The valley record. ([Sayre, Pa.]) 1905-1907, February 13, 1907, Image 1

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    -- DO YOU
‘worn out and physic-
in need of a good
something that will
you up day by day?
SHIP THAT HIT HER ALSO SANK
——
En Route to New York, a Hundred
and Fifty Perish.
————————
BODIES INCASED IN ICE DRIFT WN
Jey Line Boat, With Over Two Hun
dred Passcugers, Left Providenes,
RL, at 7 o'Clock Monday Evening
And at 11, OF Watch Hill, Came In
Collision With the Schooner Harry
Knewiten, Which Afterward Head-
ed For Quonechontang and Sank
Near That Port—-The Steamer Went
Dewan Within Half an Hoar, Carry-
ing Along With Her the Largest
Part of Her Human Carge.
BLOCK ISLAND, R. I. Feb. 183—
A marine disaster with an Fppailing
loss of life and entailing suffering al-
mest beyond the limit of human en-
durance, came to light when a lifeboat
of the Joy line steamer Larchmont
bound from Providence to New York,
drifted into Block Island harbor.
In the boat were several bodies of
men who had died from the effects of
long hours of axposure to a death deal-
ing temperature. In the boat also
were eleven men whose suffering was
s0 intense that they seemed oblivious
to the fact that death was in their
midst and that they had escaped only
by virtue of thelr ability to withstand
the rigor of zero weather in an open
boat at sea.
The boat brought a tale of disaster
that bas rarely been equaled In New
England waters, and it is belleved that
when the final count is made it will be
found that not less than 150 lives were
lost. Following closely In the wake of
the solitary lifeboat came bodies cast
upon the beach by angry waves. Then
came [ifeboats and mafts. Each of
them bore thelr burden of grim death
as well as a load of suffering human-
ity, and each brought a tale of horror,
of suffering and of despair.
Owing to the condition of the sur
vivors of the tragedy it was impossible
to get from them an estimate of the
loss of life. Anywhere from seventy-
five to 150 persons went to their death,
and ut a late hour last night it was
believed that the latter figures are
pearer correct than the former.
The steamabip officials estimate that
about 150 passengers and = crew of
Afty were ou board the steamer when
she left "Providence. Forty-three bod-
ies reached these shores, and nineteen
were alive when taken from the Nfe-
boats. Taking the estimated Hgures
of the steamship officials as a basis,
there are still 188 persons to be ac
counted fer. The only positive evi-
dence of the steamer’s victims is Iying
at the bottom of Block Island sound.
The list of passengers and crew hand-
#d to the purser just before the steam-
or left Providence was locked in a
safe, and It was not recovered.
The cause of the accident bas pot
been satisfactorily explained. It oc
curred just off Watch bill about 11
o'clock Monday plight, when the three
masted schooner Harry Knowlton,
bousd from South Amboy for Boston
with a cargo of coal, crashed into the
steamet’s port side amidships. Cap-
tain Geerge McVey of the Larchmont
declares that the Knowlton suddenly
swerved from ber course, luffed up lo-
to the wind and crashed iuto his ves
sel. .
Captain Haley of the Kuowiton as
serts that the steamer did pot give his
vessel sufficient sea room and that he
could not take his schooner out of the
path of the on coming steamer,
* The steamer, with a huge hole torn
in her side, was so seriously dumaged
that no attempt was made to run for
shore, and she sank to the bottom In
less than half an hour. The Knowltou,
after she bad backed away from the
wreck, begap to fill rapidly, but her
afloat until she reached a point off
Quonechontaug, where they put out in
the lifeboat and rowed ashore, There
were no fatalities on the schoouer, but
the men suffered from the extreme
cold. “
The Larchmont, a side wheeler
which was only put Into the service of
the Joy line during the present sea-
son, left ber dock in Providence with a
beavy cargo of freight and a passenger
Hist estimated af from 150 to 200. A
strong northwest wind was blowing as
the steamer plowed her way down
through the eastern passage of Narra.
gansett bay, but the full effect of the
gale which was blowing in the sound
was not felt until the Larchisont
rounded Polat Judith, Then the skle
wheeler pointed her nose Into the very
heart of the gale and eontinned down
through Block island sound without
any unusonl ipCldent until she was
well abeam of Watch hill and within
five or six miles of Fisher's tsland.
