The 1900 Galveston Hurricane Memorial, Galveston, TX
If you approached Galveston, Texas from the gulf in 1900, it looked like an American Venice. Barely 8 feet above sea level – hotels, mansions, and church steeples rose from the placid waters as if it were Atlantis itself. Its long harbor and numerous warehouses made it a more important port than its inland cousin, Houston. Over 1,000 steam ships docked at the harbor every year. Its busy business district was dubbed the ‘Wall Street of the West.’ Over 37,000 souls crowded into the picturesque barrier island, linked to the mainland by no less than 3 railroad bridges. The popular, flat beachfront boasted numerous hotels, restaurants and shops along its famous Midway. All that changed when the Category 4 Galveston Hurricane, the “1900 STORM,” arrived from the Gulf.
As far back as locals could remember, Galveston had been spared the arrival of any major hurricane, or ‘Cyclones’ as they called them back then. Only two tropical storms had hit Texas in recent memory, but much farther south. Galvestonians considered them freak incidents and that a major hurricane would NEVER breach the Florida Straits, let alone hit Texas. Why even the U.S. Weather Bureau agreed the shallow Gulf waters made it virtually immune to hurricanes.
Talks of building a sea wall were discussed by city leaders, then tossed aside as sheer folly. Why bother? In the meantime, the bustling city continued to fill up and grow. The protective dunes were destroyed and their sand used to fill in wetlands for new construction and even more souls on the island.
Saturday, September 8th, 1900 began with few hints of impending doom.
Galveston Chief Meteorologist Isaac Cline
The U.S. Weather Bureau knew a tropical storm had passed Cuba two day earlier, but thought it turned to the north and was heading for Florida. In the days before satellites, eye witnesses and telegraphs had to suffice … and they were not enough. Isaac Cline, Galveston’s chief meteorologist, went to the beach that morning and reported partly cloudy skies with only “unusually high swells in the gulf.” There was not the brick-red dawn usually associated with foul weather. Other than the raising of a storm warning flag atop the weather bureau building downtown, there would be no call for evacuation. By that time, it was too late anyway.
By the lunch hour, dark clouds had brought heavy rains. They were fed by an unusually high tide, flooding all streets nearest the beach hip-deep in seawater. Fierce, crashing waves destroyed the beloved Midway and trolley tracks that ran parallel to the beach. Some families began to pack their wagons with valuables and head to the center of the island. Others, believing it was just a bad storm, stayed put and moved to the upper floor of their homes.
By four o’clock, winds were blowing at hurricane strength, flipping slate shingles off roof tops, sending them flying through the air like scimitars. Rising waters were already chest-deep in the streets. Store front windows downtown were shattered by the winds. Families realized they had but two options now, risk wading downtown to slightly higher ground (a mere 8 feet above sea level), or ride out the storm in the upper floors of their wooden homes. Isaac Cline had watched his barometer drop all day to a record low and waded home to his own family. Schools, convents and hospitals became emergency shelters.
By 6 PM, what we today call a Category 4 Hurricane hit an unsuspecting Galveston.
A 15 FOOT STORM SURGE rose in a matter of minutes, flooding the island from beach to bay. All the bridges leaving the island were destroyed. Two hours later, the Eye itself plowed over the city, punching it with 140 mile per hour winds. In the dark of night, street after street of houses were crushed by the massive storm surge. Broken homes were lifted off their foundations. They crashed into the next street, only to repeat the cycle of destruction. Residents who were not killed instantly were quite literally thrown into the heart of the cyclone’s dark swirling waters, to either survive clinging to wreckage, or die.
St. Mary’s Orphan Asylum, Galveston, TX, 1900
St. Mary’s Orphanage sat on prime property, directly on the Gulf, just outside the city limits. The Sisters of Charity gathered the terrified children into the upper floors to escape the rising storm surge. They sang Mary, Queen of the Waves to pray and calm the orphans. The sisters even tied themselves to the children with ropes so they’d not be separated if blown out into the storm. Its two dormitories eventually collapsed with 90 young children and 10 nuns inside … only three teenage boys managed to survive.
By dawn, the killer storm has passed. The dazed and lucky survivors crawled from the wreckage to find half their city flattened to rubble and littered with corpses. Due to the large number of bodies washed out to sea, it will never be known exactly how many truly died in the Galveston Hurricane. 3,600 buildings were completely destroyed and up to 8,000 lives lost. Isaac Cline managed to save his 3 daughters when their home collapsed, but lost his wife. The bodies of the dead were first loaded onto barges and dumped in the Gulf of Mexico, but the Gulf dumped them back on the beach the next day. Funeral pyres became the only way to dispose of so many dead.
Galveston learned its lesson, oh yes, it certainly did.
Galveston, Texas 1900 Hurricane damage
In the years following, the Gulf of Mexico sand was dredged and the entire city raised up 17 FEET. Then a massive, curved concrete seawall was constructed. Galveston has since been hit many more times by tropical storms, most recently directs hits by Hurricane Alicia in 1983 and Hurricane Ike in September 2008. Though given ample days to evacuate from Ike, over 100,000 residents chose to stay on the skinny barrier island and ride out the storm … just like their ancestors a hundred years earlier.
Given the uncertainty around global Climate Change, we can only assume Hurricane Ike will not be the last cyclone to attack the vulnerable Texas coast, and the city of Galveston.
The Sultana Disaster on the Mississippi River near Memphis, TN, April 1865
More souls died on the Riverboat Sultana than the RMS Titanic.
The Sultana disaster is in fact, the worst maritime disaster in United States history with 1,860 lost. So why is it such a forgotten piece of American history, with just a few books written? Why no epic Hollywood films? Everyone remembers the Battle of Gettysburg, or the Fall of the Alamo, so why not the Sultana Disaster? A lot had to do with timing and how the U.S. Civil War ended. April 1865 was a very eventful month for both the United States and Confederate States of America.
General Robert E. Lee had surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox in Virginia on April 9th. After five bloody years, pitting brothers against brothers, the U.S. Civil War was finally over. Barely a week later, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14th while attending a performance at Ford Theater in Washington D.C. The manhunt for his assassin, the actor John Wilkes Booth, ended on April 26th. He was fatally shot by Union troops in a remote Maryland barn.
The very next day, April 27th, 1865 the riverboat exploded in the dead of night on the Mississippi River just north of Memphis, Tennessee. It sank with over 2,400 souls aboard. They were primarily haggard Union soldiers, prisoners of war happily returning home to the north. By comparison, 1,517 would die on the Titanic decades later in 1912.
Regardless of the scope of the disaster, Americans were too wrapped up in the end of the War Between the States and the death of their beloved President Lincoln. They took little notice of a Mississippi river boat sinking, no matter how many Union soldiers were on board. Few newspapers gave it more than a quick paragraph of mention, and not even on the front page.
The Riverboat Sultana more than just sank in the Mississippi River, it exploded first.
Its four steam boilers exploded violently in the dead of night, quickly engulfing the rest of the wooden boat in a wave of hungry flames. Survivors not killed instantly by the blast were faced with the terrible choice of burning to death or risk drowning in the dark, cold Mississippi. And these travelers were no ordinary passengers. The ship was filled far beyond its legal capacity with over 2,400 people. Most were former Union Prisoners of War who after 4 long years, wanted nothing more than to return home to their loved ones up north.
Sultana Captain James Cass Mason
Sultana’s legal capacity was only 376 passengers and crew! Union officers squeezed 2,400 bodies into every square inch of the riveboat’s 4 decks. Worst still, these poor men had survived the worst POW camps in all the South, the infamous Andersonville and Cahaba Confederate prison camps. For the last two years of the war, these poor soldiers endured horrific conditions at the hands of the Confederates. They lived in rags, subsisting on scraps, wasting away of starvation, and dying of dreadful diseases like cholera and scurvy. Now, not only were the survivors rescued, they were going home back north.
Why on earth was the Sultana so overcrowded? It was due to a shady deal between the Sultana’s greedy Captain James Cass Mason and some equally greedy Union officers in Vicksburg including chief quartermaster Captain Reuben Hatch. The officers ignored other riverboats in favor of filling the Sultana. Captain Mason was also part owner of the riverboat. He would be paid $2.75 for each soldier and $8.00 for each officer, so do the math. The more soldiers he could transport, the richer he would get.
The newly released prisoners, weakened from disease and malnutrition, were all loaded and squeezed together on the riverboat like hogs in a slaughterhouse. But remarkably, they were still in good spirits! After all, the War was finally over and they were finally headed home. Even an overcrowded riverboat was better than a Confederate POW camp.
