The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-03-01
HOW TWO AMERICAN WOMEN
d. DIED

dark. The moon has fled from the
heavens in alright and the eyes of
night are mercifully blinded by the
flying scud. No sound is heard but
the wailing of the wind and the
sharp swish of the spray as the bill
lows "curl their monstrous heads"
Horror broods upon the waters.
But there is another sound that
feebly struggles with the gale. The
rough grinding of oars may be heard
as one or another of thirteen. cast
away boats is tossed aloft on the
summit of wave only to be lost as
the frail craft with its piteous cargo
Of human beings slips down the sea
again into the appalling gulf.
And then a thin wall of agony
makes the air SILVER. 1t is not the
voice of seagull riding the storm,
but the mortal appeal of twenty men
and women struggling in the icy
water. Lifeb0at No. 8, crazy and
waterlogged, battered as she was
launched against the side of the as
sassinated ship, has gone down.
There is wild scramble of the other
boats to, the rescue, regardless of
possibilities Of death. A few,
handful Of numbed and helpless crea-
lures are dragged from the sea and
stretched in the bottom of the al
ready overcrowded craft.
There are two women, mother and
daughter, frail creatures, unused to
the shock of impending death and
unaccustomed to hardship and ex-
posure. softened in the sheltering
love of civilized manhood. The
spark of life still flickers in them
as they are taken together on one
Of the rescuing boats, but their lips
are blue, their faces white, their
flesh all a-tremble with the search
ing cold of the winter sea. Their
scanty garments, their tangled hair,
all water soaked, begin to stiffen in
icicles as the wind wraps them in
its merciless embrace.
The men in the boat hasten to ex-
tend what aid they can. Some of the
wet garments are torn off and
thrown overheard. One man con-
tributes a coat, a woman gives a
skirt. Somebody has a flask of
brandy and few drops are forced
between the chatJering teeth. The
hands and feet of the pair are chafed
and rubbed. Some effort is made to
rig up piece of canvas as wind
break. All the companion sufferers,
with tears CONCEALED in their souls,
put forth the last efforts that their
own half frozen condition permits to |
save these two lives so dear to
some one.
But it is all in vain. The blow
has been too heavy for the gentle |
spirits; the suffering too intense for |
the delicate frames. Death steals |
on with the grip of the icy air. A
AAbIiC "llllC bllC DIGdlH IuIIeT5 III Tie ]
chilled breast, the pulse trembles |
family. The lips try to form a word, |
a query. The mother whispers a |
question as to the daughters safety;
the girl looks On inquiry from her
terror-stricken eyes as to her
mothers fate. Perhaps. too, there
is a word of love for those who
will not see them again, murmured |
in the ears of those others whose
agony is only less than death.
Then it is all over. THERE'S moth
ing more to do but drop the dead
bodies overheard, so that the sur
vivors in the boat may have some
chance of living until rescue comes.
That is all. Thus died two American /
women in order that Germany should
glut its hatred of England.
What do you think of it, Senator
La Toilette? And you, Senators
0'Gorman, Stone, and Hitchcock, and
you, Mesgrs. Mann and Kitchin? And
what do you think Of it, Mr.. Bernard
Ridder and Mr.. C. J. Hexamer and