Captain George McVey, who had re
mained in the pliot house until the ves
Y 13, 1907
master pointed oul a three masted
schooner sailing eastward before a
strong wind
The schooner, which proved to be
the Harry Kuowliton, coal laden. from
South Amboy for Boston, bad been
bowling along ou her course when she
seemed lo suddenly lof up snd bead
straight for the steamer Again sev
era! blasts were sounded on the steam
er's whistle, the pilot and quartermas-
ter at the same time whirling thelr
wheel bardaport in a mad endeavor to
avert a collision
But as the Larchmont was slowly
veering around iu response to her helm
the schooner came on with a speed
that almost seemed to equal the gale
that had been pushing her toward Bos
ton. Even before another warning
signal could be sounded on the steam.
er's whistle the schooner crashed Into
the port side of the Larchmont, and
the impact of the big vessel was 0
terrific that the big clumsy bow of the
sailing craft ate its way more than
Balf the breadth of the Larchmont
When the force of the impact had
been spent the schooner temporarily
remained fast in the vitals of the
steamer, holding In check for a mo
ment the Inrushing water. But the
pounding sea soon separated the inter
locked vessels, aud ns they backed
away the water rushed Into the gap
ing hole in the steamer's side with a
velocity that could only mean the doom
of the passenger vessel
There were no water tight compart.
ments to be clo=-1 and therefore the
inrushing flood could not be conflued
to damaged section, and it poured
in "Over the cargo and down into the
hold. As the water struck the boiler
room great clouds of steam arose and |
the panic stricken passengers, many of |
whom had been thrown from thelr
bunks when the «collision occurred, |
were at first under the impression a
fire had broken out on board,
Unfortunately the point of collision |
was in that part of the steamer where
was located the signaling appamtus
connecting the engine room with the
pliot house. Captain McVey, standing
in the pliot house, conld not communi-
cate with his subordinate officers be-
low decks and therefore was unable
to determine the extent of the dam-
age. The quartermaster was hurried
below to make an investigation,
The passengers meanwhile thronged
on to the decks. Few of them had
waited to clothe themselves. Their
fear was so great that the first pene
trating blast of the zero temperature
was disregarded, bat the suffering
from the elements soon became so ln-
tense that personal safety was forgot.
ten in a general effort to keep the blood
in circulation. Those wbo had pot
stopped to clothe themselves pow
found it Impossible to retum below
and do so. Their rooms were flooded
soon after they had beeu deserted, and
the wounded steamer, foundering
around in the high seas that are feared
by all sound uavigators, was sinking
with a rapldity that sent terror to the
hearts of the officers and crew. These
wen were prompt in answering Cap-
tain McVey's call to quarters.
While some of the seamen held back
the frantic, [freezing passengers by
brute strength, others were preparing
to lower the lifeboats and rafts. There
was no time to think of the comfort
of any one. Even before the boats
were cut away Captalu McVey knew
that the list of victims would be
greater than those who survived,
It was a physical Impossibility for
any but the most hardened to with.
stand the cold, which turned ears nnd
noses white with the froat and which
so benumbed feet that both the pas
sengers and weémbeérs of the crew
stumbled rather than walked to the
small craft In which they were to
leave the sinking ship
Shrieks of agonized paln drowned
the roar of the lorushiug water. Pan-
denionium reigned supreme, but io
spite of it the wonién on board, suf-
fering more lutensely than the men,
were placed In lifeboats the wale pas-
sengers and members of the crew se
lecting the unprotected rafts as thelr
vehicle of escape
Captain McVey remained on the up
per deck directing his otficers and crew
until every one on board appeared to
have been cared for, He ordered all
lifeboats and rafts cut away, aud be
fore he stepped Into his own boat he
stood on the upper deck a moment to
see that his order was executed. Then
he ordered that his boat, the largest
on board, be cleared away. Before
the men had an opportunity to loosen
the tackles the bottom of the boat
rested on top of the surging sea which
was rging over the burricane deck,
and for a moment it seewed as though
the lifeboat would be dragged down
before she could be freed from the
doomed steamer.