The only existing photo of the overloaded Sultana Riverboat, taken in Helena, Arkansas, April 1865
The Riverboat Sultana left Vicksburg, Mississippi in late April 1865 and traveled north up the twisting, muddy river, already swollen with heavy Spring rains. The former POWs made the best of their cramped situation. A newspaper photographer in Helena, Arkansas managed to take the only photo of the ridiculously crowded decks when it docked there the next day.
Unfortunately, just prior to leaving Vicksburg, Captain Mason had one of the Sultana’s cracked boilers quickly and cheaply patched with just a small plate. Mason wanted nothing to interfere with his big pay-off of transporting thousands of troops back north. This amounted to a ticking time bomb under the poor soldiers’ feet. Two days later, April 27th, 1865, while the tired men slept, the Sultana‘s cracked boiler exploded at 2 o’clock in the morning at an isolated bend in the Mississippi River, just north of Memphis.
Only 600 of the 2,400 souls aboard managed to survive the hell that followed.
There were no modern lifeboats and few cork life preservers. There was no wireless telegraph to call for help. The boiler explosions blew apart the center of the riverboat. The blast killed hundreds instantly, and the hungry fire spread rapidly. Those that did not burn to death, jumped into the cold, dark river. The Mississippi was turned it into a frothing chaos of weak, drowning men grasping for debris.
Four Union soldiers, victims of the Sultana Riverboat disaster
The burning hulk of the Sultana slowly drifted downriver, finally sinking in an angry cloud of steam. It was 2 hours before a southbound riverboat came upon and rescued the floundering survivors floating in the river. Captain Mason died on board the Sultana. Shockingly, no Vicksburg officers, included Captain Hatch, who resigned to avoid court-martial, were ever held accountable for the terrible overcrowding.
Countless Americans have never heard of the Sultana Disaster. These poor men were all but forgotten in history. A few of their ancestors, members of the Sultana Descendants Association, faithfully meet in the Spring each year to keep the memory of their ancestors alive. A newSultana Disaster Museum opened in nearby Marion, Arkansas in 2026. An excellent documentary of the tragedy, Remember the Sultana, was released in 2018, and is now available on Prime. The wreck of the Sultana was discovered in 1982 in an Arkansas soybean field, two miles from the current river.
Thanks to the nonfiction books by Jerry Potter and Gene Salecker, I thoroughly researched the Sultana disaster and wrote a historical novel, SULTANA AWAITS to do my part in making sure those brave men, who sacrificed so much, are never forgotten. It follows two young Indiana brothers who volunteer to fight for the Union army, and end up prisoners of war in Andersonville and Cahaba. Then at the close of the Civil War, they end up in Vicksburg, Mississippi and board the doomed riverboat Sultana.
Read the historical novel SULTANA AWAITS by Paul Andrews.
Experience the Johnston Flood in the young adult historical novel SWEPT AWAY.
Depiction of the Johnstown Flood and Fire at the Stone Bridge, 1889
The Johnstown Flood of 1889 was more a man-made Tsunami than a flood by Mother Nature. Yes, there was flooding first, when a torrential storm arrived on Memorial Day 1889. The two rivers that flanked the steel mill town, the Stoney Creek and Little Conemaugh Rivers, swelled and flooded the riverfront. But this was normal for a river town. The residents thought nothing of rolling up their carpets and carrying them upstairs. It wasn’t until the aging dam burst upriver that the real, staggering tragedy and loss of life occurred.
The South Fork Dam was completed 37 years earlier in 1852. Lake Conemaugh sat for twenty-two years in an isolated, forested valley, 14 miles upriver from Johnstown. An investor named Benjamin Ruff later bought the lake. He turned it into a mountain retreat for the wealthy elite of Pittsburgh. The “SOUTH FORK FISHING & HUNTING CLUB” was born with millionaires like Henry Frick, Andrew Carnegie, and Andrew Mellon as its charter members. For ten years, it was THE summer retreat of choice for the millionaires of Pennsylvania and their families. When the lake was full, the pristine water stretched three miles long and over a mile across. A large clubhouse and numerous luxury cottage dotted the shoreline.
FIVE key mistakes were made with the South Fork Dam that doomed it to its fateful collapse.
Sketch of Lake Conemaugh and the South Fork Club, 1889
FIRST – Large cast iron pipes were originally built into a culvert at the base of the breast to control the level of the lake when needed. A prior owner removed them and sold the pipes for scrap metal! In an effort to avoid costly repairs, the new South Fork Fishing & Hunting Club did not replace them. Though the dam did have a spillway for overflow, this still left no means to ever drain the lake when badly needed repairs were necessary.
SECOND – The South Fork Club added a screen of cast iron bars across the spillway to prevent their precious bass and trout from escaping. Sport fishing was one of the draws for wealthy gentlemen, along with small game hunting along the shores. Unfortunately, it also caught all the branches and forest leaves that fell each season. There was no longer any way for them to simply float out. This decreased the spillway’s effectiveness in times of high rains.
THIRD – A minor break in the breast during the Civil War left the dam badly in need of repairs. The owners of the South Fork Club had only the exposed side of the breast repaired in 1881, since the lake could no longer be drained. They had their workers only patch it haphazardly with rocks, hemlock, mud, hay, and even cow manure! Plus they chose a gentleman from Pittsburgh with no engineering credentials to lead the repair.
This led, over the years, to a gradual sagging of the dam’s center!
By 1889, the middle of the breast had dipped by about two feet lower than either end.
FORTH – Around the same time, the South Fork Club owners actually had the entire breast of the dam lowered three feet to accommodate a wider carriage road across the top. You see, the owners wanted it wide enough for two carriages to be able to pass each other going either to or from the Clubhouse. This would be so as not make their wealthy guests have wait in line at either end of the dam. Heaven forbid there be such an inconvenience to their wealthy guests!
FIFTH and finally – the South Fork Club owners had two unqualified steel mill inspectors come to Lake Conemaugh and examine the dam a few years before the collapse. This was because local witnesses were increasingly alarmed the dam’s shoddy state. The ‘inspectors’ stated that “The South Fork Dam was perfectly safe to withstand all the pressure that can be brought to bear on it by the waters of Lake Conemaugh.” Well, history tells us how inaccurate those 2 men were.
That spring, the lake was already full from a heavy winter snow melt coming off the Allegheny Mountains. Heavy rains that weekend, from a mid-west ‘Storm of the Century,’ finally brought the waters up and over the breast. It was only a matter of time before disaster struck. Men feverishly tried to add more fill to the top of the dam, but it was a wasted effort. The aged dam finally burst on Memorial Day, 1889, releasing 20 million tons of water in a matter of minutes. John Parke, the Hunting Club’s young engineer galloped his horse to the nearby village of South Fork to warn the residents.
At 4:00 pm on May 31st ,1889, a tsunami of lake water 35 FEET HIGHtravelling45 MPH rushed down the narrow South Fork River valley like a runaway train. It collected miles of deadly debris along the way, wiping away a stone railroad trestle and four smaller villages. Just before Johnstown, it took away a large rail yard and even a barbed wire steel mill in Woodvale. Then the wall of water finally slammed brutally into the city and its unsuspecting citizens, loaded with debris.
The poor souls had no warning other than an unearthly roar coming from up the river valley.
The wave hit Johnstown hard. It destroyed hundreds of homes, killing thousands of residents, and wiped entire city blocks off the map. Those who didn’t die instantly, drowned in the rising floodwaters, laced with the remains of the bridge, steel mill and railyard. A mountain of wreckage jammed like a second dam at the thick arches of the Stone Bridge over the Conemaugh River just outside of town. The wooden debris eventually caught fire due to numerous gas leaks. Whirlpools formed due to the steep mountainsides surrounding the city. Johnstown became in essence a second, swirling Lake Conemaugh.
Some of the destruction following the Johnstown Flood of 1889
By the time waters drained and the sun rose the next morning, the dazed survivors discovered a mangled city covered in mud, debris and corpses. Over 2,200 souls lost their lives, including 400 childrenand 100 complete families. Clara Barton and the newly formed Red Cross rushed in by train to help the hungry, homeless survivors.Reporters swarmed to the scene. The entire nation was in shock over the sheer cope of the disaster. Bodies were found downriver as far as Cincinnati, Ohio. A haunting poem by Isaac Reed sums it up.
