Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-07-17
SUn-BIistered and Nearly
Done, Canadian Lass Bat
ties the Elements for II
Hours and viii Live
BY NJ. S. NEWTON
special Leased Wire to The JournalD
CCODyright 1921

(C0pSfl2ht, 1J-t)
BRECHIN, Ont, July 15.-SiX-
teen-year-old Margaret Murchison is
slowly struggling back to conscious
ness today after q soul-trying battle
for life lasting - hours in the
waters of Lake Simcoe, during
which her two men companions sue
cumbed. Only the most remarkable
vitality, determination and courage
could have carried her back to
safety in the face of storm exposure,
blistering sun and hunger after one
of the men who set out with her
last Thursday from Big Bay point in
a sailing canoe had drowned and the
other, a veteran of the World war,
had died in her arms of heart
failure.
Nerging on total collapse from her
narrowing ordeal during which she
chung for three days and nights to
the drifting canoe, clad only in a
bathing suit and sweater, and ter
ribly sun blistered, the girl was
found struggling through a belt OF
reeds at Concern Point near here by
Harry Grant, of Toronto. She is
now under medical attention here
and is expected to recover fully I'M
less pneumonia sets in.
DaZed and semicOnscious, Miss
Murchison sobbed out the main de-
tails of her story to Grant, who re-
lated them to the writer today.
Canoe Unsuitable
Il was out in q rowboat just off
Concern Point, when [ heard faint
cries for help" Grant said. II saw
what first looked like a little child,
struggling through the reeds T
roWed ashore and and to my sur
prise, saw that in reality it was a
young woman apparently of about
1t, clad only in a bathing suit and
sweater and bent almost double from
exhaustion, dragging herself along
by the aid of a stick.
She was horribly sunburned ana
so weak she could scarcely speak,
but when [ asked her who she was
she gasped out that her name was
Margaret Murchison, and that she
lived at Big Bay Point. Then / real
lied she was one of three people
who had been missing since last
Thursday. AS [ helped her toward
the nearest cottage she told me her
story
The girl, her brother-in.law, Ed
gar Smith, and Wilbur Hoskins, set
out from Big Bay Point, Thursday
afternoon, intending to go to Barrie.
They were in a Sponsor canoe equip
ped with a sail. This type of canoe
is built with air chambers running
along either side, and is practically
unsuitable. 1t will turn over, but
will right itself again.
Held Man on Craft
They had scarcely started when
sudden squall sprang up, and
tipped the canoe over, plum cling them
into the water. The lake was so
rough that the people ashore APP
parently couldn't see that they were
in difficulty.
Wilbur Hoskins chung to the
overturned canoe for a short time,
but his strength finally gave out
and he went under. AS the canoe
righted itself Miss Murchison pulled
her brother-jn-law, Edgar Smith, in
to it. Again it turned over and again
she helpel the almost exhausted man
back to safety. A third time and
Smith collapsed, dying from eXhaus-
ton as she held him.
Realizing that he was dead, the
girl, who was wearing only a bath
ing suit, put on his sweater. With
the next wave that struck the
canoe, Smiths body was washed