Dewey County advocate. [volume] (Timber Lake, S.D.) 1910-1913, 1911-09-15
cu,cAco HARsoR sTREWN WITH
wREckAeE AS RESULT or
TERRIFIC GALE.
DAMAGE OVER S500,000
Efforts to Save Crafts Are Fut''e-
Tug capsizes and Crew Nearly
Drown Scores of Small
Boats Demolished.

Chicago, llllnOlS.-A Sdie
with the fury of hurricane tna'
swept southern Lake Michigan mas
strewn Chicago harbor with "rech-
age. Fifteen yachts, property OF tne
Chicago and Columbia yacht cluos
moored in the harbor, were dasneo
into the piers and sunk and many
launches and sloops were demohsheu.
Several freighters were reported
distressed just outside the harbor.
The gale was the most severe
known here in twenty years. 1t came
up suddenly shortly after mldnlght,
following an electric storm. The vino
reached tremendous velocity ana
blew with such force that planks IN
front of the Chicago Yacht club were
torn loose and thrown high against the
building.
Life-sayers were summoned by dis
tress signals blown by the frelghters
Christopher and Lagonda. Efforts to
aid them proved futile while the gale
continued. The life-saving station re-
ported hearing distress signals from
other steamers but could not tell IN
the storm and darkness what they
were.
A police boat was launched in an ef-
fort to save some of the boats in the
harbor. The wind was SO strong that
it could make no Roadway and was
almost capsized before it had fairly
started. The effort to use it was
abandoned.
Tug Is Capsized.
The tug Protection answered the
distress calls of a steamer, set out
against the gale and was capsized and
the crew of five with Captain Nc
Cleavey were rescued by life-savers
after desperate struggle. The tug
was blown in towards shore and after
an hours hard work was righted and
pumped out and the men again set out
in an attempt to assist distressed YES
sells. Little Roadway was made before
the storm.
All the passenger boats due in Chi
cago weathered the storm and came
into port. Most of them were hours
late, having been held up far out in
the lake until the wind subsidized.
Captains reported the hardest storm
they had encountered in years.
The gale was southeaster. It's
greatest force struck just beside the
Van Buren, street breakwater and part
of this was carried away. When the
blow started the officers of the Co.
lumbia Yacht club telephoned towing
companies to send all available tugs
to rescue the craft moored in the har-
Dor. One tug, the Charnley, was near.
ly swamped. The steel tug Indiana, a
water-tight vessel, was sent to the res
cue and the Charnley was brought
back to safety only after hard fight.
The waves were so high that at times
the Indiana was fairly lifted out of
the water.
The big freighter Charles McVeigh.
with a crew of thirty men, attempted
to leave the harbor just as the storm
broke. The vessel was caught by the
wind, swung about like cork and
dashed against the pier. She sus-
tanned practically no damage, but was
brought back to shelter only with the
greatest difficulty. Several smaller
vessels that started out at the same
time were forced to return.
The christopher, another big
freighter. $50 feet long, also left the
harbor just before the storm. The
vessel was caught by the gale about
a mile from the entrance and fought
the storm until it subsidized. She sent
up signals of distress during the night
and the lifesavers made several eff.
forts to aid her. The big boat mada
her way back to the harbor after the
storm subsidized.