Many thousand human lives- Butchered husbands, slaughtered wives Mangled daughters, bleeding sons, Hosts of martyred little ones, Worse than Herod’s awful crime Sent to heaven before their time; Lovers burnt and sweethearts drowned, Darlings lost but never found! All the horrors that hell could wish, Such was the price that was paid for fish
And what of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club and its wealthy Pittsburgh owners? Surely their part in the failed dam and the Johnstown Flood led to them paying a heavy price. Well, think again. Thanks to some high-priced Pittsburgh lawyers, Benjamin Ruff and his wealthy investors were never held accountable. Not for the deaths, or damages, by what was legally deemed by judges in the courts “An Act of God.” Pennsylvanian citizens considered them Robber Barons who had gotten away with murder.
The remains of the South Fork Dam still exist today. The flanking sides of the old breast are a carefully preserved Johnstown Flood National Memorial managed by the U.S. Parks Service. Railroad tracks next to the quiet South Fork Rivernow run through the quiet valley that once held the Lake Conemaugh. If you are ever inthe Pittsburgh area, take time to visit both the memorial and the rebuilt, modern city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The Johnstown Flood Museum preserves the memory of the victims, so that we might never forget the consequences of man’s folly.
Experience the Johnston Flood in the young adult historical novel SWEPT AWAY.
Experience the Great Chicago Fire in the historical novel FIREBRANDS
Chicagoans flee the GREAT CHICAGO FIRE of 1871
It is true the infamous Great Chicago Fire started in the barn of Catherine O’Leary on Sunday night, October 8th, 1871. They lived in a small lot at 137DeKoven Street on Chicago’s West Side. But poor Kate O’Leary was not milking a cow at the time, as was later popularized by the relentless press. They were looking for a scapegoat, someone to blame. She and her husband were instead fast asleep in their bedroom after a long day of work. They were morning laborers, up at the crack of dawn to milk their 5 cows and make deliveries to their neighbors. By 8:30 PM, after feeding both their barn animals and their 5 children, they were legitimately exhausted.
Some also blamed Daniel “Peg Leg” Sullivan for starting the blaze. He was the first person to shout “FIRE! FIRE!”in the dark streets that fateful night. But no, Daniel was simply strolling by the O’Leary place. He was listening to fiddle music drifting from a neighbor’s house, who were hosting a party. He noticed the first lick of flames shooting out of the O’Leary’s barn roof. The loft was packed with 3 tons of hay for the winter and went up like a bone-dry tinder box. Peg Leg Sullivan in fact risked his life to free the O’Leary’s terrified animals. A shed next door unfortunately held 2 tons of coal, also stockpiled by a neighbor for the winter. That quickly ignited next.
Once the barn and shed began to burn, there would be no controlling the blaze.
Across Chicago, a fierce, gusting prairie wind blew from the southwest all night long. In between the tightly packed wooden houses were lines of wooden fences and wooden sidewalks. By the time Patrick and Kate O’Leary emerged sleepily from their home, two of their neighbors’ houses were already ablaze. Chicago had been experiencing a terribly hot drought that autumn. The winds would eagerly thrust the fire from house to house … and then street to street, throughout the long night. Desperate neighbors would first try bucket brigades, but it would be all for naught.
Due to fire signal confusion by the Chicago Fire Department that Sunday night, the first Firehouse Steamers would not arrive at the West Side street for OVER AN HOUR! Even when a dozen steamers arrived, entire city blocks were now on fire. It was too late to contain it just to the rural West Side. You see back in the 1800’s, nearly every structure, including those sidewalks, was made of wood, not brick or stone.
The 1871 Great Chicago Fire reaches Lake Michigan
The winds freely tossed huge firebrands the size of livestock clear across the dark Chicago River to the South Side. There, huge warehouses and the large business district waited. The wind-fed inferno charged along, consuming dozens of factories and lumber yards. Then it swept into city center, burning luxury hotels, banks, department stores, and even the Opera House and the cupola’d City Hall.At 1:30 AM, prisoners were let out of the jail to save their lives.
Tall grain silos lining the edge of Lake Michigan burnt like monstrous Roman candles. Panicked residents crowded onto bridges across the Chicago River trying to escape. Everywhere, buildings collapsed into heaps of burning rubble. City officials convinced the Fire Marshal to make a feeble attempt at a fire break by dynamiting a few South Side buildings. Unfortunately, it had little effect. Only the waters of Lake Michigan halted its ravenous eastward march.
Within hours, the fire jumped the river again to the heavily populated North Side residential area. The Fire Brigades, with their tiny steamer engines, were not equipped to handle such a massive conflagration. Dozens of city blocks, filled with ornate mansions, homes, schools and church steeples all went up in flames. All Chicagoans could do was run and watch in horror. They dashed away in panic, ahead of the advancing front of flames. Even ships docked in the Chicago River and the wooden bridges that crossed it, eventually caught fire and were consumed. In the middle of the night, dazed refugees huddled in Lincoln Park, or waded into the cold waters of Lake Michigan, praying to God for deliverance.
The Great Chicago Fire burned to Lake Michigan. An early morning rain finally extinguished the hungry monster.
What was left of the city resembled Hiroshima after the atomic blast. Over 300 souls perished and 2,000 acres were consumed in the mighty blaze. Thousands of survivors were left homeless. The entire nation was shocked that one of their largest cities could literally go up in smoke. The city would be rebuilt, of course, this time in brick and stone.
In the weeks to come, Irish immigrant Kate O’Leary and her famous cow, were merely made unfortunate scapegoats. The papers went so far as to publish a now infamous sketch of her milking a cow that kicks a lantern into the straw. They drew her as an old, witch-like hag when in fact she was only thirty-five, with five young children to take care of. She and her family eventually had to flee the city due to numerous death threats.
Destruction following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871
So who Really started the famous fire that consumed a bustling American city? Historians today believe that it was not Catherine O’Leary or Peg Leg Sullivan. The most likely, though never proven culprit, was one of the O’Leary’s neighbors, the McLaughlins, from that rowdy party next door. If you had no cow, it was common to steal free milk from your neighbor’s barn under the cover of night. The drunken thief from the party likely had a candle that tipped over and fell into the hay. It starting the barn’s brittle, dry straw to blaze, and the shocked robber fled into the night.
After that, the rest is history. It would indeed be a “Hot Time in the Ole Town Tonight!“
Experience the Great Chicago Fire in the historical novel, FIREBRANDS
The ocean liner Lusitania was struck by a German torpedo in 1915 and sunk within sight of the Irish coast in just 18 Minutes! Compare that to the rather luxurious sinking of the Titanic three years earlier in 1912 that lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes. We have all seen the popular movie, so just imagine our protagonists Rose and Jack having just 18 minutes to escape the sinking ship.
In 1915, World War I was not even a year old in Europe. In response to Great Britain’s naval blockade, Germany announced that it would begin ‘UNRESTRICTED SUBMARINE WARFARE.’ In other words, U-boats would torpedo ANY ship in the Atlantic war zone. Brits and Americans boarding the Lusitania in New York City saw advertisements in city newspapers, posted by the German embassy, warning them of that risk:
Vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or any of her Allies, are liable to destruction in the war zone, and travelers sailing on such ships DO SO AT THEIR OWN RISK!
German Embassy newspaper advertisement
Passengers ignored the warning since surely Germany would not target a civilian ocean liner. Also, they were told by the Cunard line that, with a top speed of 21 knots, far faster than any submarine, the Lusitania could easily outrun any German U-boat. Dubbed the “Greyhound of the Seas,” she had won the Blue Ribbon for the fastest Atlantic crossing.
With 1,257 passengers and 702 crew aboard, the RMS Lusitania left New York City harbor on 1 May 1915 bound for Liverpool, England. Unknown to her passengers, she also carried a large, secret cargo of munitions and contraband destined for the British war effort.
Tensions finally grew onboard Lusitania once the Atlantic crossing neared its end and they entered British waters on 7 May 1915. They had good reason to be worried. German submarines had already sunk 2 steamers off the coast of Ireland that week. Nevertheless, the British Admiralty never sent a destroyer to escort Lusitania! Instead, they instructed Captain William Turner to avoid the Irish coast at top speed and in a zigzag pattern, making it difficult for a U-boat to score a torpedo hit.
But with visibility obscured by thick coastal fog and wanting to save coal, Captain Turner reduced speed to only 15 knots. He sailed Lusitania in a straight line, just 11 miles off the south Irish coast, within sight of Old Head Lighthouse. Turner was ignoring every one of the Admiralty’s directives. Whether or not the Captain’s decision was justified, it doomed his ship, passengers and crew.
Lurking beneath the Irish waters was U-20, led by Kapitänleutnant Walter Schwieger.
