Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-03-13
ALBANY OFFICIAL RETURNS,
EXPLAINING LONG ABSENCE;
HIS STORY RIVALS CRUSOE'S
Judge Smith, Ordinary Of
Oougherty County, Was
ShipWrecekd on Lonely
Isle in West Indies
BY w. NJ. PRYSE

ALBANY, Ga, March 11.-Judge
William E. Smith, Dougherty coun-
| ty ordinary, came back to his Office
Monday, after an absence Of five
months and four days, during which
he was shipwrecked and spent two
months on an almost desolate island
in the West Indies, according to a
story he told on his return.
Judge Smith left Albany October
6 and only one accurate report of
him reached Albany until last We'd
nesday, when his wife and Judge
j. d. Degraffenried, local justice of
| the peace and close friend of the
ordinary, received kilograms sent
from Tampa, Fla. These messages
stated he had been shipWrecked,
and asked that $50 be wired to him.
j 'ge Smith told the following story
of his experiences since leaving AL
| bany.
Several years ago Judge Smith
met a mandy the name of Frank
Rittenhouse, of Baltimore, at Miami
Fla, and their mutual fondness for
the sea and Rittenhouse's posses
sion Of a 65-foot sloop-logged power
cruiser, caused a warm friendship
to spring up between them. They
have taken many trips along the
coast Of Florida and to nearby is
| lands. Early in October, soon after
dge Smith left Albany, they made
one cruise to the Bahama Islands
and spent several days there. No
vember "a, Rittenhouse, Smith and
a man named Charles M. Allen, also
! of Baltimore, and a negro known
only as Joe, left Miami, Fla, eX-
| pecting TO go to Buenos Aires, Ar
gentina.
Wrecked OH Island
1t was the plan of the party leav-
! ing Miami November "a to make
about three stops en- route OF the
| South American metropolis. Inc
cruiser was elegantly appointed, and
| prOvisioned sufficiently to carry the
party for four months, but it did not
carry enough fuel to make the trip
| to Buenos Aires without stops. Three
weeks later, or December Is, the
cruiser was wrecked in a tropical
! storm and the three white men an l
| the negro were all washed onto an
! island The island, as nearly as they
| could figure, is about 125 miles
northeast of SantO Domingo, and II
1t has any name, the shipWrecked
party did not learn it. 1t YVES about
four hours before daylight when
| thew were washed ashore, and even
! though they were in the trOpic they
! almost froze in their wet clothes and
! from the effects OF the tropic winds,
/ before daylight came and enabled
! them to locate some small houses
| further up the beach.
All that they had aboard except
! the clothes on their backs was lost
when the cruiser was wrecked on q
| coral reef. Judge Smith lost more
| than 500 in money and a camera
! for which he paid $3.50. With the
coming of daylight they located a
house and applied for shelter. They
| found that the families, about five
! in number, spoke either Spanish or
| French and lived largely by fishing.
| One of the Frenchmen spoke enough
| English to make communication pos
! sible, and he took them into his cot
tage. While they had no calendars
and made no effort to keep definite
/ track of the time, they spent about
/ two months on the island, as nearly
as Judge Smith could estimate.
Miss Christmas Day
They spent their time in idleness,
doing a little fishing with the natives
as they felt like it, and subsisting
in crude fare of the islanders.
while the rest of you at home were
eating turkey and other good things
Christmas day, L was living on dried
Herring and the like" said Judge
Smith. "In fast, 1 do not know def
Iinitely when Christmas came. If the
-, t,0,y
they didn't mention it in our pre-
sence or in I, language we could un.
derstand." Finally, a small steamer
came to the island from some South
! American port to buy what the
islanders had to sell and to leave
provisions. The shipwrecked party
learned that this steamer made calls
/ thereabout every two months. They
made arrangements to embark on
the steamer and in in two weeks,
latter stops at several other small
islands, they reached Santo Domin
go, where the spent two weeks. Sc
curing passage on a sailing vessel.
the shipwrecked party came TO Tam
pa, Fla, where they landed last
Wednesday and established commun
ication with their families.
"The first thing ] did when I got
money from home was 10 get some.
thing good to eat" Judge Smith de-
clared. Il had lived on hardtacks and
dried Herring SO long that / wanted
! something really good
They had worn the same clothing
in which they escaped from the
wrecked cruiser, and none Of them
had shaved for more than two
months when they reached Santo
Domingo.
Judge Smith returned to his office
! Monday and began to discharge the
duties as if nothing had happened.
He left the affairs or the office in
goodsh ape, although there were
some OF the duties that no one could