USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume I > Part 13
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In Commemoration of Sholes' Invention .- On the occasion of the "Dia- mond Jubilee, " held in Milwaukee during the month of June, 1921, a letter written by Mr. Frederick Heath was sent to the committee in charge urging that some action be taken to honor the memory of C. Latham Sholes, the inventor of the typewriter. Mr. Heath is a member of the county board, and in the course of his letter he said: "It is more than fifty years since the typewriter was invented, and it was a product of Milwaukee genius. Mr. Sholes, the inventor, has never been fittingly recognized by Milwaukee, and it is coming to be a matter of remark on the part of visitors to the city. Even his grave laeks a monument and a collection is now being taken up nationally by court reporters and stenographers for such a purpose.
"A few years ago, the Milwaukee County Board, of which I am a member. purchased a piece of ground west and north of the Grand Avenue viaduct. and just beyond what was known as Castalia Park. It was known as the Winkler tract, and I had it named Sholes Park; with the design also of making it a so-called historie park, in which might be placed educational evidences of the lives of the early settlers, such as a log house, trading post. windmills, ete. The park has never been formally thrown open to the people. and I would suggest that it be fittingly dedicated."
CHAPTER XH
THE STORY OF THE "LADY ELGIN" DISASTER
The appalling disaster, known in the history of Lake Michigan as the "Wreck of the 'Lady Elgin'," occurred on September 8, 1860, on which occa- sion 297 lives were lost, most of them residents of Milwaukee. The particulars of this disaster are narrated in the following pages. In point of the number of lives lost this disaster was the greatest that had ever up to that time occurred on any of the Great Lakes. It remained the most important event of that kind for fifty-five years until the foundering of the steamer " East- land" in the Chicago River on July 24, 1915, with the loss of 812 lives.
The steamer "Lady Elgin, " a large side-wheel steamer, and the finest one on the lakes, left Chicago late in the evening of September 7, 1860, with nearly four hundred passengers on board bound for Milwaukee. While pro- eeeding on her course about three hours later, that is, about two o'clock in the morning of September 8th, the steamer came into collision with the schooner "Augusta" bound for Chicago. Immediately after the collision the captain of the schooner hailed the captain of the steamer inquiring if his ship had suffered any damage and whether help was needed, but receiving an answer that no assistance was required the schooner proceeded on her course. On her arrival in Chicago Harbor next morning the captain of the schooner learned from the papers that the steamer had gone down in half an hour after the collision and that a large number of lives were lost.
Position of the Ill-fated Steamer .- The blow received by the unfortunate steamer was far more serious than her captain realized at first. The bow of the schooner had struck her forward of the paddle box on the port side, the broken stump of her bowsprit entering the saloon where many of the pas- sengers, largely composed of young people, were occupied in dancing and merry-making at the time. A great hole was opened in her side reaching far below the water line and the water began pouring in flooding the engine room and lower decks. The steamer was proceeding north about five miles from shore and was then about opposite Highland Park, a village twenty- three miles from Chicago. As Milwaukee is eighty-five miles from Chicago the steamer had covered a little more than a quarter of the distance to that port which was the destination of the great majoriy of her passengers.
There was a gale blowing from the northeast accompanied by rain, and the waves were running high. The steamer was brought to a stop imme- diately after the collision and three boats were lowered manned by sailors provided with mattresses and sail-eloth for the purpose of stopping the hole
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THE SINKING OF THE "LADY ELGIN" ON LAKE MICHIGAN ON THE MORNING OF SEPTEMBER 8, 1860, HALF AN HOUR AFTER SHE HAD BEEN RUN INTO BY THE SCHOONER "AUGUSTA" OF WAUKEGAN, ILLINOIS From an illustration in the New York IHustraitd News
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in her side; but the oars were broken or lost in the attempt and the boats drifted away, eventually arriving on the neighboring shore with their occu- pants in safety though no passengers were with them. It was the report of these men that gave the first intelligence of the disaster on shore and which was telegraphed to Chicago from the Highland Park Railroad Station.