U-20 had already sank a few smaller vessels and now, at 2 o’clock in the early afternoon, he spotted a four stack ocean liner through his periscope. What a prize for the Kaiser! he thought. Knowing full well it contained hundreds of civilians, at 2:09 pm in the afternoon, Schwieger gave the command to load and fire a single torpedo at the ship. He then watched anxiously through his periscope.
View of the Lusitania from German U-Boat U-20 periscope
At 2:10 p.m., Lusitania’s lookouts spotted a torpedo streaking rapidly towards them, a white, frothy line in its wake. “Torpedo off the starboard bow!” they told the bridge. By that time, it was too late for the large ship to avoid. The captain barked out orders “Hard to Starboard!” The German torpedo struck the Lusitania on the starboard side between mid-ship and the bow.
The detonation sent a low rumble through the ship. Passengers reacted with mild concern. After all, it could just be trouble with the ship’s large steam engine. They continued their reading or conversations. 30 seconds later however, a 2nd, much large explosion erupted from deep within the vessel’s belly, sending out clouds of black smoke. The Lusitania immediately began a tilt to starboard.
It was not a 2nd torpedo, however. Captain Schwieger always maintained that he fired only one. The source of the 2nd explosion is Lusitania’s greatest mystery. What had caused it? The bridge crew discovered the Lusitania no longer responded to the ship’s wheel. The captain ordered an immediate wireless SOS sent out and to reverse all engines. When the engine room could not comply to his orders, he knew they were finished. The ship‘s tilt to starboard continued to worsen. He immediately ordered all passengers to life boats.
At 2:14 PM, electricity failed and the interior of the ship plunged into darkness.
Unlike the Titanic, the Lusitania had enough lifeboats for all. However, with the decks tilting wildly, a manic chaos set in, with passengers racing to find life jackets and then life boats. One survivor described it as a swarm of mad bees without the queen. Parents were separated from children in the rush of bodies. The electric lifts stopped working, trapping people between decks! Water began rapidly flooding the lower decks faster than people could escape them. The hallways and staircases became jammed with humanity.
Within 5 minutes, the Lusitania’s list was already 15 degrees to starboard, then 20, then 25! by 2:25 pm. Crewmembers attempted to launch the lifeboats, but the tilt of the sinking ship made this near impossible. On the port side, many boats swung back over the deck rather than the sea. Those that were released over the railing splintered against the riveted hull on their way down, or capsized completely on the way down, killing all those inside.
Things were no better on the starboard side. Those lifeboats that were released, swung out far away from the railing, too far for people to board. Those that reached the water overturned or went in nose first because of the sinking bow. Some flipped over, either in the air, or when they hit the water, dumping screaming passengers into the frigid Irish sea.
When it became apparent the lifeboats were failing, passengers jumped into the ocean.
On the starboard side, they began sliding down the steep decks into the churning water. Once in the sea, they fought to hold onto any piece of floating wreckage they could find. Most never had a chance. The ship’s massive propellers at the stern rose out of the water as the pointed bow sank beneath the sea. Once the bow went under, the sinking accelerated. Further explosions blew below decks as cold seawater hit the red-hot boilers.
On submarine U-20, Captain Schwieger watched through his periscope and noted the result in his log, “The ship stops immediately and heals over to starboard quickly, immersing at the bow. Great confusion is rife on board; the boats are made ready and some lowered into the water. In connection therewith, great panic reigns; some boats, full to capacity are rushed from above, touch the water with either stem or stern first and founder immediately.”
Onboard the Lusitania, Captain Turner ordered his men to abandon ship as well and remained on the bridge until it too was submerged beneath him. He was somehow washed clear of the bow as the ship sank. He survived after spending 3 hours in the cold water, atop a deck chair. He was pulled from the sea unconscious.
At 2:28 PM, within 18 minutes the giant ship slipped beneath the sea.
It left a bubbling, swirling, frothy whirlpool in its wake. 1,198 of the 1,924 aboard died, including 128 Americans, 59 children and 35 infants. Lusitania sank in a mere 90 meters (300 feet) of water. Kapitänleutnant Schwieger lowered his periscope and ordered his submarine back out to sea. He was lauded as a war hero in Germany, and later died in 1917 when his U-boat hit a mine off the British coast.
Rescue ships were dispatched from the Irish port of Queenstown and arrived within 2 hours. They managed to pick up only 761 survivors. Some were in such a state of shock their hair began to turn grey and fall out. Local authorities set up makeshift morgues to handle the hundreds of floating corpses being collected on the sea. Mass burials were made onshore in the days to come.
The killing of U.S. citizens enraged Americans. President Woodrow Wilson protested loudly, and public opinion in the U.S. began to turn against Germany. It would still be another 2 years however, 1917, before the U.S. finally joined the Allies in the trenches of France. At a Board of Trade Inquiry, Captain Turner, the Cunard Company, and the Royal Navy were all absolved of any negligence. All blame was placed on the German government.
So what had caused the mysterious 2nd explosion?
Lusitania had been carrying 173 tons of ammunition. The Germans maintained this made her a legitimate target and caused the 2nd explosion. The British continued to deny it. Robert Ballard, discoverer of the wreck of the Titanic, explored the Lusitania in 1993, hoping to finally solve the mystery. The sad wreck lies in just 295 feet of water on her starboard side, obscuring the area where the torpedo hit.
Wreck of the RMS Lusitania off the Irish coast.
Conspiracy theorists claim the Brits deliberately sank the ship to hasten America’s entry into the war. Ballard found no evidence of this. Nor was there any evidence of an explosion in the hold where munitions were stowed. No boiler room explosion was reported by the surviving crew at the time the torpedo hit. Ballard concluded the torpedo ripped open a coal bunker, causing the huge 2nd explosion. The blast ripped open a much larger hole and doomed the ship to its rapid death.
So ended the life of the once proud Lusitania, grand rival of the Titanic in both size, luxury ,and tragedy. It sits today on the bottom of the murky cold Irish Sea, within tantalizing sight of the coast of Ireland.
SS St. Louis in Havana Harbor, Cuba, 1939, unable to disembark passengers.
In May 1939, just before World War II began, 937 anxious Jewish refugees fled Nazi Germany aboard an ocean liner named the SS St. Louis. Most were German citizens, though a few were from other countries like Poland and Austria. The passengers planned to reach Cuba first, then ultimately travel to and seek asylum in the United States.
Ever since Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”) in 1938, the Nazi’s had begun burning synagogues and confiscating Jewish property.
Adolf Hitler had launched an intense propaganda campaign against German Jews. By 1939, Hitler and the Nazis had already annexed Austria and planned to close the German borders in advance of invading Poland. Many countries around the world, including the U.S., began imposing quotas, limiting the number of Jewish refugees they would allow in. Havana, Cuba was still open and seen as a safe, temporary port, until trying for the U.S.
At the Hamburg docks, tearful relatives waved to their loved ones aboard decks of the St. Louis. Given Hitler’s escalating anti-Jewish campaign, they didn’t know when or IF they might see each other again. Those on the ship knew they were the lucky ones, managing to get out in time. The fate of their Jewish family and friends left behind was uncertain. Still unknown to the world, the Jewish Holocaust had begun.
For many passengers, the anxiety they felt in Germany soon faded as the St Louis left port and began a quiet 2 week voyage across the calm Atlantic Ocean. On board was a swimming pool, dance band in the evenings, and even a motion picture theater. There were regular meals with rich foods the passengers rarely ate given the pre-war rationing in Germany.
Under Captain Gustav Schroder, the German crew was ordered to treat the passengers with respect, a sharp contrast to the open hatred Jews received in their hometowns under Hitler. Children were told by relieved parents that they were finally safe and the Nazis would not be coming to get them. They were going far away and didn’t have to look over their shoulders ever again.
When the ocean liner reached Havana two weeks later in May, that sense of relief soon evaporated, replaced by fear and a growing dread. Passengers were up on deck, their suitcases packed and ready to disembark, when Cuban officials came aboard to speak to the officers … and nothing happened!
It quickly became clear the ship was not going to be allowed to dock and no-one would be allowed off.
They kept hearing the words “Manana, Manana” from the Cuban officials. For 7 nerve-wracking days, Captain Schroder tried in vain to persuade the Cuban authorities to allow his Jewish passengers to disembark. The Cuban officials declined their visas out of fear of being seen as a sanctuary and then inundated with even more Jewish refugees. Only 28 passengers with valid US visas were allowed to disembark.