Every hand in the boat was too cold
to handle a knife and cut the ropes,
which, however, slipped through the
tackles and set the lifeboat adrift just
as the vessel became submerged. The
pitiable condition of the passengers
aud crew was increased a hundredfold
the moment they Lad launched thelr
boats, Every wave sent its dash of
spray over boats and thelr contents
Seon a thin coating of ice cuveloped
every one. Those who were Cully cloth
od suffered from frozen faces and
numbed feet, but there were many who
had on only their nightclothes,
Owe man Iu the captain's boat, ul
though dressed warmer than many oth
ers, was suddenly driven Insnne by his
Iotense suffering. He pulls] a big
claspkulfe from his pocket and gash)
his throat. No one stayed hiv hand
amd again he plunged his knife foto
Bis throat, Those who sat near him
tither were foo tized] to interfere or
looked upon the act of self murder ns
Justified. The unkuewn mans body
2
westward of the poiut where the
steamer went down. and every boat
Unmediately beaded for that place
But the boats were heavy, and the
wen at he oars were weak A fifty
mile gale blew on their Lacks as the
men strained al the ice covered cars
i a hopeless endeavor to overcome the
handicap against which they were
struggling The boats and rafts soon
became separated, and the only de
tails of the terrible disaster which
could be learned hive were given when
Captain McVey's boat came ashore
Not a map on board was able to walk
Thelr fee? were frozen so badly that
the life savers carried the survivors
bodily to the life saying station
Captain McVey was so overcome by
the enormity of the disaster that for a
time be was unable to give a lucid ae
count of what had happened after the
ship Had gone down. Shortly after his
arrival here the captain sald that he
had on board his ship between 150 and
200 passengers and a crew of fifty,
Later he sald there were between
fifty and seventy-five passengers on
board the steamer when the vessel
went down The latter figure, how
ever, Is far below the estiinate made
by the officials of the Joy line at Prov-
idence, who estimated the number of
passengers at pot less than 150. The
exact number of passcaugers was given
in a lst which wag handed the purser
Just before the Larchmont started] on
her fateful journey, but it is believed
that it was lost when the ship went
down,
Captain McVey sald that had his
crew been able to make progress
against the northwest gale they would
have landed at Fisher's island between
12 and 1 o'clock. The wind, he zald,
was too strong to be avercome, and
there was nothlug left for the suffer.
ing seamen to do but turn around aml
head for Block island, fifteen miles
It was shortly after 11 o'clock
when the captain of the boat cut away
from the sinking steamer, and it was
not until 6:30 o'clock in the moming
that it arrived at Block island. [It
seemed, the captain sald, as though the
seven hours’ struggle against the ele
ments occupied nn eternity, and not a
soul in the boat expected to survive
the excruciating suffering to which all
were subjected,
EX-GOVERNOR DEAD.
Frank Wayland Higgins
Away at Olean Home,
OLEAN, N. Y_ Feb, 13. Frank Way-
land Higgins, former governor of New
York, died at his home here last night
at 5:40
The end was remarkably peaceful
and free from pain. Following a pe
riod of unconscioustiess which Igsted
twenty-four hours, the vital spark fled
with so little outward manifestation
that those at his bedside scarcely real-
ized that the end had come
Dr. Hibbard, the family physician,
was present at the end with Mrs. Hig-
gins, Josephine Higgins, a daughter,
and Harry, a son; Mr. and Mrs. Frank
Sullivan Smith of Angelica, Mrs. J. B.
Cameron and Miss Charlotte Cameron.
Mr. Smith and Mrs. Cameron are Mrs.
