St. Joseph County Independent, Volume 19, Number 45, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 26 May 1894 — Page 2

ME IN THE WES. Day of Untold Horrors on the Great Lakes. MANY SHIPS GO DOWN Men Drown in Sight of Thousands of People. Terrible Disaster Wrought by the Tremendous Storm-Human Lives Lost and Fourteen Vessels Reported Wrecked at Various Points—Greatest Hurricane in Many Years Sweeps Lake Michigan— Shipping Tossed About—Crops In the Korthwest Injured. Drowned like rata in a cellar. Xrowned while a great city looked on and wrung her hands in an agony of helplessness. Drowned even as their Weeding hands reached up f‘ ora tho I Waters and clutched the cruel sea wall. I iDrowned before the eyes of 100,000 people massed along the eho e and housetops. Drowned because the im■Berial city of the lakes has a life-sav-ing serviie that w uld be unworthy of • seacoast village. Eleven lives lest 1 •nd half a score of vessels wrecked COLLISION ON THE BREAKWATER *s a result of gro s negligence. P’his is the record Ch.oago had (to face the morning after the storm. Sweeping down from the north across “the lake with terrific force, the hurri•ane hurled itself upon Chicago, destroying life and strewing the shore hvith wrecks. Ten men met death in *be lake and nine lumber schooners jwent down in the path of the storm. Trom daybreak to nightfall there was Nothing but death and disaster, misery and suffering. _ oo Thursday evening with ■H" 1 ***” >'»•>? ■

M.juuu.myr w> 'st was not until late at night ■ ithat the wind dropped sufficiently to allow the distressed schooners to eurter the harbor. I rom Glencoe to «outh Chicago the shore was strewn '•with wreckage. Twelve fishermen ■were rescued by a volunteer life-sav-iicr crew from the government pier. The same crew rescued seven persons from the bumboat at the north pier. Tu^s assisted in snatching ^uilors from winking vessels. Others were ('lagged *sho -e as they floated in on spars or in the shattered hulks of their own vosaels. Nearly 100 persons were in imrminent peri; of their lives, yet all but ten were saved. With the lee shore so near, there was little chance for the vessels caught in the storm to run before the wind. The .»nly thing they could do was to reach ■the port for shelter. Many vessels dialled to do so and toe loss resulting

v —j^—

A CAPSIZING of the surf boat. 3tom the storm is calculated to amount ‘So several hundred thousand dollars. ; I-ury of the Gale. Inside the breakwater everything : »^^oiiied quiet and peaceful, but theie 'was a dangerous swell, the water mov-

jSag up and down like a san bellying lander a strong wind. Outside the [breakwater, where the shore was virdually unprotected, the waves spent I ftheir fury and fled I ack only to gain '•fresh strength to hurl themselves later j at the same spot. All al ng the lake ; phore, from Racine to South Chie’go, i fahere was a thick white line, growl- I dng, roaring, h'ssing and spluttering, ' as if it was the ove flow of a huge ; ealdron of boilng water. Waves •pounded the be .ch with t e fore of iteam hammers, washing away por- ; ftions of the shore. As the storm increased in fury the rhig captains found it difficult to bring their boats into the harbor, the most •powerful tugs in the Chicago fleet were fanable to breast the storm and bring ftheir tows into the river. The north (breakwater, however, afforded some (protection for the echo ners, and the boats anchored in a long line off the J®ity. Then the storm became so violent fahat the tugs were barely able to live

