Thursday, September 9, 1937
THE HERMISTON HERALD, HERMISTON, OREGON
Tloyd
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB
H E A D L IN E S FRO M TH E L IV E S
O F P E O P L E L IK E Y O U R S E L F I
“ C la w s o f th e C o a s t ”
By FLOYD GIBBONS
Famous Headline Hunter
ello everybody -.
Wireless Operator Barney Murphy of Richmond Hill, N.
,Y., brings us today the first yarn I’ve seen about the wreck of the
Ill-fated Red Cross liner, Florizel off Cape Race, Newfoundland,
In 1918. And the tale of that wreck is a grim and tragic story. It
was on the night of February 23 that the Florizel poked her nose
out of the harbor at St. Johns, Newfoundland, into a screeching
gale. At one-thirty a. m., when Barney took his watch in the wire-
less room, she was all but looping the loop in the mountainous
seas.
H
She pitched and tossed, and hit floating ice cakes with loud, resound
ing thumps. But at 4:50 a. m. there came a heavier thump than usual
and a seaman burst into the wireless shack shouting, “Captain saya
•end S O 8.”
Barney had hardly thrown the switch when Carter, his senior
operator, burst into the room with two Hie belts. He threw one to
Barney, crying, “Here, take this, Murph. Go get our position
from the captain.” Barney turned the radio key over to Carter
and started out, feeling his way along the deck. The ship had
run on the rocks ten miles off Cape Race and the jagged points
bad gone clear through her hull. Her bow stuck clear of the
raging sea, but her stern was under water clear up to the stack.
Barney got the ship’s position from the captain and took it back
to Carter. Carter barely had time to tap out his message a couple of
times when the seas carried away the topmast—and the wireless an
tennae along with it. They abandoned the useless instruments, went
outside and hung on the rail on the lee side.
Took Refuge in Wireless Shack.
“About eight of us were hanging there,” says Barney, “while the
heavy seas cams tumbling over the top of the wireless room, drenching
us with icy water. One man, trying to cross the hatchway to shelter on
the bridge was washed overboard almost immediately. We had left the
wireless shack because we feared it might be carried away by the
heavy seas, but the frequent icy drenchings convinced us it would be
better to take a chance and go back in. Soon the room was filled to
capacity with straggling survivors. Everything movable was thrown
out to make room for them. The vessel quivered violently at every
wave, and water poured in through a ventilator in the roof.
“We had a few blankets in the room and we spread them over
everyone they would cover. One unfortunate man was wedged
in directly under the gaping ventilator hole, and he finally lost
consciousness under the icy deluge from above—and died there.
Reluctantly we moved his body outside to make room for some
one else.”
Twelve Hours of Agonized Waiting.
Over the howling of the gale they could hear cries, but couldn’t get
through the pounding seas on the deck to go to the rescue. The second
mate arrived in the wireless room, his face lacerated and his teeth
knocked out, crying that the bridge and smoking room had been washed
away carrying sixty-flve people to their deaths. Everything on the
decks had gone by that time but the wireless shack and the smokestack,
and no one knew when they would go too.
They didn't even know if their S O S signals had been heard. They
waited in that cramped little room for TWELVE HOURS, drenched to
the skin, without food or water. It was late afternoon before they saw
ships approaching from far off, and darkness had fallen before they
arrived on the scene. The first ship to reach them was the S. S. Pros-
pero, and they signaled to her with a flashlight while the Prospero an-
swered with long and short blasts on its whistle.
All through the night one ship after another tried to launch life
boats. They were battered to pieces by the seas the minute they hit
the water. At last the Prospero’s whistle signaled that nothing could
be done till daylight. But with the first streak of dawn the volunteer
Newfoundland seaman who manned the rescue ships lowered their
dories in the still violent sea.
Gallant Work of Newfoundlanders.
Says Barney: .“The first dory reached us after a battle which
only a Newfoundlander knows how to fight in an open boat. They
threw a line aboard and scooted off hanging onto the end of it.
