Medford mail tribune., March 15, 1936, Page 19, Image 19

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- Mystery Ships No. 2
THE WARATAH
DISAPPEARED IN 1909
WITH 211 PERSONS
THE mystery ship Warafafc passenger and
cargo steamer of the Blue Anchor Line was
seen for the last time off the coast of Africa on
an April day in 1909. She put out to sea from
Adelaide, Australia coaled at Durban, and was
sighted by the Clan Maclntyre.
The Waratah passed on, carrying passengers
and crew of 211 persons. Her hull slipped over the
horizon, leaving a trail of smoke the final evi
dence of her existence in the sight of man.
Days dragged by. She was overdue at Cape
Town. Other ships should have seen her on the
steamer lanes. If she had sunk, where were the
usual traces life-belts, spars, bodies, or deck
chairs? No signs of wreckage were found.
Several reports of debris drifted in. An officer
of the Tottenham believed he had seen bodies
floating in the sea. His ship swung round to in
vestigate, but no boat was lowered; the commander
decided the objects were sun-fish or skates.
Five bottles containing scrawled messages were
picked up on the coast of Australia, each sup-
posed to come from the Waratah. But on investi
gation all proved to be forgeries.
Eighteen months later the Board of Trade In
quiry sat in London for two long months, trying
to collect evidence. When its sessions closed, the
mystery remained unsolved.
It was easy to prove that the fated vessel had
not gone down in any particular way, but im
possible to show how she had sunk, where, or
when! Expert witnesses stated that she was
properly designed, seaworthy, that her life-saving
equipment was in good order. She had passed in
spections by builders, owners, and Lloyds.
One witness, a Claude Sawyer, sailed on her
from Sydney, but disembarked at Durban because
of a dream. He "saw a man in a strange dress
a-hich I had not seen before, with a sword which
ne held between us. In his other hand was a rag
:overed with blood."
The Waratah sailed from Durban without him.
Soon he had another dream he saw her running
in heavy seas. A huge wave swept down over her,
she rolled on her side and disappeared.
No one could say if his dreams indicated danger
but one of them undoubtedly saved his life.
Walla Walla Issues Scrip To
Celebrate Coming Centennial
OTHER communities may have their paper
money, but that of the paper variety is good
enough for Walla Walla, Wash., as it prepares for
its Whitman Centennial, to be celebrated during
August of this year.
Paper scrip, good at any bank in the city, has
been distributed to all merchants in the district
by the Junior Chamber of Commerce, which urges
its use for two reasons to get publicity for the
celebration and to raise money.
The celebration will be in honor of the coming
of Dr. Marcus Whitman and Narcissa Prentiss
Whitman, his wife, in 1836 to the Walla Walla
Valley. Missionaries, teachers and true pioneers,
the two made enviable names for themselves be
fore they were massacred by Indians in 1847
Trying to paint the working! of the mind on a piece of canvas is apt to be quite a Job, yet that's the aim of the
Post-Surrealist movement. Some of the work Is shown here. On the left, "Song of the 8eas," by Luolen Labaudt,
depicting the thoughts of an old sailor who lives his life In retrospect. The objects shown portray various psycho
logical reaotlons In the subject's life. Next Is a painting titled "Consideration of Time and Space," by Grace Clem
ents. To the right you will see a shadow of a tiny man, overwhelmed by the massive mechanical and structural feats
of this age feats the artist believes overshadow even the world, for she has painted In a small globe, also. Center
is another picture by Labaudt, this one "The Accordion Player" mechanized music, In harmony with our time.
Next, "Cataclysmic Metamorphosis," also by Miss Clements, a psychological survey In paint of the cause and effect
of war. Right, "Pears," by Lorser Feltelson, a representation of perceptive and Introspective forms.
Yes, It Looks Crazy-But Artists Say
Modern Painting DoesMean Something
Newest Movement Post-Surrealism Claims That Aim Is Not For Obscurity, But Just The
Reverse Workings Of Mind Provide Solution For What Seem To Be Puzzles
By Jean Rendlen
MAYBE we're all just a little bit crazy then
again, maybe we're not!
Look at those pictures. Mean anything to you?
Whether they do or not, I'll have you understand
they are ART (in capital letters) , and they prove
that artists have minds. And what's more, courage.
This type of thing is what is known in art circles
as Post-Surrealism, the very latest art movement
in the world with the West leading in ability and
imagination. Actually, it was started by Lorser
Feitelson and Helen Lundeburg, of Hollywood,
and has spread because artists everywhere have
grasped the significance of putting mental thoughts
instead of actual realities on canvas.
It is a highly conscious, intellectual approach to
art. The objects portrayed are not in themselves
abstract, although the aggregate represents an ab
stract idea.