Higgins’ brother and sister
O. T. Higgins, the eldest son, is in
Redlands, Cal. He, too, Is seriously il
Mr. Higgins for years had been afMict
ed with heart trouble. After he en-
Passes
EX-GOVERNOR HIGGINS
tered upon his work as governor of the
state he was warned by Dr. E G
Inuewny of New York of a serious ore
gunic dificalty in the heart, but no ef-
fort was relaxed and no duty left un-
perforined which Mr. Higgine believed
essential to the falthful discharge of
the trust reposed in him by the people
When the only official duty which
remained for him to performs was to
Assist In the Inanguration of his sue-
cessor as governor he Armly resisted
the fuportunitics of his famlly, his
friends and his physician to spare him-
self and went to Albany to take part
in the ceremonies. This last devoted
act of what he deemed his bounden
duty undoubtedly shortened his days
by precipitating symptoms which oth-
erwise might have been forestalled.
The enfeebled action of the heart at
the last was complicated hy a disease
of the kidneys fron which the govern
or had been suffering for sowe time,
This added trouble the governor seem-
8d to try to conceal even from himself,
*0 determined was he that pothlug
must prevent the performance of what
he considered his whole duty as. gov-
ernor of the state. He wonld have
done no differently, those close to him
leclare, If thereby his life could have
been saved
In his last hours Mr, Higgins’ mind
dwelt upon philanthropic nets and ef-
forts to do goad to all. Through all
the trying days of his last Hiness no
word of hpatienoe passed from his
fips, and Iu the shadow of death he
was grave and calm, his Idea of duty
appracing tn all be “sald, tempered
Wh a gentleness Lorn of charity apd
iano of Beart. oo
Noted Roof Garden Murder
Trial at New York.
EVANS A STAR WITNESS FOR THAW
Delmas and Jerome In Wordy Ware
fare Throughout! Mest of Session
Dispute Over Former “Flaro-
dora” Girl's Opernilon.
NEW YORK. Feb. 13. The defense In
the Thaw case continued with the in-}
troduction of expert testimony as to!
the condition of the defendant's mind
during the several months following |
the tragedy of the Madison Square
roof garden
Mr. Jerome hotly accused the de- |
fendant's counsel of trying to instill
into the minds of the jury the fact that |
MES THAW AS WITNESS i
the operation performed upon Evelyn!
Nesbit in 1963, before Thaw took her!
to Europe, was “of a criminal nature |
when, as a matter of fact. It was for |
appendicitis” Mr, Delmas called the!
attention of Justice Fitzgerald to the |
fact that the district atforney was stat. |
ing facts wot In evidence and that “a
very serious exception must be takeo |
to his remarks.” i
“We do this” explained Delpbio HL |
Delmasz, Thaw's leading comnsel, “in|
order that the jury by means of the
wreckage on the beach may infer that
there bas been a storms upon the
waters” i
Counsel for Stanfor! White's slaver |
are evidently much perturlsd over the |
latest ally of District Attoruey Jerome
in the prosecutipn of Thaw. He is Abe
Hummel, the lawyer who, Evelyn Nes
bit Thaw testified, sided Stanford
White in obtaining from her an afli-
davit charging Thaw with inhuman
cruelty toward Ler In Paris. Hummel
has furnished to the state a photo
graphic copy of the document, and this
will be one of the strongest clubs with
which Jerome will try to smash the
story of lojured lupocence that the
young wife told ou the stand. The
original of the statement, Evelyn Nes
bit Thaw declared, was sigued by Ler
aguninst her wishes and Lurned by
Hummel In her presence
Dr Evaus was ou the stand
an adjournment was taken
Mr. Delmas, leading counsel for
Thaw, says that the defense expects
to danish its iu less than two!
