davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1926-07-30

stee1-wal1e1 cells of the pen. The
women prisoners shared cells,
On the street newsboy WAS cry
ing her name. Shakily Bertram
bought paper, and saw the story
on the first page, beneath staring
headlines. Kitty Hewitt had been
freed from jail. Below was the as
tonishing report that a lawyer named
Klegson had appeared with thirty
thousand dollars in cash and obtained
the release Of Kitty Hewitt from Jail.
Cash! Anonymous. unidentified
cash that had been put up for her
Who had put It up1
A reporter encountered Bertram on
the walk. Just looking for you, doc
tor. They say some OF your rich
friends put up that cash BAIL"
mot any friends of mine," denied
Bertram with emphasis II can swear
to that. I've seen them ALL But
look here" he caught at the report
er's sleeve. "She's really out of Jail?
You've seen her-outY'
"She went off with Klegson, the
lawyer" the newspaper man assured
him.
Whose lawyer" Bertram demand
ed.
"Why, doctor. was after you to
ask that"
"If l could tell you, would" said
Bertram. but I don't know; l don't
know. Where did Klegson go with
herr"
''He wasn't going with her; she
was going with him-to bis office, it
looked like. l DE- 1nnk
had to come to
And, having fotl
insisted ouAaccd
Bertram did hetscare. INC reporter
knew where Klegson's Office was. and
together they walked away.
He sent In his name to Klegson;
and the girl who took his card
brought out word that the attorney
could not see him; but a minute later
Kitty Hewitt came out.
She closed the door behind her and
stood with her back to 1t, clinging
to the knob as though for support.
She asked him, before the reporters
who crowded around her: 1T wasn't
friend of yours who put up that
bail?'
Bertram shook his head. mo"
The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1926-07-30

TELL the driver ADDISON SrTceL,
and she gave number. That's
where I've been living" she said I'll
show you all know about myself and
who-who might put up thirty thous-
and dollars cash for me and send me
word to jump It,"
The house on Addison street proved
to be a small frame building which
years ago and which antedated by at
least a generation the tall new fats
which walled 1t on both sides.
It was the last sort Of place which
Bertram would have imagined to be
Kitty Hewitts home. you live
here?" he asked, as she showed him
The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1926-07-30
Work and Success

Any person who hopes for personal
progress must remember first Of all
that he cannot attain his ambitions
without willingness to settle dowI
to hard work--The Thrift Magazine
The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1926-07-30

You need The Pleasantville Press
and 1t needs you. Subscribe now.
The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1926-07-30
W. N. U. SERVICE

HE change In the police
attitude toward Kitty
Hewitt came with shock
ing suddenness At ten
O'clock she was a guest
In the Fraley mansion on
the Lake Shore drive,
breakfasting with M r 3.
Fraley and with DR..
Bertram Darand in the
quaint, D elft-b lue tile
br e a k f a t-room Of the
Evening star., 1926-09-05

the episode. AS nearly as we can
trace it, it seems that Miss Ebert,
niece of Mrs. Frietchie, told her cous-
in. Mr.. Ramsburg of Washington,
d. c., the story; he in turn told it to a
newspaper reporter, and it subse-
quently appeared in a Washington
newspaper. Mr.. Ramsburg also told
the story to his neighbor, Mrs. E. d.
E. n. Southworth, the we'll known
authoress. by whom it was sent to
Whittier with a note containing the
following information:
"'When Lees army occupied Fred
elick, the only Union flag displayed in
the city was held by Mrs. Barbara
Frietche, a widow lady of 90 years.
Such was the paragraph that went the
rounds of the Washington papers last
September Some time afterWard,
from friends who were in Frederick
at the time, l heard the whole story.
1t was the story of a woman's hero
ism, which. when heard, seemed as
much to belong to you as a book
picked up with your autograph on
the fly leaf. SO here it is.
Then she described the cool recep
ton accorded Lees army as II
marched into Frederick and con-
tinued:'
but Mrs. Barbara Trietchie. tax
Evening star., 1926-09-05