TAKE Lucien Labaudt's "Song of the Seas," for
instance. It maintains traditional laws of color,
harmony and line. It is actually the thoughts of an
old sailor, looking back over his life.
Lebaudt took a mask in his studio for the face
of the sailor. The man of the seas can remember
many masks Chinese dragon dancers, as an ex-
ample. Then he remembers the many shirts he
pinned on the clotheslines after washing them
vigorously. You see, as well, his mental picture of
a beautiful, dark-skinned native, making suppli
cation to his god. There is a water jug which once
carried the fluid that saved his life in a distant
land, where water was not to be had; there is, too,
a little sculptured head of a Greek, with plumed
hat. And, at the bottom of the painting, a deep
sea diver's shoe.
The sizes, shapes and proportions of objects are
determined by their importance in conveying an
idea; that is, in accordance with their psychologi
cal importance.
The purpose of this, and other pictures of the
same school, is not decorative, but represents a
series of thoughts which relate to a universal idea.
THE intention of the Post-Surrealist is by no
means to remove himself (or herself) from the
understanding and sympathy of the general public.
On the contrary, they consider their work success
ful only if it achieves a significant unity for the
spectator you!
Grace Clements has done one called "Cataclys
mic Metamorphosis," which is considered by many
critics to be particularly outstanding.
.Miss Clements represents the danger in toys
which are put into the hands of. children for
"amusement."
There you see toy soldiers, with the bayonets,
the cannon and playing cards which have been
used to build tents. Behind the child's thought
are indicated the causes of his war games the
stock ticker and "high hat." Following come the
results of the instincts implanted by soldiers and
cannon death and destruction, broken homes,
cemeteries!
In short, they are, these strange paintings,
thoughts instead of things depicted.
Ups and Downs of The Tap Dance Craze!
m
Antnire nrtA h might drop n."
X'J 7 fl
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9' (
"Covering" Indian Wars
Was No Joke, Old
Time Reporter Recalls
WAR correspondents in Ethiopia may have
their troubles, but they are small compared
with those encountered by the newshawks Who
covered early-day Indian wars in the Northwest.
Unorganized and lacking elaborate equipment
and speedy communication facilities, they did a
workmanlike job, anyway, according to John A.
Rea, veteran Tacoma, Wash., newspaperman, who
is president emeritus of the board of regents of
the University of Washington.
Singlehanded, he covered the flight of Chief
Joseph across Idaho and Montana in 1877. His
stories appeared
chiefly in the Chi
cago Tribune and
the New York
Herald. The ac
counts of the flight
of Chief Joseph and
his braves sent out
by Correspondent
Rea were read
avidly throughout
the East.
In those days, the
quickest means of
communication be
tween the East and
the Pacific North
west was the wires
of the Northern Pa
cific railroad, which
extended only as far
West as Bismarck.
North Dakota. Mes
sages were sent
from the United
States troops in the
field to Bismarck
by scouts and pony
riders.
Correspondent
Rea's dispatches
were not the care
fully typed mes
sages sent out to
day. They were
written in a long- f
hand so precise that
they seldom ap- 1
pcared garbled after
transmission.
SEVERAL times the enterprising correspondent
found himself in difficulties with the war de
partment, because his dispatches read a little too
much (so officials thought) like the supposedly
secret reports being sent to Washington from the
field officers! Some telegraph operators stationed
along the line were suspected of listcniog-in on
confidential reports, but nothing, according to Rea,
was ever proved against them. And even today,
the correspondent just grins when asked how he
did the trick.
The difficulties between the soldiers and Chief
Joseph, as recalled by Correspondent Rea, started
with a clash between the troops and the Indians,
who were penned up on a reservation near Mos
cow, Idaho. Colonel Howard was sent with a de
tachment of troops from Fort Walla Walla, Wash.,
the nearest army post, in pursuit.
But Chief Joseph was not to be caught napping
and he started moving almost immediately in the
opposite direction, with "the Canadian border as
his ultimate destination. General Gibbons and an
other party of soldiers appeared somewhere out
of Central Montana in tho course of the flight, only
to be driven back by the Indians.
HEARING of the trouble, Colonel Nelson H.
Miles, later to become one of the army's noted
generals, stationed at Fort Keogh, Montana (now
Miles City), crossed the Missouri river with a de
tachment of troops and came upon Chief Joseph
and his fleeing tribesmen in the Pawpaw Moun
tains. The battle that followed lasted for three days
Finally Chief Joseph surrendered, just an Colonel
Howard and his men, completing a march of some
1700 miles, came up in the rear.
Correspondent Rea is extremely modest about
his dispatches regarding the flight and battles,
which were "scoops" in every sense of the word.
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Km
John A. Rea