SS St. Louis in Havana Harbor with children aboard, May 1939
Even before the ship sailed, Cuban newspapers demanded their government stop admitting Jews. The Cuban President had issued a decree a week before the ship left Germany that invalidated all landing certificates. Like the US, Cuba still suffered from the Great Depression. Many resented the refugees already admitted, as they competed for scarce Cuban jobs. The owners of the St. Louis knew before the ship sailed that its paying passengers might have trouble disembarking, but told none of them.
The plight of the SS St. Louis attracted a great deal of media attention around the globe. After Cuba denied entry to the refugees, the press in Europe and the US broke the story to millions around the world. Though US newspapers were sympathetic to the refugees’ plight, only a few editors suggested the US actually admit them. Hostility toward all immigrants had fueled xenophobia and isolationism in the US as well.
After 5 days, Captain Schroder had no choice but to leave Havana and sail to Florida.
Unfortunately, when they got there, US authorities also refused to allow it to dock. Sailing so close to Florida they could see the night lights of Miami, passengers telegraphed the President himself, pleading for refuge. Roosevelt never responded directly. The State Department sent a telegram to the ship stating that passengers must wait their turns, and qualify for visas before they could be admitted.
SS St. Louis Captain Gustav Schroder
After decades of Ellis Island freely admitting any immigrant, quotas established in the 1920’s strictly limited the number of immigrants who could be admitted each year. In 1939, due to the unrest caused by Hitler and the Nazis, the annual German immigration quota was quickly filled, with a long waiting list of several years.
U.S. public opinion, though critical of Hitler and sympathetic to the refugees, favored the immigration restrictions. Like Cuba, the Great Depression left millions without work and fearful of foreign competition for scarce jobs. President Franklin D Roosevelt could have issued an Executive Order to allow the St. Louis to dock, but public hostility to immigrants and a forthcoming election were among his considerations. One final request to land in Halifax, Nova Scotia was also denied by the Canadian Prime Minister.
By June, Captain Schroder had no option but to turn the ocean liner back to Europe.
The joy the Jewish passengers had felt in May was replaced by utter desperation. What was to happen to them now? No-one dared speak about what vengeance the Nazis would inflict upon them once they returned to Germany. People were openly weeping as they wandered the ship’s decks – one passenger even committed suicide by slitting his wrists and jumping overboard.
As it turned out, the Jews did not have to return to Nazi Germany. Instead, much to the relief of the passengers, 4 European countries agreed to split up the refugees. In June, the SS St. Louis docked at Antwerp, Belgium, over a month after it left Germany. Four governments agreed to secure visas for the passengers: Great Britain took 288; the Netherlands 181, Belgium 214 and France 224.
Of the 288 passengers admitted to the UK, all survived World War II unharmed. Of the 620 passengers who returned to the continent, 532 were trapped when the German military stormed through Western Europe in 1939, overthrowing their host nations Belgium, Holland, and ultimately France. Nearly all were captured and sent east to the Nazi Death Camps of Auschwitz and Sobibor. 278 managed to survive the deadly Holocaust … but 254 sadly did not.
The journey of the SS St. Louis and its ill-fated passengers was the subject of a 1974 nonfiction best seller, Voyage of the Damned. Then a subsequent 1976 award winning film on which it was based was made, Voyage of the Damned, starring Max von Sydow as the frustrated and helpless Captain Schroeder.
In 1993, Gustav Schröder was posthumously named as one of the Righteous Among the Nations at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.
Count Saint Germain before the chaos of 18th century Europe
Who exactly was le Comte de Saint-Germain, this never-aging man of mystery who left us so few clues behind? We know he was an 18th century Alchemist, Composer, Diplomat, Raconteur, and Spy. He was handsome and wealthy, impressing gentlemen AND turning the heads of ladies. But how could he hobnob about all the European capitals throughout the 1700’s and Never appear to age? Count Saint Germain looked the same in London in 1743 as he did in St. Petersburg in 1762 as he did Paris in 1789. Was he a clever Charlatan, a skilled Alchemist, or perhaps … something more? The answer lies in which theory and which source you choose to trust.
He used a French title, but freely admitted he was not French, and never revealed his true identity. To confuse matters more, the Count employed other aliases throughout the 18th century to remain incognito. This should not cast undo suspicion upon him. Many aristocrats traveled under assumed names to avoid unwanted attention – whether to hide affairs of the state, or of the heart.
Add to that, the Count was comfortably wealthy, though no one could even figure out from where it came. He was handsome and charming, and moved about the courts of Europe with ease. He associated with the likes of Voltaire, Handel, Madame de Pompadour, and Russia’s Catherine the Great.
So let us review the 10 best Count Saint Germain theories – the Wild, the Wonderful … and the Weird:
1 – WANDERING JEW – Some believe him to be Cartaphilus, the legendary Wandering Jew. Cartaphilus was a Roman guard of the High Priest Caiaphas in Jerusalem in the year 33 AD. He slapped and mocked Jesus of Nazareth on the way to his crucifixion at Golgatha on Good Friday. The soldier was therefore cursed by the heavens to never die and walk the earth alone till the end of days, and Jesus’ second coming.
2 – MERLIN – Others think he was no less than Merlin Ambrosius, King Arthur’s wise and legendary Merlin the Magician, the world’s most famous wizard. He continued to dabble in magic, alchemy and intrigue centuries after the Knights of the Round Table. Only this time, spying for the likes of French King Louis XV in Paris at the Palace of Versailles, rather than a British monarch at England’s ancient court of Camelot.
3 – NICOLAS FLAMEL – Still others guess he was alchemist and alleged immortal Nicolas Flamel. The 14th century French scribe and bookseller supposedly discovered the Elixir of Eternal Youth at Santiago de Compostelo and lived for centuries. Flamel was of course later made even more famous in the J. K. Rowling bestseller and Warner Brothers movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
4 – FRANCIS BACON – Perhaps you prefer all the above! The reincarnation of all the above famous mystics in succession, including the 17th century’s Sir Francis Bacon, the famous statesman and scientist. He would thereby retain all the ancient secrets and knowledge from each of his previous lives. If that is the case, if he is still alive, who would the Count be today – a scientist, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist?
5 – ASCENDED MASTER – Maybe he is an immortal “Ascended Master,” chief architect of the Egyptian pharaohs’ pyramids, after living a hundred lives. He now exists on in another psychic plane as … the ‘Violet Flame.’ It is a belief still shared today by thousands of members of the international Theosophical Society. Not to mention the followers of the I AM Activity, the Summit Lighthouse, and the Church Universal and Triumphant. Don’t believe me? Just Google ‘violet flame.’
6 – ATLANTIS SURVIVOR – How about the last survivor of Plato’s Atlantis from 9,600 B.C., gifted by Zeus and the Gods on Mount Olympus with immortality? Why? So he could be saved from whatever disaster it was that finally tore apart Atlantis and plunged the city beneath the sea. He could then forever retain and be the keeper of all the ancient knowledge, science and culture of that famous, fallen empire of legend.
7 – WATCHER – Perhaps he is one of the Fallen Angels or Watchers, as from the Hebrew Book of Enoch. The Watchers were angels who succumbed to human sins. Cursed from Heaven by God himself – not to the fires of Hell – but rather to walk the Earth. They were doomed to wander the planet, still with angelic powers, spreading mischief amongst the all too willing humans, until the very end of time.
8- TIME TRAVELER – Maybe he was a Time Traveler from the not too distant future – subtly influencing past events, but only from the shadows and the sidelines. This would explain his encyclopedia knowledge of historical events and his ability to recount them at a moments notice. Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander novels, and the popular Starz program of the same name, used the Count as the protagonist in book & season 2.
9 – ANCIENT ALIEN – For you Science Fiction fans out there, how about a lone Alien from a distant galaxy, crashed and stranded on our primitive planet centuries ago? Who, with his non-human longevity, quietly observes the earth’s chaos over the centuries. And occasionally steps in to help the hapless human race through its many wars, missteps, and mishaps. A pattern that continues today. Does the Count continue to help us?
10 – IMMORTAL VAMPIRE – Or, perhaps not surprisingly, a handsome, immortal Vampyre, bitten centuries ago and cursed to live forever, taking beautiful lovers in each continent and century. Here he is said to have haunted the streets of Paris, France and New Orleans’ French Quarter. The series of 27 novels written by Chelsea Quinn Yabro exploits this idea quite skillfully in over a two dozen very enjoyable stories.