in the sea alone, and the situation became serious for the anchored fleet. , rhe anchors lost their hold on the bottom, and many of the boats settled Steadily toward the shore. In a vain effort to better th 5 situation some of the captains made a little sail and I tried to make the harbor, but they were driven through the anchored fleet, crashing into other vessels, carrying away spars, rigging, and smashing large holes in the other boats. One schooner., the Myrtle, who e captain had tried to sail out of his bad'position, had all its spars and rigging carried away and was finally s. nk with all on b ard. Another b lat. the schooner Jack 1 h< mpsen, crashed ir.t ) the RainL7nr C f a nT^' Olatt9r capsize, and ive 2 Cn tho b « a vh hersed. Ihe Evening Star,having dragged her anchors, went ashore wit:i°the Inompson. How Six Brave Men Diel. The sinking of the Myrtle was the most terrible event < f the leng after- “°° I n , of “errors. Before the eyes of 10.000 men and wemen that lined the lake shore from Thirty-sixth to Thirtyeighth streets this craft went down, carrying six men with her. For an hour the crowds on the railroad tracks in Groveland Dark and on the neighboring housetops watched the waves steadily carrying the boat toward shore. No help came. Men ran wildly back and forth in a vain effort to find assistance. When 400 yards / south of the Government pier the IMyrto groHndod ~,,1 (1 ‘ bes became t .ut. Two minutes iXor a wave that lifted her ten feet into the air tore the anchors loose, the wind caught tho tattered f resail, it bellied to the gust, and the Myrtle was fairlyheaved out of the water. The six mon on board waved their hands frantically. Suddenly their signals ceased, au 1 they huddled together around the broken mainmast. An eld woman knelt on the tracks in front of Thirtysixth street station, and prayed in a shrill, penetrating voice that silenced for an instant the curs as of the frantic men about her. An instant lat tan Illinois Central engine crept down the tracks from the south pushing a flat car. On the car was a brass mortar charged and ready for action. The crowd drew a long sigh of relief, and cheered the life-saving crew lustily. The engine stopped, but no attempt was made to fire a line from the mortar to the doomed Myrtle, now less than 300 feet from shore. The life savers left the car and ran to the shore with lines. They ran aimlessly back and forth. One or two mighty waves tossed the Myrtle against the breakwater. Twice she bounded back like a toy boat. It was after the second of these rebounds that the six men cn beard jumped to the water. A wave swept the cra r t over them. It filled and settled slowly.

~ ~ - 11 —> * • /— x —z

Before the eyes of 10J>'0 people mon and boat sank out of sight. Tno men were seen no more. fvry of the gale elsewhere. —... ■ I Six Persons Go Down with a Schooner In Milwaukee Harbor. Milwaukee, M is.—On the beach of Jones’ Island, just south of the mouth of the river and in the harbor of the port of Milwaukee, is a big and stanch schooner, high and dry, and out in twenty feet of water, with her masts standing straight up, with ch se-reefed spars, is another vessel. In the rigging of the foundered schooner is a deal woman lashed to the halyards, and up abov&, on the cross-trees, is an unconscious sailor, who will be dead before morning. Os their late companions feur are dead and one alone survives. This is the story of a May day, a May day such as was never before known in the history of this city. It was a day with a i aging gale that played a varied accompaniment of rain, sleet, snow and hail. Oshkosh. — Wednesday the, thermometer registered 90 degrees in^this city. Thursday, morningjtjflrfng" t he STgKt'to whiten the groun 1. It was the severest cold wave tho city has experienced in years and caused great discomfort. Sheboygan.—Decorations of the recent Catholic meeting were blown down to-day, and the arches across the ; streets nearly fell. On tho lake a tre- : mendous sea was running. In the city many more accidents were reported. Kewaunee. —A heavy d wnpour of

rain ended in a stowstorm, which continued for several hours. Racine. Trees were blown down and fences and outbuildings suffered considerably. Kenosha. —Trees and signs were blown d( wn and cellars flooded. Clinton Junction. —Snow fell for six hours.

Hail and Ha’n in Illinois, Rockford. —The thermometer dropped from degrees at noon Thursday. From ttio hottest May day known in ; twenty years it fell nearly to the point iof frost. Flurries of snow fell. i Springfie d. —A veritable blizzard ; ' struck this city. The thermometer, ( i which registered 81 degrees, fell to 40 j degrees in sixteen hours. Bloomington. —A change of 50 de- , grees in the temperature took place j here in less than twenty-four hours. j Waukegan.—The thermometer fell to freezing point. Fruit trees just in blossom w’ere stripped. Fairbury. —The wind blew a gale. The thermometer fell nearly 50 degrees in twenty-fours hours.