more days. He said that be had only i
& few more questions to ask of Mrs. |
Thaw
The cross examination of the latter |
bas pot yet begun
The first witness called by Mr, Del
mas was Dr. Britton D Evans, super
intendent of the State Insane hospital
at Morris Plains, N. J. Dr. Evans is
a short, thickset, smooth faced man
with a forid complexion, He spoke
clearly and slowly, enunciating dis
tinetly every syllable. He sald he was
born in 1858 and graduated from the
Baltimore College of Physiclans and
Surgeons fu ISS aud afterward did
postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins
He was for four years assistant super
of the Maryland Hospital
For the Insaue and wax afterward su
perivtendent of the State Hospital For
the Feeble Minded. In 1802 he became
superintendent of the hospital at Mor
ris Plalus, N. J, where, he sald, there |
Is a dally average of 1.80 patients i
“That does not represent the total
patients,” be declared, “for during the
vear sothe are discharged dle,
amd some go away by of es
ape
“Do you know Harry Thaw? asked |
Mr. Delmas, |
i
1
|
|
|
when
Cisse
solne
means
“Yes, sir”
“When did you first see Lim?’
“On Aug. 4, 1006."
“Where?
“In the Tomhs
“How many
him?
“Eight times."
Dr, Evans sald he was nloue on the |
visits of Aug 4 and Oct. 1. At other |
timex he was accompanied by Dr |
Charles G. Wagner, who already tes.
tified
“What during those visits did you |
observe In the mental condition of Mr
Thaw?
“On the Arst visit, on Aug 4, he ex
hibited a pecullar facial expression
glaring of the eye, restlessness of the
eye, suspicion of his surroundings and
of nervous agitation and restlessucss
such as comes from a severe brain
storm common in those who have re
cently gone through an explosive or
fulminating condition of mental un
soundness. [He exhibited delusions of
n personal characlet, an exaggerated
ego and along with them delusions of
au persecutory chamcter. Ile thought
times did yon visit
himself of exaggerated lwportauce and
k *
idea sa GRE aie oo ————
believed bimseit persecuted by a num.
ber of persons”
By an “exaggerated ¢go” Dr Evans
of importance of self, a belief that coe
is clothed with powers capacity and
far above normal or above
These symp
toms, be sald, were characteristic of
séveral mental diseases
One of the mental diseases indicat
ed by Thaw's actions, Dr Evans de-
Is known as adolescent insanl
ty. It is characteristic of the develop
ment period of Hife— from ten to forty
years. The person thus afflicted is
known as having a psychopathic taint,
showing a predispositian to mental un-
soundness which comes to one dnin-
vited, the result of heredity
“Another form of insanity Indicat
ed,” sald the witness . “Is known as
paranoid, or fixed Insanity on some
subject. The third is uanlacal, where
the patient jumps from one idea to
another. These forms and others are
characterized by the exaggerated ego
They are well deflued forme about
which there can be no difference of
opinion.”
“Is there any specific name. doctor”
self omnipresent—the ruler of the
world?”
“That is included In the forms of in
sanity to which 1 have referred. Both
insanity and parapold In
ego. In adolescent insanity the patient
no marked symptoms, but
when the stress comes”
Dr. Evans took on a
tone of volce.
—“the man does not break down as
the ordinary or normal man would
Is 8 complete loss of mental
balance, an explosive condition of the
brain, the reason becomes dethroned
the will power Is lost. and the brain
does In the
The balance
deciamatory
wheel is gone.
“The acts of such a man are not the
to be guided by discase apd stress
His mind has left its moorings and
vieldad to diseased conditions
“On my first visit I also noticed that
Mr, Thaw suffered from what we call
lochorrhea (7), a rapid flow of wonls
not characteristic of the normal mind.