Foundering of the Steamer .- Large quantities of wreckage were loosened as the steamer went down, and the passengers seized upon any object that would serve to keep them afloat. In the cargo was a drove of cattle and the struggling animals were precipitated into the lake among the passengers. Many found a precarious hold on the backs of these animals as they swam about, although none of the cattle reached the shore alive. A large piece of the hurricane deck of the steamer became detached at the moment when the steamer went down, and on this raft-like object the heroic captain gathered more than fifty people and navigated the improvised raft toward the shore at Winnetka. The steamer had no other boats than those lowered by the sailors in the attempt to stop the leak and these did not return to the ship, and consequently proved of no assistance in the work of rescue. The raft ran on a sand bar at some distance from the shore and went to pieces and most of those who had so nearly reached a place of safety were lost in the raging surf, and with them the captain who was plainly seen from the shore holding a child in his arms whose life he was endeavoring to save while retaining his hold on the raft. His efforts, however, were in vain, as will appear in the later course of this narrative.
Newspaper Accounts .- The issue of the New York Hlustrated News for September 22, 1860 (preserved in the rooms of the "Old Settlers' Club" at Milwaukee), contains an account of the disaster accompanied by a number of illustrations, a portrait of Capt. JJohn Wilson, and a picture of the schooner "Angusta" after her arrival at Chicago showing her damaged' condition. There are other views, one of them a large double page picture of the steamer just before she sank, which of course is drawn from description.
The disaster is described as taking place twenty-five miles from Chicago and ten miles from shore. The schooner, says the account, struck the steamer "at the midship's gangway on the larboard side." She sank in half an hour "in nearly three hundred feet of water." Mr. Caryl, the clerk of the steamer, was one of the survivors, and his account is printed among others, which is substantially as follows: "Left Chicago Harbor at 11:30 P. M. of the 7th with Milwaukee excursionists, a party of about three hundred persons known as the 'Union Guard' and their invited friends." The plan of the excursion party was to spend the day in Chicago where they were to attend a political meeting which was to be addressed by Stephen A. Douglas, United States Senator from Illinois, and return to Milwaukee in the evening. The Union Guard was a volunteer military company composed of Irishmen and demo- erats, and, as in consequence of a controversy with the state government some months before, their arms had been called in by the adjutant general. it was intended that the profits from the exenrsion should be used to pur- chase a new outfit.
Efforts to Stop the Water .- In the direction opposite to that in which
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the steamer was moving the schooner "Augusta, " lumber laden, was bearing down upon her, though all lights were burning both on the steamer and schooner, with her sails set and approaching at a high rate of speed with the wind in her favor. As appears from subsequent reports both the officers of the steamer and the schooner had seen the lights of the other for some time before the collision. After the crash a dumb panie seized the throngs of passengers. The mate reported afterwards that he passed through the cabin after the collision and "the silent women sat there with their beautiful pale faces. motionless and resigned, soon to be engulfed in the raging waters of the lake."
At this point Lake Michigan is about sixty miles in width, and the land on the Michigan shore even in clear daylight is invisible. No life savings crew was then in service, the Government not having vet established the station at Gross Point which indeed did not begin its existence until June. 1871. There was therefore little or no hope of relief from the shore. The three boats of the steamer were quickly lowered manned by sailors provided with blankets and mattresses with which it was intended to stop the yawning gap in her side, as stated above. The engine and walking beam had broken away from their fastenings as the result of the collision and dropped through the bottom of the steamer, thus relieving her of an immense weight but at the same time cansing another great opening through which the water rushed hastening the inevitable moment of her sinking.
In an editorial article of one of the papers it was said : " A tragedy which almost puts a paralysis upon one's faeulties, and certainly strikes too deep for words to utter or tears to express its agonies." is that of the sinking of the ". Lady Elgin." "The excursionists were composed. " it says, "of a volun- teer military company of Milwaukee known as the 'Union Guard.' In the party were many youths and maidens, the flower and beauty of Milwaukee and Chicago, and of young and old from various parts of the states and foreign countries. Universal merriment and revelry prevailed among the passengers, a band furnishing the music for the dancing in the saloon which was brilliantly lighted." Outside the sky was dark and murky, the moon had risen at midnight and it was able to lighten the gloom only slightly through the heavy clouds, while a steady rain was falling.