BONUS POPULAR THEORY: Lastly, was he simply a mortal man? Historians believe he was the last son of exiled Hungarian Freedom Fighter, Prince Ferenc Rakoczi II? He is said to have admitted this once, and taken on aliases to elude the Hapsburg Emperors of Austria. If so, he would have been born around the year 1700. Then, with a lucky & youthful appearance that lasted for decades (long before the advent of Botox) he appeared to never age. It would explain his wealth and ability to move about the royal courts of Europe with ease.
Bust of le Comte de Saint-Germain
Count Saint-Germain never married nor had any children, that we know of. He is supposed to have finally died of pneumonia in a Schleswig-Holstein castle in 1784. He died alone, as his patron at the time, Karl von Hesse-Kassel, was not present to witness it. At what age he passed, we do not know for sure. BUT, he was reportedly seen the very next year at a German Freemason Convention. Then seen again in Paris during the French Revolution of 1789! He supposedly tried to desperately warn Queen Marie Antoinette of her and her husband Louis XVI impending doom.
Looking for a purely scientific explanation? Today, modern science has thoroughly mapped the human genome and begun to unravel the genetic secrets of aging. We now understand that the ends of our chromosomes degrade over time and our cells lose their vitality with each replication. As the years pass, our skin sags, our brain fails us, our muscles grow weak, our bones more fragile. We as a society are certainly no less obsessed with staying young than Marie Antoinette and the French court was over 250 years ago. Perhaps the Count had a simple evolutionary gene alteration (my favorite theory) that somehow increased his longevity?
Whatever the case, factual or fantastical, Count Saint Germain was a real-life Count of Monte Cristo, living a life of secrets, mystery and intrigue. Or if you prefer, a real life Dr. Who, with a lifespan far beyond that of normal men. Is he still alive today? Who is to say? The Count remains to this day, a curious and puzzling enigma – a Man of Mystery, always worthy of further exploration. Check out the historical novels below for more.
Belle Gunness is considered the most notorious female serial killer in U.S. history. She is responsible for Indiana’s most gruesome murder spree. Most occurred on her remote La Porte farm in the early 1900’s. Many of the victims were Norwegian men who responded to a “lonely widow” advertisement placed in area newspapers. The true number of her victims is unknown, but may be as high as 40.
Belle Gunness is one of the most chilling figures in American criminal history. Her name is associated with murder, deception, and gruesomeness. Belle lured lonely men to her Indiana farm, stole their money, and butchered them. A lingering mystery survives to this day as to whether Belle perished in, or secretly survived, a massive fire at her farmhouse in 1908. Who was the infamous serial killer Belle Gunness?
Belle was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storseth in Selbu, Norway in 1859. The daughter of a stonemason, her family lived as poor tenants on a small farm. She was the youngest of eight children and grew up in a life of hardship. Her parents could scarcely support their many children. By age 14, Belle was working for other families, doing heavy farm chores and developing her physical strength.
In 1881, at age 22, Brynhild followed her sister Nellie to America, part of the great Norwegian exodus. She immigrated to the U.S. and settled in Chicago in search of wealth and a richer future than her parents. Brynhild was both ambitious and shrewd. Her English was limited, so she learned quickly.
By the time she arrived, she had transformed herself — adopting the Americanized name “Belle Peterson.” She was strong, physically imposing, and determined to make her way in the New World. She worked for a time as a domestic servant and later in a butcher shop. It was this job that gave her a skillset she’d later employ on her victims.
Belle married fellow Norwegian immigrant Mads Sorensen in 1884.
The Sorensens had a small home in Chicago, which soon burnt to the ground. With the money from their insurance, they purchased a confectionary store in the city. That business mysteriously caught on fire as well. With the 2nd fire insurance, they bought another home in Austin, Illinois. Not long after, their new house caught fire too. This third fire resulted in an investigation by the insurance officials – but in the end, they paid the claim.
Not able to have children of their own, Mads and Belle took in young foster children to supplement their income. Two of these children died while under Belle’s care, Caroline in 1896 and Alex in 1898. The cause of death was listed as “colitis.” Interestingly, that could also have been caused by poisoning, a means she used on some of her later victims.
Serial Killer Belle Gunness and three of her foster children, 1902
Mads had a life insurance policy, which Belle complained was too small. So, he took out a larger one. Mads then died as well of “heart failure” in 1900 — the very day his two life insurance policies overlapped. Her husband’s family demanded an inquiry. They were positive that she poisoned him. As a motive, they pointed to the $8,500 life insurance she collected. An inquest was ordered, but the body was never exhumed and no charges were filed against Belle. The grieving widow, kept the insurance money – yet again.
Because of the lingering suspicion surrounding these deaths, Belle took her 3 remaining foster children and used the money to buy a remote farm 6 miles from La Porte, Indiana. Belle, Jennie, Myrtle, and Lucy moved there in1901.
In 1902, Belle married another Norwegian-American, Peter Gunness, in La Porte. His wife had recently passed and left him with two young daughters. Within weeks of his marriage to Belle, the youngest girl suddenly died under unknown circumstances. Not surprisingly, 8 months later, Peter himself then died, also under suspicious circumstances. Belle told the authorities that her husband was accidentally hit in the back of the head.
Supposedly, after a sausage grinder fell from a shelf above – and split open his skull.
The coroner raised concerns and the sheriff investigated. A weeping Belle described how it fell from a loose shelf and struck her “poor husband’s head.” Belle cried convincingly and no charges were filed – yet again. She then collected another insurance payout for Husband Number 2. In 1906, her 16-year-old adopted daughter Jenny “disappeared.” Belle claimed she sent her away to school in Chicago. Jenny’s body would later be found – buried on the farm.
Soon after Peter’s death and Jenny’s disappearance, the twice widowed Belle began placing classified ads in 3 Norwegian and German language newspapers throughout the Midwest. It was here her serial killer career accelerated. She targeted lonely, middle-aged immigrant men.
Personal — Comely widow who owns a large farm in one of the finest districts in La Porte County, Indiana, desires to make the acquaintance of a good and reliable gentleman equally well provided, with view of joining fortunes. No replies by letter considered unless sender is willing to follow answer with personal visit.
It is unknown how many men responded, but quite a few came to La Porte to visit the comely Belle and her farm. The most eager suitors would become her next victims. Each had brought cash and then disappeared forever: John Moo, Henry Gurholdt, Olaf Svenherud, Ole Budsburg, Olaf Lindbloom and Andrew Helgelien, just to name just a few.
Several of the men were last seen alive entering her La Porte farm.
In early 1907, Ole Budsburg, an elderly widower residing in Wisconsin, saw the advertisement. He decided to make a quiet rendezvous, without telling his grown sons. The old gentleman left his home and never returned. He was last seen at the La Porte Savings Bank, drawing the money he had transferred there.
Ray Lamphere, accomplice of Belle Gunness
Belle had several hired men who helped with the farm work over the years. She hired Ray Lamphere in 1907. Ray had hopes of marrying Belle and become a partner in the farm. It’s unknown if they had a sexual relationship, but things did not quite work out for Ray.
In late 1907, Andrew Hegelein, a bachelor from South Dakota, corresponded with Belle Gunness as well. She replied that she was favorably impressed with his letters and it would be acceptable for him to come to her farm. She suggested that he sell his business interests in South Dakota first.
In 1908, an eager Andrew Helgelien came to La Porte to visit Belle. Ray Lamphere became extremely jealous of Andrew. Belle then fired Ray after a heated argument, supposedly for him trespassing in her house. After 2 weeks with Belle, Andrew had money sent from his bank account to the First National Bank in La Porte. Andrew and Belle went together to collect the $2,000.Andrew Helgelien disappeared the next day. When asked by the bank, Belle claimed he had withdrawn the money for the purpose of going back to Norway.
However, when he did not return home to South Dakota, Andrew’s brother Asle Helgelien became concerned. After finding letters to Andrew from Belle Gunness, Asle wrote to Belle AND the bank, asking about Andrew. The bank confirmed he had been there. Belle wrote back that he had left La Porte for Norway. She suggested that he come to La Porte, so that she might join him in a search. Asle became suspicious and made plans to travel to Indiana.
Just when Belle Gunness’s luck seemed to be running out, her farmhouse burnt to the ground.
The day before the fire, Belle went to the bank and withdrew all her money. The next morning, on April 28, 1908 at 4 AM, Joe Maxson, her new farmhand woke up to the smell of smoke. The house was ablaze! He tried to enter the home and wake Belle and the family, but was not successful. He rushed into La Porte and got the fire department to come put out the fire. But by then, it was gone.