• Washburn —The hail was • ally large and damaged the g* — — 3 crops considerably. I Tuscola.—Farmers are alarnL^ = * 1 the safety of their crops. £2f Marshall.—Considerable dama j 1 done to growing crops. l® a lor r Eftingnam.—Great fears are 4 , the crops and fruit. "’as Wind in Michigan. f-u . Hillsdale.—The hailstorm toi ' strip about two and a half milel Ik in a p wide, r Jk\ J4i L f pt I.ANDINO THE WRECKED I.tAMT and there i? scarcely a parn^^F left in the hou es in its courae(^B^__ damage was done to crops. Wrla^s Traverse City.—The sevoros Mt^ph in the memory of the oldest inuaK raged here. Icy sleet and raiuflßL rm suspension of outdoor labor ar IMtant damage was done. ; citified Grand Rapids.—A lively fljHfon liri h snow fell and tho thermometo|^K tered 36. At Cadillac five iijßrrv of snow fell and tho temperature ■W-is-Elk Rapids.- The schooner of State, loaded with pig iron, wBK 32. i tied alongside of the pier in iKffeeral ■ prevent her from pounding toJJKcut-' Bay City.—The heaviest norftrfer to of the season p’ evailed here arg pjeces. ! was tho highest it has been ,te|aster years. g^ra-er Manistique—John Anderson,lKq two 17 years of age, was drowned oy^B^ Gaylord.—A blizzard prevaiußwede, and snow covered the ground. ySsc >w. St. Ignace.—A hard here northwest winds prevailed. n| Carsonville. —The waves wor^Bwith twenty feet high. CycU ns In the Hoosier StstMrOlled Laporte.—Henry Spiegel's bl® * — was ■Mil

■ standing therein, was killed. A^yoss the boro a freight ear was blown aHyl Ohio ■ main track of the Baltimore aA_ktrain i Koijd in front of an in ■< mingm« and a bad wreck resulted. Country Bern. —Reports from the |rof this show great dest uction. SoutMnd five city a large brick schoolhouse ok large barns were leveled. In thiscityjh trees flouring mill wai unroofed aMlaged. ■ and smaller buildings were AM roof Muncie. —The storm blew Glass from the warehouse at the Foil large Works and badly demolishe^Aof the I tent that was occupied by so™«es for j hands at work building macwhose 1 the Whitely Reaper Compa™*y fire, factor}- was*recently destroyc^^nnage Elkhart.—A great deal of barns was do n e. Uncompleted houswßlt was and trees were blown dowa»L this the severest storm that has vi^Mf section in years. fc Mains । Marion.—A windstorm c trucl^tent , circus here, bro iking one of TfcJ ' ; poles and ripping the cam ai. Kg Ohio Feels the Storm. Norwalk. —Several cows wex^f'treo. whVr under a cherrgfcmwh 1 xTi the north pa. * t *f*4 , v the damage was dore to fruit trees I , , hail. At Chicago Juneti n thf^ nooi I building, containing 40 i schoia^ was ’ struck by lightning. Ono j several scholars were hurt by faliin„ ^Montpelier. —Tho cyclone near hero .

CI.INGIXG TO A KAFT. ; did more damage than was at first re- ! ported. Little Martha Daso, who was i injured, is dead. Mr. and Mrs. Charles j Moote, who were hurt, have little ■ chanceof recovery. Another who may ]be numbered among the victims is 5 Mrs. George Mercer, and possibly her 3 months old babe. At Pleasant Lake the cyclone swooped down and caught up two pleasure boats, together with immense quantities of water, and j dropped the spine in the town, on© boat i landing on the roof of a hotel.

i I 41 Ii 111 I I'flW "tw-k r Major Anderson took possession of Fort burnt er, the whole command assembled »nd knelt around the flagstaff, while the chaplain offered a prayer, previous to the raising of the flag. 1 The gray light of dawn o’er the rampart was stealing. Where Sumter Its sharp, rocky walls lifted high, And spread its soft haze o’er the noble there kneeling And vowing their flag to defend or todie. The low voice of prayer morning stillness was breaking. As solemnly bowing a blessing they crave!. i™ Wywd®. J- 3^ nan ’ Then rose a grand shout, all the echoes f awaking, i j As, proudly unfolding, their flag o’er s them waved. I Hurrah for the banner thus boldly left I flowing. And flinging Its bright giars and stripes to the sky; Harrah for the heroes, no flinching e'er showing, Who'll guard it, unstained, or in death coldly He, Dear flag of our country, shall foemen , assail you. 1 And every bright drop In our hearts fall ‘ to burn? i 1 Shall rebels beneath you e'er beat their < reveille, । And we not In triumph their Insolence , spurn? By the graves of our fathers, who died In 1 defending < Thy fame, t> their deepest affections so , dear. | ■id Rp l 1 T