That line helped the other dories to hold a steady course to us,
and as each one arrived, bobbing up and down alongside, the
survivors had to slide down the icy deck, now bereft of rails, and
make a hit-or-miss leap into the boat belew.
“In twos and threes we all finally landed aboard. Some of us got
cold baths when we leaped for dories and missed, but we were fished
out. I was taken aboard a whaling ship that was standing by, and I
had to be undressed by the sailors for my hands were so numb with the
cold that I couldn't use them. I went right to sleep and landed in St.
Johns in about six hours, none the worse for the experience except
that all my clothes, and everything else I owned were lost.”
Only Forty-Six Survived the Tragedy.
But even so, Barney was running in luck. The final roll call showed
that NINETY-TWO PEOPLE WERE LOST in the wreck. Only forty-
six out of the original hundred and thirty-eight were saved. The gen
eral manager of the steamship line and his daughter were among the
missing. The chief steward, when last seen, had been carrying a child
in his arms, trying to get it to safety. Both of them were washed over
board.
Two Spanish firemen sought refuge on a grating in the fiddley, a
room where the ashes are hauled up from the flreroom. Those two poor
fellows, scantily clothed and coming up from the hot boiler room,
gradually froze to death and tumbled back down into the ash pit. And
a woman passenger, dragging a sea-sick friend out of her stateroom, got
her on deck only to see her torn from her arms and washed overboard.
And those are just a few tragic incidents out of the ninety-two that
occurred that dreadful night of February 24, out on the Newfoundland
coast. “When it was all over,” says Barney, "the water was full of the
dead and a good sturdy ship was being beaten to pieces on the rocks.
The Graveyard of the Atlantic had once more lived up to its name.
And Newfoundland had once more proved what stuff her sons are
made of.”
• - WNU Service.
World's Oldest Pier
Pleasure piers were an invention
of the Nineteenth century. The old
est in the world is probably that at
Ryde, Isle of Wight, which was built
by a private company in 1812, ac
cording to Pearson’s London Week
ly. Southend's remarkable pier
holds the record for length. Black
pool was also a pioneer in the mat
ter of piers, and the famous North
Pier was opened on Whit Monday,
1863. The venture met with such
success that two others were built
at the same resort. The North Pier
was the first to be illuminated by
electricity, and it is one of the
grandest and most spectacular in
Europe. Piers are costly to build
as well as to maintain. Brighton's
West Pier, opened in 1866, cost 35,-
000 pounds, but its pavilion was not
added until 30 years later. The pier
at Southport, built more than forty
years ago, cost over 100,000 pounds.
This was the first pleasure pier in
the world to be constructed entirely
of iron, and it stretches nearly a
mile out to sea—second in length
only to the pier at Southend.
Among Famous Hymns
“Lead, Kindly Light” was written
by Newman nearly 100 years ago,
when he was on his way home from
Rome. The boat on which he was
traveling was becalmed for a whole
week and it was during that time he
penned his famous lines.
Few
hymns are more popular than Top-
lady's “ Rock of Ages.” One day
the young curate was overtaken by
a heavy thunderstorm in Barrington
Coombe, and seeking shelter under
the massive rock was inspired to
write these beautiful words. “Abide
With Me” was written in Devon by
Henry Lyte, the beloved pastor of
the fisher folk of Lower Brixham.
A dying man, he wrote the words
as the summer sun was setting one
September evening. Tradition says
that Wesley was inspired to write
“Jesus. Lover of My Soul,” by a
dove, which was driven to the shel
ter of his bosom in a pitiless storm.
Cecil Alexander’s hymn, "There Is
a Green Hill," was written amid
the green hills of Ireland.—Pear
son's London Weekly.
mat
u KV jo LL
Z Z k w v fez) c ù b o ü t
_ F arm 1
T o p ic s [,|
I
NEGLECTED BIRDS
NOT GOOD LAYERS
Cures for Communism.