was on deck viewing the islands
scalloped skyline when Payne, the
second mate, came up from below to
stand his watch. He looked gloomily
from the bleak, rocky coast to the
leaden skies and cursed fervently.
I'D give every cent of my back
pay to see again for just one day the
blue seas and sky of the Mediterra-
mean" he continued with a sigh. An
Englishman who had spent all his
life sailing the seven seas, this was
his first experience of the Arctic.
Week after week Of successive
storms had got him entirely fed up"
with 1t.
He was getting no better pay than
he would have got in the South Seas.
or elsewhere. and the conditions we're
much more disagreeable. I could see
matters from his standpoint, but, on
the other hand, I was in the Arctic
for experience and newspaper copy"
II don't care how bad things get"
replied. $50 long as we come off with
our livesr I was destined to remem-
Der the remark later on.
THE three-masted power schooner
Herman of San Francisco. Capt.
Louis Lane. master. had sailed from
Nome, Alaska, for Wrangell Island
early In September, a time when
most ships were intent on going out
of the Arctic. But Capt. Lane had
undertaken to get through to
Wrangell, if at all possible. and he
was not one TO fail where there was a
chance of success. He had been
delayed two months because of a
broken engine shaft and, late as it
was. had headed his vessel north
ward as soon as the repairs were
completed.
Wrangell Island, so miles in length
and from 2S to 40 in width, lies in the
Arctic Ocean about 100 miles north
of the eastern tip of Siberia. 1t has
had a checkered history. Discovered
in 1S49 by a Britisher, who never
landed on 1t, 1t was named 20 years
later by an American whaler in honor
of a Russian explorer who had never
seen 1t. The first persons to set foot
on it were Americans in 1881. when
the Stars and Stripes was hoisted
above 1t and possession taken for the
United States.
Nothing having been done in the
interval to confirm the American
claim. the survivors from Viihjalmur
Stefansson's wrecked Karluk took
possession of it in 1914 for the
British Empire on behalf of Canada.
OF the 25 members of the Karluk's
crew and scientific staff, only II
succeeded in crossing the foes from
the scene of the wreck TO the island,
Two parties of four men each were
lost, and it was generally believed
that they had per:shed by breaking
through the ice. The others died on
the island before the arrival of
rescue ship.
In 1921 Stefansson sent an expedi-
ton consisting Of four men and zone
Eskimo woman TO continue by occu-
patton the Canadian claim established
Evening star., 1926-09-05

Virginia on September S. 1862. Most
of the army camped three miles
south of the city, but a large body of
soldiers marched through Frederick
and camped at Wormans Mill, two
miles to the north.
"On the 10th the soldiers who had
been encamped to the north re-en-
tered Frederick and marched down
North Market street and out West
Patrick street past the home of Mrs.
F'rietchie. No one knew what hap
pened when the soldiers went past
the house until some time afterward.
Miss Harriet Yoner, a cousin of Bar
bara F'rietchie. was living with her at
the time as her companion. Upon
coming from the back of the house
after the soldiers had passed, Miss
Yoner found Mrs. Frietchie quite
nervous and excited, but she would
not explain except to say: They tried
to take my flag, but man would not
let them, and he was a gentleman
''It was not until a number Of years
later that her family learned exactly
what had happened to her.
1T seems that she heard the troops
approaching and thinking they were
Union soldiers she took her silk flag
from between the leaves of the family
Bible and stepped to the front door
to wave to them. Immediately one
of the officers rode up and said,
Granny, give me your flag
You can't have it, she replied, as
she noticed the gray uniforms, but
she stood her ground and kept on
waving the flag. The officer spoke to
his men and they did turn left
facing her. She said she thought they
meant to fire on her, but the officer
rode a short distance away and inn
mediately returned with another Of
ficer, who said to her. Granny, give
me your flag and I'll stick it in my
horses head. And again she answer
ed, No, you can't have it,
Then one of the men called out.
Shoot her damned head off The
officer wheeled angrily upon him and
said, If you harm a hair of her head
I'll shoot you down like a dog Then
he turned to the old lady and said,
Go on, Granny. wave your flag as
much as you please.
Not very long ago Mr.. Joseph
Lowe of Worthington. Mimi, wrote
to me telling me that he had seen
Mrs. Frietchie waving the flag to the
Confederate soldiers. Mr.. James l..
Parson, a contractor of Washington,
Evening star., 1926-09-05

long time about the incident de-
scribed so colorfully in Whittier's
poem, and Miss Abbott frankly ad-
mits that by the time the story of the
incident had reached Whittier it had
been embelished greatly as to detail.
Barbara Frietchie, then SO years old,
didn't climb to her attic window to
set up the staff after all the other
Union flags in the city had been
taken down; Stonewall Jackson didn't
ride by her house-a perfect alibi
having been established for him-and
no one ever fired on the flag, much
less "shivered the window, pane and
sash" or rent the banner with seam
and cash"
Furthermore, she didn't lean far
out on the window sill and shake it
forth with a royal will 1t some
times seems a pity to destroy beau
tiful picture. but the truth will out,
and this is what Miss Abbott says
about it:
The Confederate forces crossed the
Potomac and entered Maryland from
Evening star., 1926-09-05

