Exhausts Health and Funds Rather than Break
Promise to Lay Remains of Sophia Victim
Beside Those of Her Mother in California
A recent San Francisco dispatch
states that “A1 Winchell returned here
today from a trip to bury the remains
of his wife in the cemetery next to
those of his mother. He intends to
return to Alaska.”
There are men who have torn the
writing of solemn pledges to shreds
and drenched the shreds in blood
and called it nothing. There are
men who have been willing to spend :
life itself to keep a good promise
made, says the Seattle Post-Intelli
gencer. Of the latter is A1 Winchell.
For nine months the love of Win
chell for his wife and his respect for
a promise given her have made him
endure much suffering. Long ago,
by the mundane rules that men and
women judge these things—some
might say he was entitled to forget
—be told his wife that in the event
of her death she should be buried be
side her mother in California, and he
fights in the face of discouragement
to wrest from Alaskan waters the
body of Ilene Winchell, his wife, a
victim of the steamship Sophia wreck
last October, so as to keep his prom
ise to her.
Grant Murdock, who is an old-time
friend of Winchell, and who now re
sides at 5616 Kirkland place, Seattle,
brought Winchell’s story to Seattle
last week.
When the Canadian-Pacific steamer
Sophia struck on Vanderbilt reef,
Lynn canal, forty miles from Ju
neau, Alaska, in the midst of a bliz
zard, and. after having resisted the
boffets of the storm for a day,
slipped from the rocks to become a
scarophagus for the bodies of nearly
300 men, women and children,
among this number was Mrs. Win
chell. The Princess Sophia changed
from ship to tomb on the night of
October 25, 1918.
Miner on Flat Creek
Winchell was a miner employed by
the Yukon Gold company until he
gave up his work to search for the j
body of his wife. For years the
two had lived at Flat creek, which
is a mining camp adjacent to Idita
rod, on the lower Yukon river. Mrs.
Winchell's health failed and it was
decided that she should spend the
winter in California.
On the night that she was to leave
for the coast the two of them talked
of the trip, and Mrs. Winchell said
to her husband:
“Al, I can’t tell you how I know
it, but you will outlive me. If you
do, Al, tell me that you will see that
v I am buried with my mother.”
“I will,” he replied.
The fate that delights to torture
the minds of men who are honest of
heart must have grinned.
Winchell, at Flat creek, heard of
the loss of the Princess Sophia. He
w’alked, with a party of men, the 400
miles to Anchorage in what is said
to have been record time.
On reaching the coast he took
steamship passage to Juneau. They
he began the ceaseless, day-after-day
fight that is not ended yet.
Because her owners believed that
the Sophia had broken her back on
the reef, they declined him help, and
Winchell, a mine laborer, hired his
own diver—a man named Jacobson
—chartered a boat in Juneau and in
the dead of winter went to the reef.
Floating ice and the extremely
cold water made diving hazardous,
and it was only by paying exorbitant
wages that Winchell kept the diver
at work. The company records in
Juneau showed that Mrs. Winchell,
because of her ill health, had been
given a stateroom by herself, and
it was at this room, No. 35, that
Jacobson began his search.
The room is in the waist of the
ship and the wreckage of the super
structure lies about it in such a
manner that a man does not dare to
break its door and to enter lest the
wreckage topple down and close the
opening.
The diver, peering through the
window, saw two bodies, one on the
floor and the other lying in a berth.
He drew one body to the window and
tried to drag it through. A parti
tion, too strong for him to break, pre
vented.
He could spend but a few minutes
at a time in the icy water and when
ie had (-hopped through the partition
a few days later a storm came up and
Winchell and the diver had to put
fcftct into Juneau.
Returned to Wreck
When the storm subsided they
went back to the reef and Jacobson
reached the body and drew rings
from its fingers to show Winchell.
It was not his wife. Later identifi
cation showed it to be the remains
of Mrs. John O’Brien, who had
perished with her husband and five
children. Then they felt sure that
the other body in room 35 was that
of Mrs. Winchell.
One day when it seemed as if but
a few hours would see Mrs. Win
chell’s body discovered, the diver
working below felt smothered. His
trembling, half-frozen fingers in their
cold-brittled gloves slipped over the
handle of the valve in his helmet and
closed it, and with the air confined
in the helmet he shot to the surface,
sixty feet above the wreck.
A slug of ice, formed by the
moisture of his breath in the air pipe
just above his head, partially clog
it.
“That settles it,” he told Win
chell. “I wouldn’t go down there
again until the water is free of ice
for all the money there is in the
world.”
Winchell remonstrated with him,
but in vain.
With borrowed money Winchell
began work again in March, and al
ways the sea threw new obstacles in
his way and laughed at his work.
Not Mrs. Winchell’s Body
Then one day a few weeks ago a
Seattle diver, J. J. Donovan, whom
Winchell says “is the most conscien
tious man I ever knew,” succeeded
in bringing the body in the berth ot
room 35 to the surface and Winchell
was disappointed again. It was not
that of his wife.
In May the steamship company
sent divers to the Sophia wreck and
since then Winchell and his men—
Donovan and Smith—have worked
with the company divers and there
have been forty-six bodies recovered
but not the body of Ilene Winchell.