ANTA MONICA, CALIF.—A Low Summer Production
certain rich man out here—
May Continue Into Fall.
rich but indulgent—got a letter
S. Dearstyne, Head of Poultry De
from his heir, a sophomore at By Roy partment,
North Carolina State
College.—WNU Service.
one of the big eastern colleges.
S
The lad announced he had been
converted to communism and was
contributing to the
cause.
So what
about it?
The old m a n
wrote back:
I "Son, you have a
, perfect right to fol
low the dictates of
y o u r conscience.
But as a consistent
communist you nat
urally would n o t
continue to live on
the ill-gotten gains | rvin g. Cobb
of a wicked money-
grabber. Today I am cutting off
your somewhat generous allowance.
You will also vacate the luxurious
apartment you now occupy because
I’m not paying the rent of same any
longer. So go ahead, my boy, and
commune freely—with my bless
ings! But from date that’ll be about
all from this end of the line.”
Exactly four hours after the ar
rival by air mail of this ultimatum,
the hard-hearted parent got back a
rush telegram stating that the
young man had been thinking things
over and had decided not to take up
the new doctrine.
• • •
The Art of Listening.
Low egg production in hot weath*
er often causes poultrymen to ne
glect their flocks, with the result
that production continues low in the
fall when it should be increasing.
Good management in hot weather
not only keeps birds in better con
dition for heavy production later,
but it also keeps up production
through the summer.
Shade to protect birds from the
sun during the hottest part of the
day is essential to thrifty birds. A
portable range shelter provides
shade where birds can feed and
rest.
Since range crops usually become
dry and unpalatable in summer,
the birds need an ample ration in
their feed hoppers. Plenty of fresh
water should be available at all
times.
Plenty of grain should be fed dur
ing the developing season. A good
mash should be fed also as it con
tains vital food elements that are
not provided in a grain diet alone.
Where crippled and subnormal
birds are found in the flock, they
should be culled out at once. Such
birds never pay a profit and their
low vitality often makes them the
starting point for an outbreak of
contagious disease.
Lice and mite infestations occur
frequently in summer and result in
heavy losses unless checked at
once.
Fowl pox can be prevented by
vaccinating the birds at an early
age. The disease usually breaks out
in the fall when the birds are in full
lay and making a profit for their
owner. Leghorns are especially sus
ceptible to pox.
E HAD a party at which there
appeared what I may call the
dumb poets—Sam Hoffenstein and
Ogden Nash. At the studios where
they’re both turning out epics,
there’s a rule that neither shall
burst forth into poetry while he’s
under contract—no thumbing of the
harp, no sounding of the lute. Cine
ma’s gain is creation’s loss.
Maybe that explains why they
made such good listeners the other Creep-Fed Calves Thrive
night. And isn’t a good listener a
boon! I don’t mind being interrupt
on Corn, Cottonseed Cake
| ed, provided the interrupter chooses
Calves creep-fed made their best
the right subject. Mute and rapt, I and most economical gains on a ra
can harken for hours on hours if tion of shelled corn and cottonseed
someone is talking about me, say, cake in a test by the United States
or even reading from my published Department of Agriculture in co
works. But these two minnesingers operation with the Missouri state
only broke in to ask that the pickled experiment station at Sin-a-Bar
shrimp be passed or gently to sug Farms, Grain Valley, Mq.
gest that another little drink or two
At the end of thg 140-day test
wouldn’t do any harm.
calves fed the shelled corn and cot
j Ogden Nash has attained the high tonseed cake averaged 8 pounds
est peak of distinction attainable for more than another group fed ground
a writer. His chief imitator has an shelled corn and cottonseed cpke,
imitator who is bringing up his old 13 pounds more than calves fed
est boy to be an imitator.
ground corn, cottonseed cake, and
* • •
alfalfa-molasses mixture, and 22
Resurrecting Old Words.
