thru the
termination of the life of Helen Hunt,
who first gained fame as a model and
later as a painter.
Back Of the delightful romance, the
frightful death of the beautiful young
of her lover, John J. Boyle, is the story
of his early struggles.
1t was not enough that Helen Hunt
should be carried to an early grave by
the waves that swept her far out from
the ocean shore at Bayonne, France. An
inexorably cruel fate decreed that her
lover must stand by and see her tossed
and he helpless to save her. Just from
a hospital, where he went that he might
be fair in her eyes, he was held on the
shore incased in an armor-llke Jacket
made to correct disfguring spinal af-
lection. He stood there with his thin,
weak arms outstretched in mute appeal
and saw her sink in her watery grave.
He recovered from his faint just IN time
to witness the sea giving up its dead
and to watch other and stronger hands
clutch the mass of golden hair, the
browning glory of his loved one, and
tow her body ashore like a bit of
wreckage caught adrift.
Miss Hunt, seated on a rock that rose
from the sands of the seashore, was
painting bit of that picturesque Brit
tany coast, when fate decided her doom.
So engrossed was she in her occupation
that she did not observe the rising tide
until the sea had surrounded the rock
and threatened to engulf her. Inc
young woman was a good swimmer or
dinarily, ard conscious of the danger
of delay, she sprang into the water to
swim ashore. Her foot struck hidden
rock, and faint from the pain, she sank
| beneath the waves and was carried be-
yond the reach of rescue.
His Struggles to Overcome Disease.
He brought her body home to her par
| ents in Philadelphia, and to them he
! told the pathetic story of his struggles
to overcome disease, his battle with
poverty. his failures and triumphs IN
art, and then his browning victory over
| the beautiful woman who had prom
| ised to be his bride when the great sur
geons of France had made him quite
! like other men.
His portion. following the death of
his loved one, has been the eclipse OF
his more than promising career. >. %
Boyle may never paint another picture.
l. MISS Hunt Was DOln dui 1CSht Va
family of moderate means and arlS-
tocratic lineage. She entered the. Acad-
emy Of Fine Arts, to which institution
a Scholarship had been won by her IN
omen competition. Meanwhile she posed
as an artists model. Then came the
work in the academy. the saving ana
the stinting for the inevitable study
abroad. the botches and the failures
and finally the, canvas on the walls OF OF
th He asad Emit D artisf With this sue
cess she went abroad, fought Cupid
and lost, enjoyed the delights OF be-
trotha1 and was swept forever away
picture on the wall of the main salon
Of the academy, the hard-earned fame
and considerable fund yielded by
other good pictures, the dozen and one
,, art bits scattered about in the hands
of her chums and in the homes OF her
friends are but poor reminders OF the
beautiful and accomplished young
: woman. -
AS to the boy, early poverty drove
him into the mines when he was yet
too young to work. The hard labor IN
:, the coal breakers first attacked his
physical strength and the dust aggTa
waited pulmonary disability. he
I stuck to his task until he simply
= could not walk to the breaker and
more. As he Law in bed the attending
:. SURGEONS detected a spinal a1ectlon,
: and when he was finally able to sit up
f. was found that he had pronounced
: curvature Of the spine.
S He Always Painted the Sea.
The artist slumbering in the boy. de-
veloped as he whiled away the long
6 honrs and DAYS in his sunny but plain
o sickroom. He drew speaking PORTRAITS
= of all those about him, and, strangely
, enough. pictured each subject standing
: bv a sea. Up to that time he had
y never seen the ocean. His portrait OF
+ the surgeon attending him was SO me-
; to the best schools in his coalfleld
: home, and later to the Academy OF
q Fine Arts in this city, where he won
e a scholarship that enabled him to spend
T two years abroad. His first great PIC
e S"Fisher Folks ''-adorns the
walls of the academy. and IN t the PARIS
y salon his masterpiece flsl ta
n Returning ''-created a genuine furore;
: The meeting of these two devoted
l. students marked an epoch in their
l. lives. Only those who have worked
t side bv side at some life work, fired
J. by kindred enthusiasm, Struggling TO-
e ward the same goal, suffering the same
e disappointments. advancing sIep 10y ste J.
d toward a realization of some ldeallst
l. dream. can appreciate fully the happy
It eompanionship of these two.
e And so the student companions came
e TO be lovers. Only one thing marred
y the happiness of John Boyle. There
t could be no doubt of her unreserved
= affection for him. She did not leave
Il him in doubt of her true and h1al
q choice of himself from all the world.
: But he smarted under the feeling that
q it was unjust to her that he, with q
); noticeable defornity, slight as 1t was,
o should be elected to be the life com
! panion of SO fair girl as Helen Hunt.
u In Paris he learned that the dlshgur-
q inc curve could be eliminated and he
. submitted to the operation. deferrlng
the announcement of their engagement
:, until he should recover from the opera
r ton.
= The day came when he submitted
~ himself to the surgeon. The operation,
. painful and critical, was successful.
= John Boyle was no longer cripple.
- The skv frightened for him. Now they
u would be married and by and by come
:, back to America. He was onl y con-
= yalescent when overwhelmed by the
= tragedy of the seattle sea that SO
~ long had lured his brush.
= Wettest Place on Earth.
n The wettest place in the world, ac
u cording to the Russian Meteorological
e Journal, is Cherrapunji, in the India