Ks & ^5 51® And whose voice from their grass-covered biHocks ascen ling In eloquent pleadings for tbee we now hear; By the future which stretches In vista before US| By the echoes which sound from a glorious past, I In purity still shall thy folds yet wave I o'er us. Or, drenched In our life-blood, enshroud I us at last. FORTUNE IN FLOWERS! “Widow, I must have my rent or my rooms before night. ” “Nir. Ran-om, as I cannot give the one you are certainly entitled to the other. I shall leave hero before morning.” Mrs. Whitney spoke with quiet dignity and d.-ti-rminatb >n to the hardhearted landlord, to whom the brotherly charity of that calm Memorial Day did not seem to appeal, but the proud eyes were filled with tears as he left the room. . j “Do not cry, mamma'.” pleaded little ^thel. “You said this would be a day if bright flowers and sweet songs, and It can t ba if you are sad.” “My precious child!’’ murmured the fond mo her; “how little you know what sorrows the flowers and songs commemorate. We mu-t leave here to-day; I must seek work in some large city. But I will keep my promise. You shall see the brightness and the sadness of De oration Day.” “And I can take my flower and leave it on poor, dear grandpa’s grave?” “Yes, Ethel. It is a poor tribute to a brave old soldier, but it is all we can give.” Mrs. Whitney was th ? daughter of a war veteran, a id was burn in the village whence poverty was now driving her. Six years previous she had married an estimable gentleman, and had gone I West, leaving her father, who was a widower, in comfortable circumstances, at the home of some friends. A few months before the opening of this story she received a message that her father was dying and reached her birthplace to find ti.at she was an orphan. Immediately after the burial, tho supposed friends with whom he had made his home left for parts unknown. Their motive was surmised when a search for his money and securities was made. Not a dollar was found.

Mrs. Whitney etirt d to rejoin her husband with only one memento of her dead father—a flower-pot containing a sturdy violet plant, that litt e Ethel had herself brought him from her lowa home the only time she ever saw him alive. He had value 1 it highly, it hal seen his poor old eyes close in dearh. and Mrs. Whitney cherished it as at >ken of grief and affection. A month later her husband died. She was compelled to work at sewin? to support herself, drifted la k to her native village, and now, a.ter some weeks of forced idleness, was about to be evicted from the only home she knew. She had promised Ethel that they would visit her father's grave that day. Two hours later they set out in the wake of those thronging to the villa go churchyard. Ethel boro tho violets in he- arms. It was, indeed, a modest t ibute to va’or. but it had been watered by the widow's tears, and the innocent child was proud of her trust. A sudden strain of martial mu ic frightened a horse, and the crowd Burg, d back. As mother and child were jostled aside there was a crash, and a quick scream of alarm from Etho'. “Oh, mamma'.” she wailed, “look! Tho people pushed me and I dropped the flower pot. It is broken and spoiled. Po >r grandpa' We < ann >t decorate his grave now.” “Hush, hush,” murmured Mrs. Whitney soothingly, stooping to remove the plant from the broken pottery and disturbed d rt. “The flowers are uninjured. “ And Hun, with a decided thrill, she groped out and took up an object lying in the disordered heap. It was a small leather purs ', and although it was mol y. and its trimmings corroded, the widow recognized it as one her father had oace carried. Her eyes dilated as it opened. There was a little heap of gold coin, very little to a millionaire, but to her a seeming fortune, and, wadded be ide it, were seyeral bankn tes of large denomination. She readily rea ize 1 now how her dying father had saved and hidden a part of his m ney, from the metcenary hands that sought to wrest it from her rightful keeping. The violets were planted on the dead soldier'B grave that day. They were something more than a tribute to the memory of a bravo man—they were a grateful offering to the beneficent lielug being who never forgets “to care for the widow and the orphan." OFFICIAL STATISTICS. The Quotas of Union Troops Famished by Each State. The official returns show that 2,653,000 so'diers enlisted during the war in respon-e to successive calls of President Lincoln. Os this number 186,000 were colored. The Northern and S >utheru armies met in over 2,00-J skirmishes and battles. In 118 of these the Federal side lost over 500 men, and in at least ten battles o\er 10,0 0 men were reported lost on each side. Some of the chief battles reported the aggregate losses on both sides of killed, wounded, and missing as follows: Shiloh. 24,0 0; Antietam, D/O >; Stone Hbor, 22jF>0; Chickamauga. 33,0(0: ... 50Grants i uuw-uia Wmwign. 140* . —