Winchell is an old man now. His
friends say that he has grown old
since the Sophia went down. He
lives with but one thought and one
end, and that is expressed in the
line of a letter he wrote a few days
ago which says, “I hope there is a
God in heaven who will favor me
by giving me my poor Ilene. 1 am
nearly all in.”
The staterooms and the decks of
the Sophia, say the divers, are lit
tered by the bodies of her pas
sengers. Slowly and painfully the
divers are cutting them free from
the wreck debris, and as every one
reaches the boats above, Winchell
is happy for a moment and then filled
with sorrow, but impelled by a de
termination greater than before.
VIRGIN ISLANDERS
CALL FOR RECOGNITION
ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands, July
5 (Correspondence of Associated
Press).—This American port is be
ginning to regain some of its former
maritime importance. Owing to the
war, improvements in this direction
have been slow since the Virgin Is
lands were purchased from Denmark,
but now, after considerable agitation
by business men of St. Thomas, Am
erican steamers are beginning to call
here. This is the result of repre
sentations which have been made to
Washington in behalf of the inhabi
tants of the islands.
The islanders feel that American
steamship owners, and especially the
Shipping Board at Washington, have
heretofore overlooked the facilities of
the harbor of St. Thomas for provid
ing coal, fuel oil, and other stores.
While few American steamers have
been calling at St. Thomas for sup
plies, many have called at the neigh
boring British islands where facilities
are not considered as good as here.
The price of coal is cheaper at St.
Thomas than at the British islands.
To bring this matter before the
Shipping Board and to obtain all the
help possible from the American peo
ple and congress, a meeting of the
inhabitants of the Virgin islands was
held here. Resolutions were adopt
ed calling the attention of the Ship
ping Board to the facilities of the
port, such as a pier 3,000 feet long
with 31 feet of water alongside, and
all up-to-date appliances for the quick
dispatch of vessels wanting coal,
water, fuel oil and other stores.
The resolution was carried to
Washington by Darwin O. Curry, col
lector of customs, who laid it before ,
the Shipping Board. Mr. Curry has
since returned and reports that that
board, members of congress, and Am
erican business men have promised
to do all they can for the islands.
Another oil depot is being erected
here to meet increased demands. The
people of St. Thomas believe it pos
sesses far better facilities than most
other West Indian islands, and are
determined to make known its avail
ability as a port on call for supply
ing steamers.
CONDITIONS ROVING
IN SERBIAN CAPITAL
BELGRADE, July 2 (by mail).—
There are many evidences of better
ing conditions in Belgrade. Belgian
university opened a short time ago.
The American Red Cross is now erect
ing barracks to house the students
during the summer.
In the spirit of the people there is
a marked change for the better in
the last few months. Social gather
ings are more frequent, and a few
moving picture theaters are in opera
tion.
Shops in the city are gradually
re-filling with stocks. Prices are
high. Reports from the interior in
dicate a large grain harvest, with a
possible surplus for export in south
Serbia. These reports have had an
encouraging effect on life in the
capital.
Try the Club Billiard Hall for
golden, silver and royal fizzes. 23-tf
I PROFESSIONAL |
DR. W. W. COUNCIL
PHYSICIAN and SURGEON
Office and Residence, Cordova
General Hospital (.Ostrander
Building).
Phones—Residence, 115; Office, 132
DR. W. H. CHASE
PHYSICIAN and SURGEON
Office over Cordova Drug Store.
Calls may be left at Cordova
Drug Store.
Residence, Alaska Hotel.
♦-♦
I DR. W. D’ARCY CHACE
PHYSICIAN and SURGEON
WINDSOR HOTEL
Hours:
1 p. m. to 3 p. m. and 7 p. m. to 8 p. m. j
♦ —-♦
DR. CHAS. DAGGETT
DENTAL OFFICES
—
CORDOVA, ALASKA
♦-♦
DR. CORA DAGGETT
SPECIALIST
Pyorrhea and Dental Prophylaxis
♦
DR. VON ZESCH
Dentist
ADAMS BUILDING
*DR. CHARLES M. RODSETH*
CHIROPRACTIC PHYSICIAN
Northern Hotel,
Phone 158
<►-♦
D0N0H0E & DIMOND
ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW
Offices:
CORDOVA and VALDEZ
FRANK H. FOSTER
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW
ROOM 1, OSTRANDER BUILDING
♦-»
E. F. MEDLEY
ATTORNEY AND COUNSELLOR
AT LAW
Room 1, Adams Block
CORDOVA, ALASKA
-+
i I
R. H. L. NOAKS
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW
SECOND ST., OPP. HOSPITAL
4-—♦
FRANK A. METCALF
CIVIL AND MINING ENGINEER
U. S. MINERAL SURVEYOR
Juneau, Alaska
MERCY R. MURRAY
Shampooing, Manicuring, Facial
and Scalp Treatment, Bleaching
ind Dyeing. Room 22, Hospital bldg.
Telephone 163, three Rings.
< >----♦
H. I. CALL
Piano Tuning and Regulating
C St., Opp. H egg's
Phone 123—2 Rings
♦
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