pounds more than a group receiv
HEN a word gets fashionable ing shelled corn, cottonseed cake,
—especially a new word which and alfalfa-molasses mixture.
some wordsmith thought up right
The calves receiving ground corn,
out of his head—it gets too dog cottonseed cake, and the alfalfa-mo
gone fashionable. The same applies lasses mixture, ate 25 per cent more
to old words which have been dis feed and acquired a better finish at
interred from their forgotten tombs the end of the feeding period than
in the dictionary.
those fed shelled corn and cotton
I seem to see grave robbers seed cake. The difference in mar
prowling through the unabridged, ket price of the two groups, how
starting in at “aard-vark,” which is ever, did not justify either the cost
an animal formerly common only of grinding the com or the addi
to Africa but not frequently found tional cost of feed.
in cross-word puzles; and working
Calves from each group, when fed
on through to “zythum,” a very in dry lots for 196 days after wean
strong beer drunk by ancient tribes. ing, on the same rations they had
I guess those old-timers imbibed co received before weaning, showed no
piously of the brew and then named significant difference in total gains.
it. It doesn’t sound like the sort of Those fed shelled corn and cotton
word a dead sober party deliberate seed cake were the heaviest at the
ly would make up.
end of the experiment although not
Do you remember the run “in- I so well finished as the ones fed
trigued” had? I never got so sick ground corn.
of a word in my ife. And then
High-grade Shorthorn calves were
along came "provocative,” and it used in the feeding tests and the
turned out to be a pest. People went market value was estimated at the
around just looking for a chance to end of the feeding experiment by
work “provocative” into the conver commission merchants on the Kan
sation. The only way to lick ’em sas City stockyards.
was to pretend to be deaf and dumb.
And now the reigning favorite is
In the Farmlot
“allergic.” Folks spout it every
where, whether they know what it
Careless handling kills live stock
means or not. I don’t mind saying on its way to market.
• • •
I’m getting awfully allergic to "al
lergic.” There must be many others
The greatest boon to farmers and
like me.
their wives is running water in
• • •
stalled in the home.
s e e
Campaign Books.
ET us not cavil too much be-
Except for dresses, shoes repre
cause high pressure salesmen, j sent the largest clothing item
working on commission, have been bought by farm families.
unloading upon the faithful, at
• • •
fancy prices, the gift book put out
The horse’s collar should be thor
by Washington headquarters to pay oughly cleaned each evening after
off campaign debts. In fact, 15 the day’s work is done.
cents’ worth would cover practical
• • •
ly all the cavil I personally have
For safety dairy products are best
used up in this connection.
kept covered and in the coldest
The result tends to prove the grat- . place in the refrigerator.
ifying fact that, while more Demo
• • •
crats may not necessarily have
Alfalfa leaves are worth saving;
learned how to read and write, ob they are about three times as valu
viously more of us have got money able in nutritive value as the stems.
than formerly was the case when
• • •
the Republicans were in power.
Unless cows have an abundance
Besides, think of what the strain of pure water to which they can
would have been upon the poor post go at any time, milk flow will be
man if the national committee had affected.
• • •
' boen stuck with all this bulk litera
ture and congressmen had started
The general belief that grasshop
franking copies out to their constitu pers make an excellent turkey feed
ents with Uncle Sam paying the was not upheld in experiments at
freight. To give you a further idea Oklahoma A. and M. college.
• • •
•bout this franking privilege, I may
state that It was named for Frank,
Except for air, water is the most
Jesse's brother—and you'll remem common, most readily supplied, and
ber how careless those James boys often the most inexpensive sub
were with the United States mails! stance that poultrymen can give to
IRVIN S. COBB.
their hens.
• — W NU Service
W
W
L
Washington
D ig e s t g
National Topics Interpreted
By W ILLIA M BRUCKART
NATIONAL PRESS BLDG
WASHINGTON, D C
Washington. — Political students
and observers in Washington find
e
themselves in a
H a s ’E m
quandary concern-
Guessing
ing the objectives
of the New Deal
administration because of a series
of late developments. Frankly, most
students of politics have to confess
their inability to fathom the various
developments of recent weeks or to
measure their significance.