■c , hn>l lhnl JM) men enlisted 4i •> s killed in battle: 4'VJo.-, “lie I of woundo; 13C>,216 died of disease; 24,1-4 died of unknown causes; total, 843. To this number can b> added I 26,000 who died while in the hands I of the enemy as prisoners of war, and ! many others whoso deaths are uurei corded. A fair perentago of 205,794 j are officially recorded as deserters or I missing in action; mon frequently dis- ! appeared in war who wore recorded under the desertion head and could not be otherwise officially accounted for, ■ and thousands who died while at home I < n furloughs am; are buriel in private I cemeteries. The quotas of troops furnished by each State are listed as follows: Maine 71.71.' Plst.ot Columbia 15>71 New Hampshire 7i,(. Ohio 317,133 Vermont 35.1 f Indiana UM,147 Massachusetts.. .1'1.7m Illinois 258,217 Rhode Island.... 24.741!Michigan 9 ,119 I Connecticut 52 27f i Wisconsin 96,118 i New York 435,568 Minnesota 2 .024 ! Now Jersey 79,511 lowa 75,860 ' Pennsylvania.... 366.326 Missouri 108.778 Delaware 1:1.36' Kentucky 78,540 Maryland 46.73e Kansas 20,097 West Virginia .. 30,0031 THE STORY THEY TELL. : How the Banners and Roses Recall the Virtue of the Dead.

TIE flags and the flowers blend like currents of the same waters on Memorial • Day. Flowers are the bannerettes of the throbbing underworld, an I seem to say, “Here in the bosom of the earth are beauty and grace trength.” And when

lil? ! and purity and -i

the red, white and blue emblems are thrown into the floral fields of Nature a harmony so perfect i^ created that profusion i lther in l>;intinjr or in I cannot leal to a loss of balance in tiro ensemble. To the soldier’s mind, this . mingling of colors as loving Bands i plant flowers beside the little Grand Army markers at the graves of fallen comrades brings up tne idea of reenforcements, as tnough tho story of heroism, and of devotion, and of victory recalled by Old Glory was being repeated again ar.«l again by each cluster of bright petals that snare with it the gentle air of heaven. Naturally whenever a soldier’s eye lights upon the sta ry banner his thoughts go back to w..r days. He sees iu it a facsimile of the one borne in front of his regiment in every 'charge. Yet it was mt a batttie flag ! In the strict sense of the word when he I follow* d it to the guns or unfurled it ‘ upon the line of battle. Men looked up to it as the representative of what the nation was fighting f r rather than a signal for combat, a challenge to hostility. Now that the strife is a thing of the fa • past the battleflags are relics and the stars and stripes a live symbol of live ideas. All this is shown i in the memorial observances, when the flag and it- defenders are honored through the sam> act and in the same (breath that glorifies tho reign of : peace. Flowers com • in with settled ] peace, and love and tenderness are the ! meaning they convey. I The sentiments of Decoration Day i are and should be intensely patriotic , and not martial, conservatively peaceful and not aggressive. The uead are j to be remembered aud honored because