That afternoon, the sheriff discovered the bodies of her three foster children (two with Madsen and one with Gunness) in the smoldering ruins of the basement. The bodies of the 3 were discovered next to a woman’s body, presumed to be Belle, but inexplicably missing a head! Though Belle’s rings were on the headless corpse’s fingers, they could not prove the woman’s body was in fact Belle’s.
Because he was jilted, fired and had arguments with Belle, Ray Lamphere was arrested in May 1908 for arson and charged with murder. He was put on trial at the County Courthouse and found guilty of arson, but not murder. When first interrogated as to his whereabouts on the night of the fire, he denied being on the farm.
Asle Helgelien came to La Porte hoping to learn something about his missing brother, Andrew. After not finding any remains in the ruins of the fire, Joe Maxson suggested they dig in an area where Belle buried her garbage. They discovered the body of Andrew, stuffed in a gunnysack. La Porte County Sheriff Albert Smutzer and deputies arrived and continued to dig for several weeks.
Excavation of serial killer Belle Gunness farm house, 1908
Five more mutilated and decomposed bodies were found buried in the backyard on May 5. One was identified as Jenny Gunness, Belle’s 16-year-old adopted daughter, who was supposed to be in school in Chicago. It’s presumed she was murdered because as she grew into a teen, she could no longer be trusted to keep the family secrets regarding the deaths of Belle’s husbands.
Jenny’s murder was most likely from strychnine poisoning, the same used in killing Hegelein.
The authorities were shocked to realize that one of their own was a serial killer. The four other corpses were all unidentified men. On May 6, four additional bodies of men were unearthed elsewhere in the backyard. In all instances, the limbs were removed. They were cut off in such a clean manner as to indicate familiarity with butchering animals.
On May 9, two more bundles of bones, decayed flesh and rotted clothing were found in the Belle’s ‘private’ graveyard, but decomposition made identification impossible. Then on May 12, the butchering instruments with which the bodies were likely dismembered, were found in the ashes of the house. On May 14, the bones of one more male victim was found in the cellar.
Newspapers had a field day with their grisly headlines of an Indiana female serial killer. Hundreds of people from throughout the area had read of the murders and came to watch the macabre digging for bodies throughout the Gunness farm. Vendors even sold souvenirs and concessions! The Sheriff’s men discovered at least 40 bodies in all that had been buried on Belle’s farm.
In view of these gruesome discoveries, a serious doubt arose around the body thought to be Belle Gunness. Though her rings were found on the dead woman, it was suspected she had lured some poor unsuspecting woman into her farm. Then after killing her and cutting off her head, she set fire to the house with her foster children asleep in bed.
Shortly after the Gunness’ graveyard was discovered, the sons of Ole Budsburg came to La Porte. They suspected that their father, who had mysteriously disappeared in 1907, might have fallen into this vile woman’s trap. Their suspicions proved to be well founded. They identified one of the bodies as that of their missing father.
Henry Gurholdt of Wisconsin, corresponded with Belle Gunness. He took $1,500 with him to La Porte – and was never seen again. A watch found with one of the corpses was known to be Gurholdt’s. Marie Svenherud of Norway, made inquiries through the Consul in Chicago about her son Olof. He had written her saying he was about to leave for La Porte to marry a rich Norwegian widow. He had become acquainted with her through an advertisement in a newspaper. The mother had never heard from her son again.
After his imprisonment, Ray Lamphere’s health began to fail. He died from consumption (tuberculosis) in 1909. After his death, La Porte Rev. EA Schell made public a confession given to him by Lamphere shortly after his sentencing. Ray stated that he dug trenches for Belle Gunness at different times, but did not know for what purpose she used them. He admitted that he helped her bury at least one of her victims; and saw her chloroform another, then fell him with a hatchet.
Ray Lamphere confessed that he had helped Belle Gunness burn down her own house, and the headless body was not hers! Belle had planned the entire thing, and skipped town with her withdrawn money from the bank. She had promised to collect the insurance and marry him. Instead, she escaped into the night, leaving Ray to take the fall.
Reported sightings of Belle Gunness in the Chicago and Los Angeles areas continued long thereafter, but without her capture. She was shrewd enough to put some distance between herself and Indiana. Whether she continued her killing spree is unknown. To this day, there are many unanswered questions regarding the twisted life and ultimate fate of serial killer, Belle Gunness!
Click BOOKS for more by historical writer Paul Andrews.
Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski, Father of the the American Cavalry
Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski made a historic impact on the American Revolution. He became a brigadier general in the U.S. Continental Army’s first cavalry. Pulaski brought with him experience, organization and proper training, becoming “Father of the American Cavalry” and a “Soldier of Liberty.” While fighting for the patriots in the Battle of Savannah in 1779, he received a mortal wound and died two days later.
Casimir Pulaski believed fervently in the cause of liberty and knew the risks involved. “I came to hazard all for the freedom of America,” he wrote in a letter to the Continental Congress. How did an exiled Polish nobleman come to be the Father of American Cavalry and one of only eight honorary U.S. citizens?
Kazimierz Władysław Pulaski was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1745, the son of a prominent szlachta family. These nobles formed a “warrior caste,” so elite that it rivaled the elected monarch in power and influence. In the Polish Commonwealth, the king was elected to the throne rather than inheriting it. His powers were controlled by the Sejm, or Parliament, made up of the nobility, but the system was nearly democratic.
The Russian Empress had coerced Polish King Stanisław II to weaken the nobility’s independence, and make Poland a Russian puppet state. Casimir’s father was one of the founders of the Bar Confederation, a pro-Poland, pro-noble militia dedicated to ridding Poland of Russian influence. In 1768, the Bar Confederation rebelled against the Polish government seeking independence from Russia.
The 23-year-old Pulaski willingly joined the fight.
Casimir honed his skills with cavalry and command in the fights to come. He fought side-by-side with his father against the Russians, establishing a reputation as a defender of Polish liberty. As a cavalryman, he was both a skilled rider and swordsman.
In 1771, Pulaski was part of a failed plot to kidnap the Polish king, and was falsely accused of trying to assassinate him. Pulaski had to flee Poland or face execution. He would never return to his homeland again. The Bar Confederation lost its support and crumbled. In 1772, Poland was partitioned between Russia, Austria, and Prussia.
The young nobleman spent the next four years unsuccessfully trying to rally forces to help him free Poland from foreign control. In doing so, he accrued significant personal debt. It became so severe, he was thrown briefly in debtors’ prison in France, but friends were able to free him. Then a chance meeting occurred that would change the rest of his life.
In 1777, a 31-year-old Pulaski met the American envoy to France, Benjamin Franklin, in Paris. The diplomat was already aware of the count’s exploits. Recognizing the value of Pulaski’s military experience, Franklin offered the man an opportunity to fight for liberty across the Atlantic with the Americans. He promised the Polish exile a new start, and a new revolution, in the New World. Casimir could see the similarities between the new U.S and Poland’s fight for freedom.
Pulaski agreed to help the new United States.
Franklin provided a letter to George Washington on Pulaski’s behalf. In it, he described Pulaski “an Officer famous throughout all of Europe for his Bravery and Conduct in Defense of the Liberties of his Country.” Franklin added, “He would be highly useful in our service.”
Pulaski set sail for the new United States and arrived 44 days later in Massachusetts in July, 1777. He managed to learn a smattering of English while on board. In his own letter to Washington, Pulaski spoke (in French) of his “Zeal” to first prove himself in combat.
Eager to get right into fighting, he traveled to meet General Washington, in Philadelphia. Based on Pulaski’s recommendations and reputation, Washington wanted Pulaski to take command of an American cavalry. However, the general told the nobleman Washington needed the approval of the Continental Congress first. He volunteered his services regardless, not concerned over rank or payment. Pulaski chose to follow the Continental Army while he waited.
Pulaski sought an opportunity to prove himself to the American Army.
That opportunity came at the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777. As the British forced the Americans off the battlefield, Washington realized his army’s right flank was near collapse from a Redcoat assault. This might destroy his army and lead to the capture of himself and his generals.
Pulaski saw a bold solution. He stepped forward and volunteered to lead a cavalry countercharge, giving the Continental Army time to withdraw. With no time to argue, Washington entrusted Pulaski with his own mounted guard of about thirty men and horses.
Pulaski skillfully led a diversionary counterattack directly into the fray, helping delay the British flank long enough for the Continental Army to retreat. The Army escaped, proving both American resilience and Pulaski’s potential. The Continental Congress approved his commission to the rank of Brigadier General and “Commander of the Horse” in charge of American light cavalry.
