USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume I > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
Spencer died in California in 1917 at the age of eighty-one. In the later years of his life the papers of Los Angeles, near which city he had his resi- dence, frequently printed pictures of him with long accounts of the resrue work performed by him at the time of the Lady Elgin disaster. Ile was about the most popular hero of that section of the country on account of his exploit at the famous disaster which we have here described. an event not connected with the history of California, Int adopted as a part of their heritage in common with ns dwellers here on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Distressing Scenes Along Shore .- Thenceforward the scene on shore until 2 P. M. when the last survivor was drawn out of the surf, was a scene which lookers-on will never forget. Of its nature the best proof is the fact that the forty or fifty persons saved along this shore were less than one-third of the number that came from the open lake to pass that fearful gauntlet of the line of breakers, several hundred feet off shore, where under the very eyes and almost within hail of those on shore the majority perished. The rafts would come into the line of surf, dip to the force of the waves and then turn completely over. Again and again wonld rafts containing from one to five persons gradually near the shore and then be lost, where a stone's cast would reach them, yet really as far from human help as if in mid-oecan.
A peculiarly distressing experience was that of Mrs. Jane Cook and her daughter Elizabeth of Fond du Lac, who had but a day or two before come up the lakes from Buffalo on the steamer Sun, intending to land at Mil- waukee. But owing to the gale blowing at the time the steamer did not make its usual call there and they were brought to Chicago, where they were placed on board of the Lady Elgin to return to Milwaukee. Both of them were lost. William Farnsworth, an carly settler of Sheboygan, was also among the lost.
The Damage Done in the Collision. - It afterwards became evident from the appearance of a portion of the wreck which rame ashore near Wankegan that the final catastrophe was brought about by the dropping of the engine. walking-bram and its supporting frame through the side and bottom. At the point mentioned all that part of the hull abatt the midships, on the larboard side. lay upon the beach, a full fourth of the hull from the plank shear to the keel. The most rational explanation of the disaster seems to have been. according to contemporary accounts, that the colliding vessel carried away the larhoard paddle wheel and most of the engine braces on that side, and
139
THE STORY OF THE "LADY ELGIN" DISASTER
that as soon as the steamer rolled a-port, the engine, walking-beam and its heavy frame, having nothing to support them, were loosened and fell through, carrying away a large part of the bull. These heavy objeets went out on the larboard side of the vessel, producing the catastrophe, which all the sur- vivors deseribe as very sudden. It is probable that the first violent roll after the collision did the fatal work. On no other hypothesis can the separa- ration of the hull be accounted for, or the positive testimony of some of the officers be explained, than that the walking-beam went down through the lower part of the hull before the upper works Hoated off.
The Lady Elgin and Her Captain .- The Lady Elgin was built in Canada about nine or ten years before, and named after the wife of the then governor- general of British America, Lord Elgin. She was a side-wheel steamer of about three hundred feet in length and 1,000 tons burden. She was a fast and favorite boat, and went on three or four excursions annually. For the first five years after her construction the Lady Elgin was employed in the Canadian traffic of the lakes, and carried the mails along the northern shores, while the Grand Trunk Railway, which now performs that service, was yet incomplete, or even in embryo. Four or five years previous to the disaster she was purchased by Hubbard, Spencer and Company of Chicago, to whom she belonged at the time of the calamity. Captain Wilson, her com- mander, was a man of ten years' experience in the navigation of the upper lakes, a fine officer, vigilant in his duties, and a popular commander among the travelers on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. He was also a man of family and resided in Chicago.
The News at Milwaukee .- It was Sunday forenoon when news of the appalling calamity reached Milwaukee. Inquiry brought the confirmation "Only thirteen saved." Ont of 400 happy pleasure seekers only thirteen saved !
"The excitement was dreadful. A crowd of several hundred collected about the Sentinel office, and it required the presence of all the clerks to pass ont to the crowd the slips on which was printed the meager intelligence," reported the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, in black bordered columns, on Monday morning, September 10, 1860. "Still the extent of the calamity, the awful magnitude did not seem to be fully comprehended by the public. That some- thing appalling had transpired was felt, but that so many of our citizens had been hurried into Eternity was hard to believe.
"It would be utterly impossible to convey any idea. to- those who did not visit the Third Ward, of the scene presented there. It seemed as though sounds of moaning proceeded from every third house. Little crowds of women were congregated along the walks, some giving free expression to their grief, others offering condolence. Never before has our city been stricken with such a calamity.