He showed a condition of abnormal
excitement—-a diseased condition of
“In the diseased condition you name
how do the conditions differ from the
conditions in a npormal man who
“An ordinary normal man speaks
ters of grave importance. He (alks
slowly, aud his Ideas come logically
and connectedly, In a man of unsound
mind the Ideas come rapidly tumbling
over each other, jumping from one sub-
Jeet to another, that at once leads a
trained observer to suspect unsound.
pess of mind. To me It means that the
mind has either recently come through
or is Just going into a severe mental
storm. In other words, it is either the
twilight or dawn of a state of mental
unsoundness or explosion
“By delusions 1 mean false ideas out
of which a man cannot be argued by
logical and ordinary arguments, Mr
Thaw exhibited what 1 believe were
false ideas which wy arguments
conldn’t shake” :
“The statements made by a man in
prison lu his own defense” sald Mr
Jerome, “are not admissible under any
circumstances. But If they clalm that
man was insane at the time of the ox
cominitted, then 1 am perfectly willing
Juatice Fitzgerald sustained Mr. Je
ceeded to question Dr. Evans
“1 will now ask you, doctor,” contin:
ued Mr. Delmas, “If as a result of your
eight examinations you formed an
opinion as to this man's mental state
at the time of your visits?’
“His mental condition varied on va
rious visits” — Dr. Evans began
“Auswer yes or no as to whether you
formed an oplulon,” requested Mr.
Delmas
“Yes.”
Falrbanks and Shaw at Baltimore.
BALTIMORE, Feb 13 Lincoln's
birthday was celebrated here by two
banquets Isst night, one under the
Jolut auspices of the Unlon league
club and the Young Men's Republican
club and the other under that of the
Lincoln club At
former Mayor E. Clay Timanus
the guests, Vice President
responding to the toast
and Secretary of
Leslie M. Shaw to that
of “The Republican Party” Vice Pres
Ident Falrbanks devoted himself to a
eulogy of hincoln
the
Fairbanks
No Northweat Zion
SEATTLE, Wash, Feb, 13 Overseer
the northwest hax been
Rev. August Ernst, elder
of the local Zionite organization, says
the plans bave been changed because
Zion city In
coma amd Vancouver against the rule
“We belleve in the teach
Dowie, but we do not be
one man rule which he
Voliva is follow
lleve In the
instituted and which
ing.” sald Dr. Ernst
Kingston Loat $13,000,000 hy Disaster
PHILADELPHIA, Feb 13 — Aceord
Allen D. Roberts, the Kingston repre
sentative of the Philadelphia Commer
cial museum, who has arrived here on
the Atlantic Fruit company’s steam-
ship Amelia, the damage done by the
recent earthquake and fire In the city
of Klugston i= estimated at $1:3.000,000
Weather Probabilities.
Falr and warmer; north West winds.
Special
——— A ——
8,000 YD
A window full of Lac
worth from 6c to 10¢ the
yard, Edges and Insertions
to match. Comes in all
widths. ts
Over 8,000 yards
will be offered for
one day only,
day for 415c.
Globe Warehouse
Talmadge Block, Elmer Avenue.
Valley Phone.
Sour
Stomach
No appetite, loss of strength; nervous
headache, constipation, bad
Kodol relieves Indigestion. This pew discs
ery represants the natural julces of
tion as they exist in a 1
combined with the
and reconstructive properties.
dyspe does pol only relieve
and dyspepsia, but this famous
helps all stomach troubles by cleansing,
purifying, sweetening and
the mucous mem lining the
Mr. S
1s troubled wt ay -
Rodol cured me end we are now using R 4
ve
2
"E. M. Dunham,
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW.
Office:
Alex D. Stevens,
Insurance and Real Estate,
Loans Negotiated, Insurance
Houses Rented, Rents Collects
ed, Taxes Paid.
Room 7, Elmer
tum Hours Tto Sa m.1to
3, Tto8 p m.
OFFICE—SAMUELS BLOCK.
Valley Phone 27x.
Plles! Piles! Plies!
Dr. Williams’ Indian Pile Ont
will cure Blind, Bleeding, Ulcers
and Itching Piles. It absorbs |
tumors, allays the Itching &t omg
acts as a poultice, gives instant
Dr .Willlam's Indian Pile Ols
ia prepared for Piles and
the private parts. Every box
anteed. Sold by druggists, by
for 50c and $100. Williams M
Co. Cleveland, O. For sale by
I. Driggs, druggist. i!