in 1914 One member died on the
island and three others were believed
to have lost their lives while cross
ing from Wrangell to the Siberian
shore during the Winter of 1929.
The Eskimo woman was the sole
survivor.
In the islands frozen soil thus lay
the bones of four men, while some
where in that vast region of floating
ice which surrounds 1t for the
greater part Of the year the remains
of eleven others awaited burial.
In the Summer of 1928 an Ameri-
can named Charles Wells and a
dozen Alaskan Eskimos were landed
on the island, despite it's sinister his
tory. Employed by Stefansson, they
trapping and hunting and at the
same time. by their occupancy,
further confirm the claim Of Canada.
Meanwhile, however, the Canadian
Government had failed to recognize
the claim thus established by Stefans-
sons successive parties. In the
Spring Of 1924 he had consequently
transferred his interest in the island
to Lomen Brothers Of Nome. the
Alaskan reindeer magnates.
1t was on behalf of the latter that
Capt. Lane had undertaken to go to
Wrangell Island. He was to take
formal possession in the name OF the
United States and to bring back
Wells and his companions with their
furs. It was believed they would
have a valuable catch, for Wrangell
Island and it's vicinity is favorite
resort of arctic foxes and polar bears.
THE Herman, after battling un-
usually severe storms. had ar
rived off Wrangell Island on Septem-
ber IS. only to find an impenetrable
belt of heavy ice from 25 to 35 miles
in width between her and her OBJ
jective Capt. Lane had decided to
stand by until either the ice should
open up sufficiently to allow us to
get through or the imminence of the
freeze-up should drive us out OF the
Arctic altogether. For the past two
weeks we had been bucking ice and
storm without success, although once
approaching to within six miles Of
the beach
Herald Island Is a triangular. rocky
islet, miles by 6, some 38 miles
east of Wrangel. When first sighted
by us it had also been completely sur
rounded by ice, but just a week be-
fore this the ice had moved away from
it's western and southern shores, al
lowing us to anchor in its lee for
shelter from a storm, much as We had
now done.
After lying there two days. we had
been on the point of heading back to-
ward Wrangel again, when the cap
tain. scrutiniZing the cliffs through
his glasses from the crows nest, had
noted something on the little gravel
beach at the farther end of the island
which looked like an abandoned camp.
We went ashore. The beach was
covered with a thin layer OF snow.
criss crossed with the tracks Of polar
bears and Arctic foxes.
Evening star., 1926-09-05

ing one of the Union flags, went up
to the top Of her house, opened a gar
ret window, and held it forth. The
rebel army marched up the street,
saw the flag; the order was given.
Halt! Fire!' and a vOlley was dis
charged at the window from which 1t
was displayed. The flagstaff was
partly broken, so that the flag
dropped; the old lady drew it in, broke
off the fragment, and, taking the
stump with the flag still attached to
it in her hand, stretched herself as far
out Of the window as she could, held
the Star and Stripes at arms length.
waving over the rebels, and cried out
in a voice of Indignation and sorrow:
"'"F'ire at this old head, then, boys;
it is not more venerable than your
flag" They fired no more, but passed
on in silence, and she secured the flag
in it's place, where it remained un-
molested during the whole of the rebel
occupation of the city. StOneWall
would not permit her to be troubled
Whether Mrs. SouthWorth is re-
sponsible for the "applesauce" spread
over the true narrative is not known.
but at least Whittiers reputation
seems to be stainless. Nevertheless,
as soon as he wrote the poem and it
WdS Ill tftc AlIdHllC NloIltIllN
his troubles began. Long before his
death he realized that he had written
the poem from much "dreSsedup"
story, and he wrote countless letters
in vindication of his honest intentions.
In answer to an article denying that
the poem had any foundation in fact.
he wrote: Barbara Frietchie' was
written in good faith. The story was
no invention of mine. 1t came to me
from sources which / regarded as
entirely reliable. | had no reason to
doubt its accuracy then, and / am
still constrained to believe that it had
foundation in fact. If | thought
otherwise / should not hesitate to eX-
press it. l have no pride of author
ship to interfere with my allegiance to
truth"
x X X !;
IN a letter to Miss Abbott's mother
Mrs. Julia Fl. Abbott. relative to
several things. Whittier included the
following paragraph: There has been
a good deal of dispute about my little
poem, but If there was any mistake
in the details there was none in my
estimate of the noble character and
her loyalty and patriotism,
And through all the arguments, de
malls and discussions, there shines
the dominant personality of little
Evening star., 1926-09-05