"The seene at the lake shore depot baffles description. Thousands had congregated there to await the arrival of the noon train, and as it approached the crowd, impatient to learn tidings of friends, could not wait for the loco- motive to stop, but besieged the train.
"Then it was that the heart-rending tidings were received by broken-
CAPTAIN JOHN WILSON OF THE STEAMER "LADY ELGIN" Published in the New York Illustrated News, September 22, 1860
LADY ELGIN
THE STEAMER "LADY ELGIN" AS SHE LAID AT HER DOCK IN MILWAUKEE BEFORE SHE WAS LOST
141
THE STORY OF THE "LADY ELGIN" DISASTER
hearted parents and friends with demonstrations of grief that could not be repressed. Timothy O'Brien was the first survivor who was recognized, and it was doubtful for some time whether he could survive the rude but honest congratulations of his friends. All about the long depot were anxious females, some with their heads bowed, and others too heavily stricken to weep. With each detail of news there were fresh wails and wringing of hands.
"A special train of five cars was sent to the scene. At the suggestion of Charles H. Larkin a committee was formed with John L. Doran as chair- man, whose duty it became to take charge of the work of searching the beach and caring for the bodies recovered. Francis lubschmann, the acting mayor. issued a proclamation declaring Tuesday, September 11, 1860. a day of monn- ing, fasting and prayer, and ordering the closing of all publie offices. At a meeting of citizens held at Albany Hall suitable resolutions were adopted and arrangements made to provide for destitute survivors."
The survivors as recorded in the newspapers following the disaster were : Timothy O'Brien, Frank Boyd, Thomas Keogh, John MeLander, Edward Burke, John J. Crilley, Charles Beverung. William Beman, John Doyle, W. Elwood, John Gillmore, Bridget Kehoe, Fred Kuttemeyer, Thomas Ken- nedy, Adelbert Doebert, Wm. Kinsella, Isaac Kingsley, John Il. Millard. Charles May, Wm. Miller, Patrick Maher, James MeManns, John MeCanley, John MeLinden, Patrick Myers, T. MeCoslen, John O'Brien, James Rogers, John Rossiter, E. J. Powers, Win. Weiger. Fred Snyder, Win. Sivyer, W. G. Smith, P. Walsh, Wm. Wilson.
A military and civie funeral procession was held on Tuesday morning. It was formed at the City Hall Square and moved to St. John's Cathedral where a solemn requiem high mass was read for the repose of the souls of the victims.
Some of the survivors had a miraculous escape from a watery grave by holding to pieces of wreckage. It is told of Charles Beverung, the drummer boy of the band, that he swam ashore on his drumm which he had converted into a life preserver.
On the anniversary a year later in the calm of retrospection, the Sentinel said: "Never, perhaps, did such a calamity fall upon one city, as did that of the Lady Elgin disaster upon Milwaukee. The victims of the wreck were mostly poor-mostly from the Third Ward mostly Irish. Whole bloeks of houses were rendered nearly tenantless : and, perhaps never was more real Christian charity exhibited than was there and then. Never was there a nobler sight than that of the Sisters of Charity, like ministering angels, dis- pensing their God-directed aid and assistance."
Every year since 1860 a solemn requiem mass is read on the morning of September 8th. On this day the survivors attended in a body until they had all passed away. The last survivor, Adelbert Doebert, a musician, died at Milwaukee November 10, 1921, at the age of eighty-nine years.
Number of Lives Lost in the Disaster .- " The loss of Efe in the Lady Elgin disaster is nowadays given as 295," says Dr. Henry M. Bannister of Evanston, in his account of the wreck. "It may have been more. When a vessel goes down in deep water in Lake Michigan few bodies are recovered
.
142
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
and sometimes not any. None, so far as I have heard, were recovered from the Alpena, lost October 16, 1880, or from the Chieora, Jost JJanuary 24, 1895. in the same waters. Only about two hundred, however, were rescued or their bodies washed ashore from the Lady Elgin, though she sank a number of miles from the shore in deep water. There must have been, therefore, a large number that went to the bottom with the ship."
