Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1922-04-07
CHAPTER !.


The Man Whom the Storm Haunted.
Near the northern end OF Lake
Michigan, where the bluff-bowed orc
carriers and the big. low-lying. wheat
laden steel freighters from Late ST.
perior push out from the Straits OF
Macklnac and dispute the right or
way, In the island-dividcd channel.
with the white-and-gold, electric-llsh'-
ed, wireless-equipped passenger stca.n-
ers bound for Detroit and Buffalo,
there Is a copse OF pine and hemloc.i
back from the shingly beach. From
this copse-dark, blue. prlmeval, silent
at most times MS when the Great Mani
tou ruled his inland waters--there
comes at time Of storm sound like
the booming OF an old Indian drum.
This drum beat. so the tradition says.
whenever the lake took life: and,
as sign perhaps that II Is still the
Manitou who rules the waters In spite
of all the commerce of the cities. the
drum still beats Its roll for every ship
lost on the lake. one beat for every
life.
So-men say--they heard and count
ed the beatings OF the drum to thirty
Ave upon the hour when. as afterward
they learned. the great steel steamer
Wenota sank with twenty-four of Its
crew and eleven passengers; so-men
say--they heard the requiem Of the
I'VE who went down with the schooner
Grant and OF the seventeen lost with
the Susan Hart; and so Of a score OF
ships more. Once only. II is told. has
the drum counted wrong.
At the height of the great storm OF
December. 1895, the drum beat the
roll of sinking ship. One. two.
three--the hearers counted the drum
beats. time and again. In their inter-
mittent booming, to twenty-fonr. They
waited. therefore. for report Of q ship
lost with twenty-four hives; M such
news came. The new steel freIEhter
Mlwaka, on her maiden trip duriag
the storm with twenty sve-net TWEEN
ty-four-abosrd never made her pert |;
no news was ever heard from her; No
wreckage ever was found. On this ae-
count, throughout the families whose
fathers, brothers and sons were the
officers and crew Of the Miwaka. there
stirred for a time n desperate belief
that one Of the men on the Miwaha
was saved; that somewhere, somehow.
he was alive and might return. The
day of the destruction OF the Miwska
was fixed as December 5 by the time
mt which she passed the government
lookout At the straits; the hour was
fixed as Ave o'clock in the morning
only by the Sounding of the drum.
Storm--the singing. frozen sleet
slash of the February norther whis-
Ting down the hoe-jammed length OF
the lake-was assnulting Chicago. So
heavy was this frost on the panes Of
the Fort Dearborn club-one OF the
staidest Of the downtown clubs for
men-that tho great log fires blazing
on the open hearths added sappreciable
light as well AZ warmth fSAthe rooms.
The few members present & this
hour of the afternoon showed by their
UttlNuhto anu WV
OF their conversation the dulling OF
vitality which warmth and shelter
bring on a day Of cold and storm. On
one, however. the storm had had con-
trary effect. With swift, uneven stepf
he paced now one room. now another {;
from time 10 time he stopped alb
ruptly by a window, scraped from Il
with finger nail the frost, stared out
for an instant through the little open.
ing he had made, then resumed as ab-
ruptly his nervous pacing with n man
ner so uneasy and dstraught TINT,
since his arrival at the club an hour
before. none even among those who
knew him hest had ventured to speak
81 him