followed the captain out through the
dining room to the engine room.
The first thing l noticed was that
the lights were on and that the en-
g1ne was running. The engine room
was amidships, below the level of the
main deck. A sheet of flame shot up
through the companiOnway toward
the skylight, and black. pungent
smoke rolled back from the glass and
belched out through the door of the
engine room entry. The ship was
doomed, or so it seemed to me.
Through the smoke and flame
Ketcham, the chief engineer. and
George Rudonick, his assistant,
crawled. coughing and choking, up
the engine room ladder. AT the first
alarm they had plunged below to
start the engine to work the pumps
and give us light. They had then at
tackled the fire with chemical extin-
guishers, but had nearly asphyXiated
themselves.
Dick Holbrook, the mate, rushed In
from the deck outside. where he had
been getting out the hose. ''The pump
outlets are frozen Get the buckets
going and send the water down to
me-" he ordered as he dived down the
ladder into the flame and smoke.
ALI the buckets on board had been
gathered meanwhile and we quickly
formed a line from the rail in the
waist to the engine room door. Payne
was on the rail with a bucket at the
end of a lanyard hauling up water
and pouring it into other buckets.
which were passed on from hand to
hand to the engine ROOM where Dick
Holbrook had stationed himself on top
Of the engine. The fire was behind
the inboard bulkhead on the starboard
side. between 1t and the skin of the
ship.
The bulkhead did not go all the
way to the deck, but stopped at the
lower level of the deck timbers. leav-
ing an aperture about 10 or IL inches
in height and several feet in width.
The flames poured out through this
aperture as from a fiue. The mate,
on level with this open, hurled the
water as fast as it came into the
flames.
We on the bucket line had no way
of knowing how the fight was going.
We realized that the fire Of itself was
not the most serious feature. In the
midst of the flames stood one fuel
tank containing 1000 gallons of oil; ;
on the opposite side of the ship was
a second tank holding similar GUAM
tity. and In a tnlrd tank were l,ZuV
gallons of gasoline.
II the fire had been in the forecastle.
or in the after-cabin. we might have
fought It down to the waters edge.
Then If we had failed to put it out
we should still have had plenty of
time in which to stock the boats
with provisions and get away. But
with fire raging all about those thou
sands of gallons of explosive material,
we knew that we must conquer in a
very few minutes or not at all!
Even II we should succeed in get
ting away from the ship in ad-
vance of It's blowing up. our chances
Evening star., 1926-09-05

less young men VINO might have made
1t uncomfortable. if not dangerous,
for her.
1t is said that she repeatedly
"sassed" Confederate soldiers when
ever she saw. them and kept her fam
fly constantly worrying as to what
might happen to her. Her house was
near the spring from which the In
habitantS If the city obtained their
water supply, and soldiers often came
to her house to ask for a drinking
glass. She always furnished one to
Union soldiers, but told the Confed
crates to drink out OF the iron dipper
that hung by the spring.
She was born of Pennsylvania
Dutch parentage at Lancaster, Pa.
on December 3. 1866. and was given
as good an education in Baltimore,
Md, as could be obtained in her day.
She was we'll read and even during
the latter part of her life her mind
was clear and alert. She was pune
tilious about even small things. and
one of the treasured possessions Of
her great-great- niece il note which
she wrote out and signed. at 81 years
of age, for some money which she
| borrowed
The old Iauer family Bible. written
/ In German-Barbara Frietchie was
Barbara ilauer before her marriage
is still in existence today. Miss
Abbott does not own It. for IT was
given by n relative To a German
woman in the neighborhood who was
not related to Mrs. Frietchie. ON the
| hyleaf of this old Bible are recorded
most of the important events in the
| lives of the members of Barbara
Frietchie's family.
| 1t is said that she was slight OF
| figure and scarcely of medium height,
and that she probably never weighed
more than 40 or ll5 pounds.
Her early days were those of the
stirring times during the American
Revolution, which probably awoke IN
! her the intense patriotism and l)yaltv
| for the flag which marked the latter
part of her life. And she must have
been a rather vivid personality. for
at 30 years of age she married John
.. FrietChie, then only %. which was
considered an accomplishment in
CnOse days.
topyrIEht. 1926
Evening star., 1926-09-05