Doetor Bannister in his lifetime was recognized as an eminent scientist and his observations are perfectly reliable and can safely be accepted as good anthority. The Lady Elgin had abont four hundred people aboard when she sank and only about one hundred bodies were recovered besides the same number rescued. Thus half the whole number were entirely unae- counted for, the most of whom presumably went down with the ship and remain at the bottom where their bones are no doubt lying at the present hour.
The loss of the Lady Elgin is the elassie event in the long and thrilling chapter of marine disasters on Lake Michigan. It resulted in poignant grief to hundreds of families especially in Milwaukee where the great ma- jority of the lost previously lived. and it was the great event with which all disasters of a like nature wore compared. In these days of coast guards and numerous lighthouses, of fog-horns and careful regulations for sailing. the chances of such appalling events are redneed to the lowest proportions. and it may be fervently hoped that such disasters cannot again veeur for ages to come.
Lessons of the Disaster .- When a vessel founders far from land, either on the lake or on the ocean, the scenes at the crisis of the calamity are of the most heart-rending description. The interest aroused among the readers of a tale like this easily becomes morbid, and although it is perhaps not wise for the historian to dwell at too great length upon calamities of any kind. yet the warnings and cautions involved in such narratives have their uses. However, it is needful and proper to relate enough to give the later genera- tions of travelers a knowledge of necessary precautions, at least such as it is in their power to take for themselves. The most important lessons of the Lady Elgin disaster were the necessity of life-saving stations along the shore which in consequence of this dire event began to be apparent, a full supply of life preservers (those provided by the steamer were merely short pieces of plank six feet long and a foot wide with a short line looped at the end). a better system of signalling between passing vessels, and a larger number of life-boats than were carried by any of the passenger steamers at that time.
A few days after the disaster Dr. Daniel P. Kidder, one of the professors at the Garrett Biblical Institute at Evanston, addressed a letter to a Chicago paper in which he said : " A principal object of the present note is to suggest. while the topic is before the minds of the community, that measures be taken to establish life-boat stations along this shore." Eventually such measures were taken and though it was not until 1871 that a life-boat was provided by the Goverment, manned by students of the Northwestern University. it
143
THE STORY OF THE "LADY ELGIN" DISASTER
speedily proved its usefulness, and in time a regular station house with crew and full equipment was established on land donated by the University.
Other Notable Lake Disasters .- The Indians of the Mackinae Island region ealled Lake Michigan "the man-devonring lake," so we are told by Col. Arent de Peyster who was in command of that post when it was held by the British in 1776. In view of the dangerous character of the waters of the Straits of Mackinae and of the lakes which are connected by them the epithet is an appropriate one, as will appear from the record of disasters, a few of which will be mentioned in this place, partienlarly those occurring on Lake Michigan.
The earliest disaster of which there is a record was that which befell the Griffin, built by La Salle at the entrance to the Niagara River, in 1679. She was a small sailing vessel of about forty-five tons burden, was armed with five small eannon and carried about thirty-four men. La Salle himself was in command and in dne time the vessel safely reached Mackinac and then con- tinued its voyage to Green Bay. Here La Salle left the vessel in charge of the pilot and continued his journey in canoes down the west shore of Lake Michigan after leaving orders for the vessel to follow him a few weeks later to the St. Joseph River. His purpose was to reorganize his party at St. Joseph and push on to the Illinois River at Peoria where he intended to bnikl another vessel and go down the Mississippi River to its mouth as that river had never yet been fully explored.
Not finding the Griffin at the expected rendezvous La Salle went on to the Illinois without knowing any further particulars as to the cause of her failure to arrive. It seems from later accounts that after La Salle had parted company with the Griffin in Green Bay she was loaded with furs to be sent back to the Niagara River where they were to be forwarded to Montreal. Some Pottawatomie Indians reported that after La Salle's departure the pilot, who had anehored off the north shore of the lake under the shelter of a headland near the wigwams of these savages, determined to proceed to Mackinac, despite the warnings that a mighty tempest was raging in the open lake, which was white with foam. "Mocking at their fears and assert- ing that no wind could stay his course," says E. G. Mason in his "Chapters from Illinois History," "the pilot set sail in the face of the increasing storm. Hardly had the little vessel gone a quarter of a league from its anchorage when the natives saw it rolling wildly amid the huge waves, and then with its canvas furled, driven irresistibly before the blast. In the gathering gloom and floods of rain it disappeared from view, and they never saw it more."