I have written, heretofore, about
the wide open split in the Demo
cratic party and about the presiden
tial moves to heal that split bat,
instead of the new developments be
ing of a kind designed to heal
wounds, they appear superficially at
least to be doing directly the oppo
site thing. Confessing my own in
ability to understand the political
strategy, if there be strategy, let
me merely call attention to such
things as:
The recent radio speech by Sena
tor Guffey, Pennsylvania, Demo
crat, which thoroughly read out of
the party such able men as Sena
tors Wheeler of Montana, Burke of
Nebraska and O’Mahoney of Wyo
ming.
The speech of Postmaster Gen
eral Farley before the Young Demo
crats at their Indiana meeting, stat
ing that there will be no reprisals
against those Democrats who have
seen fit or now see fit to object to
parts of President Roosevelt’s New
Deal program.
The so-called harmony dinner of
Democratic senators at a Washing
ton hotel after the election of Sena
tor Barkley of Kentucky as Demo
cratic leader of the senate, and the
absence of President Roosevelt
from that meeting.
The renewal by President Roose
velt of his criticism of “Economic
Royalists” in his speech in celebra
tion of the birth of Virginia Dare,
the first white child born in Amer
ica, at Manteo, N. C.
The speech of Senator Guffey in
I New York declaring without equiv
ocation that the Committee for In
dustrial Organization, headed by
John L. Lewis, should provide a
nucleus for an American Labor par
ty. This party should have among
its objectives the political destruc
tion of any one who fails to carry
j through the New Deal policies or
who opposes a program designed to
make the court structure of the
United States subservient to the
President.
There are other phases, other cir
cumstances that might be included
in this list, but those enumerated
serve to show the confusion that
prevails. They present to me a
wholly nonunderstandable and un
explainable hauling and filling—
breathing hot and cold without a
change of face.
• • *
There has been nothing of a pure
ly political nature create quite so
much of a stir in
G u ffe y
a iong time as did
C ause* S tir
the radio speech
of Senator Guffey
in which he called for defeat of all
those who opposed the President's
plan to reorganize the Supreme
court of the United States by adding
to it six justices of the President’s
own choosing. It was in this speech
that Senator Guffey singled out
Senators Wheeler, Burke and
O’Mahoney for destruction. He did
this because these three senators
led the fight against the President’s
plan to pack the Supreme court.
Senator Wheeler and Senator Burke
conducted the fight on the floor of
the senate; Senator O’Mahoney
wrote the devastating report by
which the senate judiciary commit
tee advised the senate to kill the
court packing bill.
Senator Guffey’s speech was
made at night. When the senate
convened at noon the following day,
Senator Wheeler took the floor and
delivered one of the most vicious
speeches of which he is known to
be capable. It was excelled in bit
terness only by the attack which
came from Senator Burke. Senator
O’Mahoney likewise made sure that
the senate record revealed the feel
ing of those who were convinced
the President had made a vital mis
take in proposing the court reor
ganization.
• • •
asked many times: What can 1
.
President gain
W h a n the making
Sena
A n s w e r?
Guffey or a
man of his typ«
spokesman for the administratic
Further, can the President aff<
politically to strike at the very he;
of the Democratic party by pern
ting even secretly the political i
■traction of such brilliant men
Wheeler, Burke and O'Mahoney?
The answer to those questions,
far as I can see it, or as far a:
have been able to gather opinit
on the point, must inevitably 1«
in the direction of a party pur
By that I mean, the President ■
his closest New Deal advisers m
be eeeking to drive out of the Der
cratic party, the machinery
JEB
which he controls, any and all Dem
ocrats who are unwilling to be one
hundred per cent for the theories
of economics and social reform
which the New Dealers counte
nance. If that be true, and I re
peat it is only an assumption, then
the President evidently is hoping to
create a class party, a radical party
which can be made to include such
outfits as the John L. Lewis follow
ing, the communists and half-baked
nitwits who are opposed to the prin
ciple of individual employment, the
accumulation of personal belongings
and even the idea of owning homes
by individuals, free from debt.