The Account of the Captain of the Augusta. Captain Malott, of the schooner " Augusta, " states that when he first discovered the steamer's lights. both red and bright, he supposed her to be from a quarter to a hall' mile dis- tant. and steering northeast; it was raining very hard at the time. "We kept our vessel on the course east by south, until we saw a collision was probable, when we put the helm hard and struck the steamer two or three minutes afterwards on the port side: the steamer kept on her course, her engine in full motion. The 'Angusta' headed around north, alongside the steamer, but they got separated in about a minute, when the schooner fell into the trough of the sea: all the head gear. jibboom and stanchions were carried away. We took in sail and cleared away the anchor, supposing the vessel would fill. After we had cleared the wreck and got up the foresail.
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we succeeded in getting before the wind, and stood for land; we lost sight of the steamer five minutes after the collision. "
Mr. Beman, second mate of the steamer "Lady Elgin," stated that "at half past two a small squall struck us, and in five minutes more we saw the lights of the vessel one point off the port bow. I sung out 'hard-a-port,' but the vessel seemed to pay no attention, and struck us just forward of the paddle-box, larboard side, tearing off the wheel and entting through the guards into the cabin and hull. We were steering northwest by west, a point to windward; our course at the time was northwest. After striking us the vessel hung for a moment, and then got elear; I went below to see what damage was done, and when I got back the vessel was gone."
The Prince of Wales, afterward King Edward VII, was traveling in America at the time of the disaster, and the same storm which prevailed over so extensive a territory as to inelude both the Lake Michigan region and the surrounding shores of the great lakes, held him and his party storm-bound at Toronto, Canada, for a week. It will be remembered that the Prince visited Chicago in the latter part of the same month as that in which the disaster occurred.
There is a piece of sheet music to be obtained at any music store entitled, "Lost on the Lady Elgin, " by Henry C. Work, who it will be recalled was the composer of many popular songs. The refrain of the song is as follows:
"Lost on the 'Lady Elgin, Sleeping to wake no more! Numbered in that three hundred Who failed to reach the shore."
There were some notable passengers on board and among others was Mr. F. A. Lmsden of New Orleans. the proprietor of the "Picayune," one of the most prominent of the southern newspapers. Mr. Lumsden had estab- lished this paper some thirty years before the event described. His wife and son were with him and all of them perished.
On board, also, was another gentleman, Herbert Ingram, Est., M. P., well known both in England and America as the proprietor of the London Illus- trated News, who had his son with him, both of whom perished. Mr. Ingram's history is very interesting from the fact that he "rose from the ranks" and from a meebanie became one of the richest commoners in England, and a member of the English Parliament. About twenty years before he had started the London Illustrated News. It was at this time that the illustrated papers .first began to appear, and owing to the energy and judgment which Mr. Ingram bestowed upon the Ilustrated News, it succeeded, and got the start of the five or six competitors which made their appearance about the same time in London. Since the starting of the pictorial paper Mr. Ingram's career had been one of unbroken prosperity, and everything he had put his hand to of any importance had succeeded with him. Ile was a large landed proprietor, and his paper realized a princely income.
The body of Mr. Ingram was recovered and sent to England where it is now lying in the churchyard of the Church of St. Botolphe, Boston, England.
THE SCHOONER "AUGUSTA" AFTER THE COLLISION WITH THE "LADY ELGIN," AS SEEN AT THE LAKE STREET BRIDGE, CHICAGO, AN HOUR AFTER HER ARRIVAL
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The body of his son, a lad of twelve years of age, was never found. A monu- ment to Mr. Ingram's memory was built for him surmounted by a statue of himself. In Harper's Magazine for September, 1908, there is an article by William Dean Ilowells giving an account of a visit made by him to old Boston, the "Mother of the American Athens," and in the course of his description he notes the monument to llerbert Ingram standing near the church and overlooking the market place of the city, of whom he writes, that he founded the "Illustrated London News" with the money he made by the invention and sale of "Old Parr's Pills." Regarding the monument the guide book records, "that whilst on a visit to America in 1860 Ingram was drowned, together with his eldest son, llerbert, in Lake Michigan."