There were discovered, however, some relies of the disaster. Mason relates that in the following spring there was found "some clothing along the shore. and in the summer a hatchway, a bit of cordage and a few packages of beaver skins." These, with the head of a flagstaff, were the sole relies of the un- fortunate craft, which undoubtedly foundered not many hours after it was last seen from the Pottawatomie Village. Midnight guns had been heard by the wondering savages above the roar of the tempest, her last appeals for help as she went to her doom in the depths of the lake.
"Romance has been busy with her fate," says Mason, "and has even
144
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
fancied that the Griffin, shaped as we see her in the picture in Hennepin's .New Discovery,' after the fashion of ancient men-of-war. her bow and stern built high and her beak head displaying a flying griffin and an eagle, with her five small cannon and all the rest of her antique equipment. is preserved to this day beneath the sand dunes of the coast."
Loss of the Fropeller Phoenix .- The Milwaukee Sentinel and Gazette, in its issue of November 24. 1847. contained the startling announcement that the propeller Phoenix had been burned on Lake Michigan with the loss of 250 lives, and told that it was "the most terrible calamity that has ever occurred on the waters of Lake Michigan." The following account is summarized from the Sentinel and Gazette, a photographie copy of which, taken from the files preserved in the State Historical Society at Madison, is before us as we write.
The Phoenix had left the previous week from Buffalo bound for Lake Michigan ports. She had made a stop at Manitowoc and lay there for several hours waiting for the sea to go down, intending to make the next call at Sheboygan, twenty-five miles distant. At one o'clock in the morning she started on her fatal voyage. After being ont an hour or two the firemen discovered that the pumps did not work and this fact was immediately re- ported to the engineer. but he seemed to pay no attention to this alarming condition. Soon afterward it was observed that the water in the boilers was very low.
Before any steps had been taken to remedy the difficulty. and about four o'clock in the morning, the boilers had become red-hot on top and had com- mimicated fire to the boat. The firemen in the hold at once took active steps to stop the fire, but the progress of the flames was so rapid that they were soon driven out of the hold. The alarm had now become general, the pas- sengers were all aroused, lines formed on deck and water passed up in bucket, and ponred upon the flames. But it soon became apparent that all efforts to check the fire were utterly unavailing, and both passengers and crew began to think only of how they might save their lives.
The Phoenix carried three boats. Captain Sweet who was confined to his quarters with a fractured knee resulting from an injury he had received while coming up Lake Erie, consented, at the entreaty of Mr. Blish, to enter the first boat to leave the burning propeller in company with twenty others, and reached the shore in safety. The second boat, carrying nineteen persons also arrived safely on the shore, abont ten miles north of Sheboygan.
The light of the fire was first seen at Sheboygan at 4:30 in the morning and the propeller Delaware, then lying there. immediately got np steam and started to the assitance of the burning vessel. But it was an hour and a quarter before she reached her and aid was impossible by that time. The Phoenix was burned to the water's edge. The rescuing vessel could only take the burning wreck in tow and bring her into the harbor where she sunk soon after.
The propeller Delaware was able to resene only three persons from the burning wreck, and these besides those who had reached the shore in the boats were all that were saved out of a total 300 souls. The boats when they left the burning propeller made direetly for the shore, distant about four
145
THE STORY OF THE "LADY ELGIN" DISASTER
miles. The intention was to leave the passengers on the land and return to the wreck to take off others, but long before this could be done all human aid was unavailing.
Scenes and Incidents .- Among the incidents of this famous wreck it is related that "one man ascended to the mast-head and there remained till the mast itself toppled over into the lake. As the fire advanced the shrouds became thronged with human beings who, scorched by the aseending flames, gradually dropped off one by one. Many, frightened, or despairing, threw themselves into the lake, in the vain hope of struggling to the distant shore."
The Phoenix had on board a full cargo of freight, and of her passen- gers, about fifty were Americans, including the crew, and 250 emigrants, all Hollanders and all coming to Milwaukee. Among the latter were many who had considerable sums of money with them. It was supposed that they had in the aggregate some fifty thousand dollars in gold. One young girl of seven- teen was the sole survivor of a party of twenty-five who had together $18,000. An old man, the father of nine children, was left to mourn the loss of all those for whose sakes he left his native land and emigrated to America. "Indeed," coneludes the account, "the whole calamity is the most afflicting in its details that we have ever been called upon to record." The vessel was insured in Buffalo for $12,000. Her books, papers, Freight and pas- senger list, etc., were all lost.
