The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-03-14
THEY WERE LOST.
A Sad Tale of the Wreck of he
Valencia.
TWO AYWARD GIRLS

Who Ran Away From Their Homes and
til. Young Men Who Went With
Them Finds q Watery Grave
When the Steamer Was
Sunk.
OF the one.huudred aud t~hirty-two
persons who psrished in the founder
Ing Of the steamship Valencia IN tne
graveyard Of the seas" IF the coast
of British Columbia in January, three
"A young man and two young wo'
men. both In their teens we're oVer
taken by death in their fight to escape
facing an earthly tribunal.
Boy q zzsrd, Of Los Angeles, Gal,
and Mabel aud Lulu R1wls nd, OF OK
nsrd, Oil, were passengers On the
yalsneia when she foundt red, AID the
sea n . relenting mood has sin, 20 Civ
On up the bodies of the man and one
Of the women Is grim proof tost the
fupitives escaping from man were ap,
pretended BY q higher power. ;.
While earthly justice was baked
and the pursuit of man rendered vain,
relatives, friends and acquaintances OF
the three forbear to ask whe her
Heaven did not exact an awful pun
ishmeut upon them.
Ga that terrible night, when the
stsnch ship, : carried far from he!
course by fierce storms and hop slesly
lost in tile densest Of fogs, struck on
tho treacherous and ragged rocks Of
: Sea Bird reef, none fought harder,
more desperately and more persistent
" to save thei. oHn lives team the
Young man and the two women.
In those hours Of terror. whic1
seemed centuries long to all who pass
ed through them and lived to relate
their experiences, Boy Hazz 'rd, Ma
bal and Lulu Rowland struggled for
their lives as though they dared not
die. With almost superhumsn might
they, inexpsriencsd as they we're With
vessels, climed the wind whipped rig
plpe and clung with the ten city Of
despair and horror to the ropes until
their senses were bsnumsd and ona
by one they were beaten by the pitt
less gale into. the hungry, leaping sea
which engulfed them.
Was their terrible tate a lifting
haal to the closing chapters OF their
liyesP Those who are acquainted
have asked one another.
well, / guess it Is for the best
that it happened that way, for l was
going to disinherit them both any.
way II L. Rowland, q prosperous
business man Of Dxnard, father OF the
fugitive girls, is said to have declared
when In his grief and shame he was
informed of the fight Of his children
and Of their tragic death at almost
the came time.
The same day be received q tels
gram reading. "Glrls, bodies here,
come and identify Them" he had
been minded . letter from Boy Haz
card tefttng him that Mabel and Lulu
had fed northward from San Ffancis-
90 with him on the Valencia. This
letter was dated Los Angeles aud was
to have boon posted the day the shi ,
sailed 30 that pursuit would have been
impossible, but somehow it was no.
delivered to the mails until the day
Of the wreck.
e. [. Hard, father Of the young
man, and under bail Of IS. 900 In al
action at law in which prettI Lalu
Rowland, sixteen years Of age, war
the prosecuting witness, received q
telegram worded exactly as was that
to the father Of the girls.
Both meu fastened to Seattle and
thence to Victoria, where the realiza
ton Of all OF their fears was experieI-
ced in the Identification of the dead
Both knew at . glancs the body OF
Mabel Rowland.
. Though death had sealed her lips
her father knew IRE surely than II
she herself had confessed it that she
had plotted With B " Hazz ,rd 10 take
Lila from Los Angeles and from the
jurisdiction of California courts that
e. L. Hazard might not be compelled
to face hsr ac u 'stions.
Too late the father remembered how
Mabel had coaxsd and pleaded, aids d
by the influence of e L. Hazz Ird,
who Is q real estate broker. to be al
lowed to 20 to Los Angeles and keep
house for Lulu, who was Hazz ird's
stem grapher.
Too late the father learned that
Mabel. two years Lulu's senior, it.
I'D Of Defending her sister, ir f /.
enced her to flight rather thar remain
in Los Angeles and give her testimony
against her empl yer In a suit which
had been brought against him by the
: State.
Roy h zzsrd had said: II will get
that girl out Of the country and save
my father" d.
He did 30, and he forfeited his own
life In the enterprise.
The co operation Of Mabel was early
secured, Roy accomplishing this him
self. 1t vas represented to her that
Lulu might l.e the country with him
and that they might live In British c.
lumbis or anywhere their fancy SHOULD
choose. They would have money In
plenty. But the elder Hazz .rd must
not be faced by the girl in Z Los An
geles court.
In their modest, comfortable home,