On the other hand I cannot con
vince myself that Mr. Roosevelt
would make a political mistake of
this gravity. For it would be a mis
take in two ways, namely, a virtual
destruction of the Democratic party
and the blighting of any hope the
President may have for being elect
ed a third time. It is these com
binations that make the whole situa
tion so'difficult to understand.
It may be that one result will
be that Senator Wheeler or Senator
Burke may find himself in a politi
cal situation where one or the other
will be forced to seek the Demo?
cratic Presidential nomination in
1940. It is quite apparent now that
the split in the party is going to
cause a violent explosion in the next
Democratic national convention.
There is no way to avoid it. It may
be added in the same breath that
Mr. Roosevelt can go into that con
vention and force his own renomi
nation because surely the Farley
political machine cannot be dis
lodged unless the factional dispute
spreads to the rank and file of Dem
ocrats throughout the country. This
is to say that, having control of the
party machine, Mr. Farley can
muster the election of enough dele
gates to the party’s national conven
tion to assure the Roosevelt nomi-
natioQj especially since Mr. Roose'
Veit demanded and obtained the re
peal or the age-old Democratic rule
that required a vote of two-thirds
of all the sitting delegates before
the convention nominates a candi
date.
With further reference to Senator
Guffey, Senator Barkley told the
senate during the violent Wheeler-
Burke-O’Mahoney attack that Sena
tor Guffey had tendered his resig
nation as chairman of the Demo
cratic senatorial committee a week
previously. Senator Barkley’s state
ment, however, was not accepted
generally; it did not have the ring
to make it convincing, nor did it
appear to be anything more than an
attempt by Senator Barkley to save
Senator Guffey’s face.
• • *
It may well be that the rupture in
Democratic harmony will turn out
to be a great is-
M a y Be
sue as early as
B ig Issue
the 1938 congres
sional and sena
torial elections. There are a num
ber of senators who opposed the
court packing bill and, therefore,
fall within the Guffey castigation,
who will be up for re-election next
year. If the Guffey attack is fol
lowed up at all in the state organi
zations, those Democrats who op
posed the President’s will necessar
ily must defend themselves. The
only way they can defend their
course of action is by a counter at
tack on the President and those
policies of his which the candidate
for the senate opposed. I predi
cate my prediction of continuation
of the row in 1938 on the statement
made by Senator O’Mahoney in an
swer to the Guffey radio tirade. In
that statement of position, Senator
O’Mahoney stated, to quote a single
paragraph:
"I would rather walk out of the
door of this chamber and never re
turn, than to surrender any honest
convictions I have. I say to you,
senators of the United States, so
long as I am in this body I shall
raise my voice and cast my vote as
my conscience dictates and nobody,
whether he comes from Pennsyl
vania or from New York or any
other state, can tell me or the peo
ple of my state what I should or
should not do.”
Contrast that statement with the
following declaration by Senator
Guffey in his radio speech:
“I was elected to the United
States senate in 1934 because I as
sured the voters of Pennsylvania
that it was my intention to support
loyally and without wavering the
program of the Chief Executive.”
And in calling attention to that
statement of subservience. Senator
Burke of Nebraska declared:
“Pennsylvania may want that
kind of representation in the senate,
and, if they do, God bless them, let
them have it; but to me it would
seem that if the senate is to have
that kind of representation, it might
as well have a parrot in a cage in
the secretary's office and bring it
in when the senator’s name is called
and have him say, ’Yes, Mr. Roose
velt, count me for that, too.’ That
is not my idea of what a senator
should do.”
• Western Newspaper Union.