The Burning of the Sea Bird .- On the morning of the 9th of April, 1868, the steamer Sea Bird, while on her way from Two Rivers, Wis., to Chicago, and while opposite Lake Forrest, Il., caught fire and was totally consumed. There were seventy persons on board at the time, and of these but three escaped. The Sea Bird was a sidewheel steamer of about five hundred tons burden, and was making the first trip of the season on her regular route along the west shore of the lake.
"How the fire originated," says Andreas, "was never known, but is was supposed to have been through the carelessness of one of the porters, who was observed by one of the survivors to throw a seuttle of coal and ashes over- board, and a very short time afterward the fire broke out in the after part of the vessel, near where the porter had stood. It was a little he- fore seven o'clock in the morning when the fire was discovered, as the pas- sengers were rising from breakfast. The steamer was immediately headed for shore, but the wind was blowing heavily from the northeast and drove the flames forward, soon stopping the machinery. The fire rapidly drove the passengers toward the bow, and then over into the lake. No boats seem to have been lowered nor any effective effort made to save life, by the officers. If there were any life-preservers, on board, and there presumably were, none was used. Panie seems to have seized officers, crew and pas- sengers alike. Before noon the vessel was burned to the water's edge. The survivors were A. C. Chamberlain, Mr. Hemebury of Sheboygan, Wis., and James II. Leonard of Manitowoc.
"In recalling lake disasters," says a recent writer, "many old residents confuse the particulars of the Lady Elgin disaster with those of the Sea Bird. The details of the former event are related in previous pages of this history. Vol. 1-10
146
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
The Lady Elgin was lost September 8, 1860. and nearly three hundred persons drowned. Its loss was occasioned by a collision with a limber schooner on a stormy night, the steamer sinking within half an hour after the accident. The Lady Elgin was a much larger steamer than the Sea Bird. The two events were separated by an interval of nearly eight years.
Loss of the Steamer Alpena .- The steamer Alpena was built in 1866, and bought by the Goodrich Company two years later. She was a staunch boat of 650 tons burden, and for several years was engaged on the route between Chicago, Grand Haven and Muskegon. The AAlpena left Grand Haven for Chicago about 8 o'clock Friday evening. October 15. 1880, though the weather bureau signals indicated that a severe storm was approaching. Captain Napier was in command.
She carried a crew of thirty men and there was a "fair passenger list," numbering in all about seventy-five persons. The steamer as she put out into the open lake encountered a gale of great severity. The narrator who contributed an article giving this information in the Chicago magazine for June, 1912, says that he was the clerk of the propeller Messenger which safely made her regular trip that night from Benton Harbor to Chicago. At midnight the gale had greatly increased in violence and it was thought that the Alpena encountered the full foree of the storm when about forty miles from Chicago at which point she probably foundered. At all events she was never seen after her departure from Grand Haven. Not a soul survived to tell the tale.
Loss of the Car Ferry steamer Pere Marquette, No. 18. The loss of the earferry steamer, Pere Marquette, No. 18, occurred September 9, 1910, while she was on her voyage from Undington, Mich., to Milwaukee. She sank in Lake Michigan, between 6 and 8 o'clock on Friday morning. when about thirty miles off Sheboygan, Wis. Two passengers and thirty-one of the officers and crew were drowned. Thirty-three persons were rescued by car ferry No. 17, which had been summoned to the scene by a wireless call for help.
The exact cause of the disaster could not be ascertained. The weather at the time it occurred was good and only a moderate sea was running.
Accident to the Steamer, Christopher Columbus .- The Chicago Daily News Almanac for 1918, printed the following record of the painful event referred to above. "Sixteen lives were lost by a peculiar accident to the whalebaek excursion steamer, 'Christopher Columbus,' in the river at Mil- waukee, Wis., JJune 30, 1917. The craft was starting on its return trip to Chicago when it became unmanageable and ran into the river bank. where it struck one of the supports of a large steel water tank on top of a tower 100 feet high. The tank fell and hit the steamer, carrying away part of the pilot house and the two upper decks, and flooding the ship with water. There were some four hundred excursionists on board at the time, most of them teachers and pupils in Chicago summer schools. In addition to the sixteen killed a number of other persons were severely injured."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.