Thus a reminder of this great disaster exists in a quiet churchyard over seas, but few of the visitors to that spot will know the details of the event as we have here related them. Even our own Howells did not seem to con- meet the event with the monument he was deseribing.
Scenes in Milwaukee When the News Arrived .- The news of the calamity created the wildest excitement in Milwaukee and Chicago and the morning papers in both eities were filled with vivid details of the disaster. There was scarcely a house or place of business which had not lost an inmate or an employee and it was said that there were 300 orphans in the homes of Mil- waukee eaused by the deaths of young parents on board of the ill-fated steamer.
An eye witness related that the seene in Milwaukee on Saturday morn- ing, when the news of the catastrophe was first received. can never be effaced from his memory. The stores in the principal streets were deserted imme- diately, many of them being left open and unattended, and all rushed to the telegraph office to learn the extent of the disaster. In walking along the streets, it seemed as if every second person met was either erying or so dumb- strieken that he could not express himself, nor recognize his friends and acquaintances.
The campaign in which Abraham Lincoln was the presidential nominee of the new republican party was in full swing, but the political excitement was forgotten in the face of such an appalling calamity. All the tales of the survivors were unanimous in, according to Captain Wilson, the commander, praise for his bravery and daring throughout. He was foremost in confront- ing danger and earnest for the safety of his passengers. He was drowned within a hundred feet of the shore. More than a hundred persons arrived within fifty yards of the beach but were swept back by the returning waves and lost. Up to nine o'clock on Saturday night only twenty-one bodies had been recovered most of which were recognized by friends as those of residents of Milwaukee.
Scenes at the Wreck .- At about ten o'clock in the morning of the day of the wreck a number of reporters for the newspapers of Chicago reached the scene at Winnetka where most of the passengers from the " Lady Elgin" came ashore. The surf was rolling in heavily and breaking in thunder along the beach, the gale having risen to a fearful fury from the northeast. The
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shore there is an uneven bluff, ranging from thirty to sixty feet in height. with a narrow strip of beach at its base.
"The whole beach for three miles we found strewn with fragments of the light upper portions of the ill fated steamer," said one of the papers, "and out to sea, where the waves were rolling more heavily than is usually seen even in our September gales, the surface of the angry waters for miles in extent, as far as the eye could reach seaward, was dotted with fragments of the wreck, and ralts and spars, with what was made ont elearly to be human beings clinging to them. At this time various authorities estimated that from eighty to one hundred persons could have been counted driving at the merey of the maddened elements, toward the high rolling breakers and surf-washed beach and bluff, from the top of which thousands, with straining eyes, watched their progress, and with pale checks noted that many met their fate in the waves."
Parties of men were on the alert and ready for the work of reseue. Word was sent to Evanston, some four miles distant, and the citizens and its entire student community came up in force. Attention was first directed to a large raft coming in steadily but bravely over the waves, upon which were clinging a large number of human beings, since known to have been some fifty in number. Around it and beyond it on all sides were single survivors and groups of two or three or more keeping afloat on pieces of wreckage, but interest eentered about the fate of that large raft. It neared the seething line of surf. With a glass, those on shore could see that the company on board the raft seemed to obey the orders of one man, and that there were ladies and children on board. The hearts of those on shore forgot to beat for an instant when they saw the raft break up and disappear in the seas. Of the entire number on board of the raft only fifteen appear to have been saved. Among the lost was the brave heart who tried his best to save those com- mitted to his charge and who perished in the attempt-brave Capt. Jack Wil- son, the commander of the unfortunate steamer.