We had found the remains of a
complete camp, including the skele-
tons of four men. We found no rec
ords Of any kind, but from the nature
of the equipment in the camp we were
fairly certain that the bones we found
were those of three scientists and a
sailor lost from the Karluk 10 years
before.
Plenty of driftwood was on the
beach. and there were boxes of
matches. We found two rifles and
more than 1000 rounds of ammuni-
ton. In addition to other articles of
food, we found 28 tins of pemmican
unopened. There were a tent and
sleeping bags.
With apparently all the necessities
of life, these men had died. For 10
long years their friends believed they
had met their deaths by going through
the dangers Of travel across the foes.
only to die on land in the midst of a
comfortable camp. We could but
speculate as to their end.
Upon our return to the ship, what
was becoming known on board as "our
daily catastrophe" consisted that eve
ming Of the failure Of the auxiliary
generator.
In addition to the main Diesel en-
gine, there was O. small gasoline en-
| gine to run the generator and work
the pumps when the main engine was
not in use. AS we were at anchor, Of
course the big engine was shut down.
! The auxiliary engine being out of
commission, we were without our
usual electric lights. Candles having
! been overlooked when the ship was
| outf1tted and the few lanterns on
| board being reserved for the use of
| the watch on deck, we consequently
| sat about the cabin after supper in the
dark. discussing the possibility of be-
| ing held by the ice pack and thus be-
! ing forced to spend the Winter on
| Herald Island
| Capt. Lane took off his mukluks and
| toasted his toes before the Primus
| stove flame. preparatory to going to
bed. Sid Snow, my cabin mate, dis
appeared into our cabin, dubbed by us
/ the "icebox.' The engineers yawned
and went to bed. 1t was almost 8
o'clock, quite late for us, seeing that
we were comfortably at anchor, with
| no reason to expect alarms of any
kind. In a few minutes l followed
| suit.
| I WAS sound asleep when the cap
tain stuck his head inside the door
of our cabin. Get up, boys" he said.
There's a fire in the engine room.
! don't know how bad it is. but you'd
! better be ready" He ran forward
Sid Snow and l jumped out of our
berths and were not long getting into
! our sealskin pants. We were just
putting on our mukluks when the
captain was back. Hurry up" he
shouted. Get on all the clothes you
have. It's a bad one." His voice,
better than his words. indicated the
seriousness of the situation. We hur-
ried into the rest of our clothes and
Evening star., 1926-09-05

+ dld not know Wheh Gay
n I break came. The fog was
NV so dense that for all we
knew it might still have
been night, Twice during
the forenoon the engine was started
and the schooner moved out of the
way of heavy ice drifting down upon
US with the current.
The Crunching and grinding of
these great ice masses, some OF them
as large as city blocks. could be
heard before they We're near enough
for us to see them through the
gloom. The long regular swells
came down from the northeast and
we knew that a storm was raging
somewhere up there. bat as Yet no
breath of wind came to us. nothing
30 tighten the walls of fog pressing
us close on all sides.
AS the short Autumn afternoon
wore on. a movement was noticeable
IN the upper air and the, fog thinned
perceptibly. BY evening a brisk
breeze had dispelled II entirely and
he night. under the stars, was much
brighter than the day had been.
Heavy. black clouds gathered
apgrily in the northeast and the
wind increased in violence. The long,
oily swells now carried foamy white
crestS which broke ana scattered
over the surface OF the sea like silver
fi1igree on ebony.
The captain ordered the foresail,
sfaysail and jib set and headed
point into the wind. We We're plain
iy in for storm and while it lasted
he would keep the vessel tacking
back and forth in order not TO make
too much leeway.
BY midnight hurricane was
blowing With the clearing of the
fog had come sudden lowering Of
tefuwMxtuIN. The wind was freight
ed with the chill OF the ice fields.
The angry waves rose higher and
higher, pounding against the bows
1ld pouring tons of water over the
forscastle head into the waist. Each
time q new layer OF ice formed.
The crew were on hour-andtwenty-
minute watches. Men could not face
that biting wind for much longer. The
captain spent the night alternating
between the deck and the main cabin.
where two small Phimus stoves did
their best TO temper the atmosphere.
The cabin was normally heated by a
kerosene stove, but the supply OF
kerosene had run out a few days pre-
ytously. hence the Primus stoves.
All next day the storm raGst.