Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1912-05-10

than there only four men left in the rigging.
Two of the six last seen had gone to join those
who had persisted before them.
Hope of a rescue before morning was gone.
The lives of the four men who still remained
were in the hands of God. Could they live
throughout the frightful night? None might say.
The watchers on shore at intervals burned signal
lights to let the miserable wretches on the Place
know they had not been abandoned.
At last day Twentyfour hours had
elapsed since the schooner stranded, and those
on shore strained their eyes in the ragged light
to learn the toll the night had taken.
1t was soon apparent But two men remained
alive. Two others had been claimed by the
storm
The life-savers were themselves in a sad plight
For more than thirty hours they had been the
beach in clothes that little more than
masses of ice without food save pals OF coffee
that were occasionally hurried from the station.
Often they tottered unsteadily in their frozen oil
skins as they went about their duties. But reel
ing staggering they placed the surf gun and fired
a shot which fell within few feet of the two
poor fellows in the rigging of the schooner. But
the men made no effort to get the line
Still hopeful, another shot was fired, laying
its line across the hull of the ship And then the
men in the rigging appeared to give heed for the
first time to the efforts that were being made to
rescue them Very feebly and slowly one man de-
scended the shrouds. The tide had fallen off. and
the section of the ship where the line lay was
above water. Working his way to the line the
man pulled on 1t weakly, but his efforts were flu
tile. In a few moments he crawIed back to the
shrouds.
The breeches-buoy was then abandoned The
short daylight died Night came again and the
gale abated slightly There was nothing left
but the surf boat The feat at least possible
now, for the sea lower
It was splendid battle and fearful one. But
grim nerve triumphed Half swamped, the surf
boat lay alongside the shattered schooner: the
two men in tho rigging relied to the rail OF the
stranded veses and toppled lifelessy into it. The
curtain fell one of the grimmest tragedies OF
the service.
The rescued men were William Stevens and
soren Nelson They were nearly dead Nelson's
feet were frozen solid in his boots. During the
forty-eight hours they chung to the rigging of the
Inflated craft, while the life-savers battled to
save them they had fought death by beating
each others faces with their fists to shake off the
lethargy of the cold. Stevens recovered but
poor Nelson died after having his legs amputated
and lingering miserably for six months
The wreck Of the schooner Place is typical
example Of what the men in the United States
life-savi1g service are called upon to face.
The night of February 81, 1904, was memorable
because of its extreme cold and wildness. Dur
ing the height of the storm. shortly before mid
night the schooner Benjamin c. Cromwell of Port
land Maine stranded just east of the Bellport
life-saving station, Great South Beach. Three
crews of lifesaving stations hurried to the scene
to take seven men from the rigging OF the wreck
ed vessel All efforts to accomplish this. how
ever failed, and at noon of the day following the
night Of stranding the vessels masts went by the
board with the exception of the foremost In
which all the crew save one had taken refuge.
This single man who had not followed the ex-
amnIa of his comrades was washed overheard