Spencer's Rescue Work .- Among the students of the Garrett Biblical Institute at Evanston many of whom rendered heroic service on that day was Edward W. Spencer who by his own exertions saved seventeen lives. Speneer was a man of slight physical frame but a famous swimmer, having been brought up on the banks of the Mississippi River where he had learned the art thoroughly. As he looked out on the distressing seene ha perceived at onee that it was a case of swimming out and seizing the half-drowned people and Forcibly drawing them through the surf, as lew or none of them were able to reach the shore by their own efforts. le divested himself of his outer clothing and with a line fastened around his body he boldly swam through the waves when he would grasp the persons in the water and bring them through to a point where others could help them to a footing on dry land.
Others followed his example and soon there were a number of reseners working by the same methods. The steepness of the bluff along the Winnetka shore, where most of the unfortunates reached the land, made it very diffi- eult to get a foothold after coming out of the water in a weakened condition.
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Spencer repeatedly plunged through the surf and each the brought out a sufferer, though some would escape his grasp and drown in spite of every effort to help them.
But soon Spencer's strength began to be exhausted and he was obliged to lie down to recover his strength after each effort. All day, at short in- tervals, he would rise to enter again upon the work of reseue. This eontinned until he had in this manner saved the lives of seventeen persons. The last persons saved by Spencer were a man and his wife. The man was observed coming toward the shore near the high bank of the bluff, to strike against which would be almost certain death. He was clinging with one arm to a piece of wreckage, and in the other he seemed to be holding a bundle which he was trying to keep above water. It was seen that it was a woman or child whom he was trying to bring to the shore.
Spencer at this moment was almost at the end of his endurance, but he pulled himself together for another effort. "Cost what it may, " he exclaimed, "I will save them or die in the attempt." Soon he was seen far out in the lake where he reached the man who then cried out, "Save my wife!" "I'll save her and you too, " he answered ; and fastening his hands in their cloth- ing he said to them, "You must swim now for your lives and mine as well." They obeyed his instructions and safely reached the land. Many rescues were made on that dreadful day which deserve to be recorded. Altogether there were about one hundred lives saved along this shore.
Recognition by Evanston People .- The citizens of Evanston presented Spencer with a gold watch in recognition of his heroism and efficient services in saving lives. Many years later the class of 1898 in the Northwestern Uni- versity erected a bronze tablet in the reading room of the University library which bore this inscription: "To commemorate the heroic endeavors of Edward W. Spencer, first Northwestern student life saver. This tablet is erected by the Class of 1898. At the wreck of the Lady Elgin, off Winnetka. September 8. 1860. Spencer swam through the heavy surf sixteen times. resening seventeen persons in all. In the delirium of exhaustion which fol- lowed, his oft-repeated question was, 'Did I do my best ?' "
The Lady Elgin disaster occurred many years before the establishment of the Government life-saving service, now known as the Coast Guard. The strain upon his physical endurance on that occasion broke his health so that he was never the same man as he had been before. At that time the power to reward life savers had not been conferred on the Secretary of the Treasury to bestow medals for heroic deeds, and thus no official recognition was ever given to Mr. Spencer who so richly deserved it. But he won an enduring fame and will be remembered as long as golden deeds such as his are cherished in the memories of his neighbors and friends.
Efforts to Obtain Medal for Spencer .- At different times during the years 1907, 1908 and 1909, persevering efforts were made to obtain a medal from the Government in recognition of Spencer's heroie services at the time of the disaster above described. Mr. David D. Thompson, for many years editor of the Northwestern Christian Advocate, joined with the Evanston Historical Society and a number of other friends and neighbors of Evanston, in these
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efforts. Mr. Thompson was a frequent visitor to Washington during those years and often was a welcome guest of President Roosevelt at the White Ilonse. On one occasion while at the table be related the story of Spencer's resene work at the time of the Lady Elgin disaster nearly half a century before, which attracted the deepest interest of the President. The President was so much impressed with the story that he soon after caused an investiga- tion to be made to ascertain whether a medal could not be obtained even after so long a time had elapsed since the event. A bill was introduced in Congress but it failed of passage because it was feared that by conferring a medal on an individual for an action so long in the past would open the door for many other claims that could not be considered.
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