they fought for a principle and not because by any word or act they betrayed a love of glory. It is the emblem of undying affection, a sprig of evergreen, that is first placed upon the warrior's grave as a token from the living when the Grand Army opens the ceremony. Then follows the white rose to symbolize the purity and unselfish devotion of the patriot dead. Lastly the laurel of victory, token of a triumph that is the reward of purity and a proof of devotion. Victory crowned the soldier s tria's and made the memory of them worth pre-eiv-ing. la®® ■ f A* fIE -Si Air?"F >CpT■ DX;s CCUNTdy Soldiers! o’er your con rades’ clay Scatter fragrant flowers to-day; Go wi h garlands fresh and rare To their graves and leave them there* For you know what they endured. How to pain they were inured; How they passed thro’ fires of hell For the flag they loved so welt For you saw them leave the roof Where love gave its ample proof. Where upon the heart’s pure shrink Ever burned the flame divina And the tear came to the eye As they 3 >flly said, “Good-by;" Saw the mother hide her face In her noble son’s embrace. Saw them marching, marching cn From the rising of the sun Till the weary day was o’er. Hungry, thirst, faint and sore. Saw them standing thro’ the night, Watching till the morning bright; If, perchance, the hissing lead Did not strike the vidette dead. Saw them in the bloody fight Battltn,? in behalf of right: Saw them drenched with their own bloo4 As they braved the angry flood. Saw them tn the hospital. Saw the burning teurdrop fall. Heard the dying wish expressed From the feeble, fluttering breast, Saw them come from prison pens, P<> sonoas as the serpents’ fens. White as ghosts from Pluto's shore. With the tortures that they bore. Time may crumble monuments, Lose the record of events. Hut your hearts will beat as one W’hlle the stars their courses run. Let the selfish heart forget, Heeding not the mighty debt That our glorious country owes Io thete conquerors of our foe*. Let the world go flaunting by With its coldr dJMdxinfu I eye, .

You < hta rti pinna or in^r tV’ To tbelr K ravo. you wTll ronaln 1 »ylng loving tribute there. Go, and God be with you. too, Veteram who wore the blue; Go while he shall give you breath, True an.l faithful unto death. Then, when all have fallen asleep. Winds will sigh and clouds will weept Angels cone with fadeless bloom. Spreading glory round each tomb. For they saw the work you did. In their hearts your names they hid. Took their pens and wrote above, -•These we shall forever love.” —G. W. Crofts. ELOQUENT UNCLE RUFUS. Ho Delivers a Memorial Day Address iM Front of Bre'r Johnslngt’s Grocery. : ) My fren’. dere am grabes an’ grabea frettin’ de lawnscape of dis yairth, but dere am two kins’ ob grabes dat de grass am a little greener on ter day dan’ de olders. I ’fers to de las’ restin’ plas ob de unnion sMjah an’ his mudder. De fus an’ grate sacrifuss maid on de a’tah of ouah kentry wuz de mudder gibben up her boy to de kasa. De boy humsilluf was nothin’ at de time, 'parol to deb: cakin' part of de in udd«»i- H jstrin<ra won, shn Hi<i li um ‘T<»; <1 l»\ o wn’ lie wont for-li to do wah. Dat partin' were do vteat4. o^dat madder’s happiness. It done broke her hyart; wen de news came dat he was killed at de front, of de line of battil. she done cried and said: “De Lord he done do all tings well, bles-el war hum naim." den she wiped de tears away an’ just sat down an’ b’ar’d her cress. But flat mu .der’s hyart wuz broke afore de news cum, an' if she gabe her boy to be killed, she also hab her hyart to lie to'n to pieces. Defo'. I b’leev dat ninetenfs ob de booful ilowahs laid deown upon de sojahs' grabes to-aqy should be plaised on de grabes ob deir mudders. In de beginnin’ ob de wah, an’ all froo, doy were de sugah-coated heroesseq an' to dem bl ngs de wiot >ry. Der wuz many a cullud mudder in /.ion; dar wuz many a w ite mudder in de chu ch dat all but laid deoun deir lives foh de wah ob de bellion. * Dar wuz de ai’ gels ob de sannitary bo d dat smooved do sufferer's couch. Dey skraped lint, for de wounded soljah a bandage; dey put up de presarbes, de bottles ob deliciousness dat tasted sweet to de sudering sol.ahs confined in de hospitals; dey nussed do soljaha dot raged wid de camp febah; dey wuz fust in wah. an' de last to forsake da woonded. Dey went froo de tire like ole Eli ah, and werever dese muddera are sleepin' dar's ware de flowaha shood bo lain wid gen ie, ten er hans. Deirs wuz do sacrifuss; deirs wuz da crosses ob de wah; let deirs be da crown of roses to-day.