Pulaski wanted to reform the ragtag American horsemen into a sleek and efficient assault cavalry. He believed in the powerful symbolism of the cavalry charge, and rebelled against systems he thought as stagnant or backward. Washington however decided his men on horseback would conduct more subtle maneuvers like reconnaissance and raids.
At Valley Forge, through the brutal winter of 1777/1778, Pulaski trained the small cavalry. He was a talented general and horseman, but struggled with his first American command. The general had to rely on translators due to his poor English and rebuked those American generals who did not see the cavalry’s importance. He was, as Washington wrote in a letter, “led by his thirst of glory and zeal for the cause of liberty.” He wanted command, and he wanted free reign.
Pulaski spent time leading small bands of horsemen on raiding parties.
To him, this was unacceptable. In the spring of 1778, he offered to raise an independent cavalry for the army. Both Washington and Congress relented. He raised a new regiment of cavalry, known as Pulaski’s Legion. Taking 330 recruits from around Baltimore, Pulaski prepared his cavalry, armed as lancers and dragoons in the European style. Washington allowed him to choose his own officers and train them as he saw fit.
Casimir Pulaski leading his American Cavalry during the War for Independence, 1778.
Under a crimson banner, they rapidly became a dangerous force. Continental Army officers spoke highly of the unit’s fighting ability and of the general’s insufferable arrogance.
In 1779, Washington sent Pulaski south to Charleston, South Carolina to support the struggling Southern forces of General Benjamin Lincoln. Upon arriving in Charleston in May 1779, the legion banded together with locals to resist a British incursion. Pulaski talked the terrified city leaders away from thoughts of surrender to the British.
In Charleston, Pulaski’s recklessness finally got the better of him. He and his men charged a British raiding party led by British General Augustine Prevost that cost his men’s lives. Casualties were devastating as Pulaski’s Legion suffered heavy losses. But the defense of the city prompted General Lincoln to return his army to Charleston, warding off further British attacks. Over the course of the war, Pulaski’s Legion remained essential to the military in the South.
After Charleston, Pulaski was “the Man of the Hour.
That summer, Lincoln’s army and his legion gradually beat back the British Army’s territorial gains. By the fall, they had met up with French forces under the command of the Count of Estaing. Together, they made preparations to attack Britain’s final stronghold in Savannah, Georgia.
Pulaski’s last engagement was during the Battle of Savannah on October 1779. Notified by a spy, the British attacked first. While surveying British defenses, Pulaski rushed to the aid of the wounded Count of Estaing. As the tide turned against the Americans, Pulaski rallied a group of American and French cavalry and led a charge on the British. He was wounded by British grapeshot during the attack and fell from his horse. His men managed to rescue him during their retreat.
Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski is wounded at the Siege of Savannah, 1779
Around 1,000 soldiers were wounded, captured or killed. Despite loosing the battle, the Siege of Savannah contained one of the war’s most heroic and tragic moments, Pulaski’s courageous charge and death. The wound was mortal. The general died two days later aboard the brig Wasp. Casimir Pulaski never married and had no heirs.
He was buried with full honors. Charleston held a public funeral in honor of Pulaski. Savannah constructed a 55-foot obelisk in his honor. In 1854, his remains were exhumed from a Georgia plantation and placed under the monument in Savannah. After the war, Pulaski became an important symbol of both American and Polish independence for his battlefield valor as well as his ultimate sacrifice.
In the painting Pulaski at Savannah, Casimir Pulaski is caught in the moment of his demise. He leads a heroic charge into battle against the Redcoats, American soldiers following their Polish general. The hero’s black steed rears into the air. His grim face points heavenward, knowing his fate.
In the 1830s, Polish revolutionaries fighting against Russia saw themselves in Casimir Pulaski, using him as a role model. During World War I, Polish boosters put Pulaski on posters next to George Washington and Woodrow Wilson, to encourage Americans to support Poland and join the war against Germany. There are numerous U.S. highways, bridges, schools, towns and counties named after the famous Pole.
As communism faded in the 1990s, Polish President Lech Wałęsa asked for the support of General Motors and General Electric, in exchange for the general that Poland had sent to the American Revolution. (Ironically, it was Polish King that had forced Pulaski into exile.) Then, of course, there’s the holiday. Since 1929, the U.S. marks General Pulaski Memorial Day on October 11th, the date of Pulaski’s death.
In U.S. Revolutionary War history, 250 year later, he is still known as a patriot and “The Father of the American Cavalry.” In 2009, the U.S. Senate granted him the posthumous reward of “Honorary United States Citizenship,” one of only eight individuals, including the Marquise de Lafayette, to ever be granted such an honor.
On 8 September 1940, a new German movie premiered in Europe. Jew Suss[Jud Süss/Jud Süß] was an infamous, anti-Semitic, Nazi propaganda movie. Produced by Joseph Goebbels in 1940 Germany, It hastened the Nazi genocide against European Jews. The movie was a box office success, earning 6.5 million Reichsmarks and an audience of over 20 million. Jud Süss was a star-studded, historical melodrama whose secret goal was inciting anti-Jewish fear and hatred amongst the German people. It worked all too well. During World War II, Heinrich Himmler required his SS officers to view it. [Remarkably, there was a pro-Jewish British version made a few years earlier.] The Allied Military Occupation banned the German Jud Süss movie after the war in 1945. Then ordered all negatives destroyed. What was it about and why was it so reviled?
Jud Süss was a person, Josef Oppenheimer, an 18th century German Jew. Born in Heidelberg in 1698, he became the “Court Jew,” chief financial adviser, to Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg. Jud Süss was his nickname, German for ‘sweet Jew.’ He was a prominent figure in Stuttgart at a time when anti-Semitism was rampant across Europe. His rise to power, controlling taxes and fees, caused both resentment and hostility among the courtiers, officials, and citizens. They were also unhappy that he enabled other Jews to move to Stuttgart. This was despite laws forbidding them. His lavish lifestyle did not help matters either.
Duke Karl died suddenly in 1737. Oppenheimer was soon arrested and accused of various schemes, embezzlement, fraud and treason. He was put on trial and convicted. Stuttgart judges could find no evidence however that he had broken any laws. So judges convicted him on a old statute where it was illegal for Jews to have sexual relations with non-Jewish women. Jud Süss had numerous, well-known affairs and was sentenced to death.
Authorities offered Oppenheimer the chance to convert to Christianity before being hanged. He refused, responding, “I will die as a Jew, suffering violence and injustice.” His 1738 execution was staged as a public spectacle in Stuttgart. Guards placed him in a cage, hauled to the top of the gallows. There, thirty-five feet above the town square, he was hanged while praying the Shema. His body was left up there in the cage, for six years, as a warning to other Jews. Oppenheimer was seen as a dangerous traitor by Germans.
By Jews, Josef Oppenheimer was seen as a faithful martyr.
His life was the subject of several books and not just one, but two, movies. Two hundred years later, his story was manipulated to serve two different purposes – the first by the British, the second by the Germans. Six years before the German Jud Süss movie, came a British film, Jew Suss, made in 1934. Jew Suss was adapted from a 1925 novel by German-Jewish writer Lion Feuchtwanger. The historical movie tells a slightly fictionalized version of Josef Oppenheimer’s story.
In the British production, Jew Suss was played by a German actor Conrad Veidt, best known as Heinrich Strasser, the Nazi major in Casablanca (1942). In the British version, Jew Suss navigates Stuttgart politics with smooth-talking self-assurance,allowing him to climb the social ladder and grab power. The movie portrays his arrest and execution poignantly due to his refusal to disavow his Jewish heritage. He asserts his dignity, and defiantly cries a Jewish prayer as he is hanged.
This British version boasted a budget of 100,000 pounds, with a large supporting cast and elaborate sets. However, the picture was a box-office flop.It enjoyed a wide release in Britain and the U.S., but was banned in Germany and Austria for its pro-semitic tone. The British film was a veiled petition on behalf of the victimized Jewish population of Nazi Germany. At the time, the persecution of Jews in Europe was well known, thanks to the SS St. Louis incident. But what about the contemptable German version?
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party had hoped that 1938’s Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) would produce a surge of anti-Semitism throughout Germany. SA and SS henchmen destroyed Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues. Many Germans had Jewish friends or neighbors and found it difficult to embrace the Nazi-fueled hatred for the Jewish race. German citizens had already been bombarded with anti-Semitic propaganda for years both by newspapers and radio. However, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda since 1933, was not convinced this had changed the hearts of the people.
By 1940, Hitler’s plan to exterminate the Jews was already in its early stages.
Goebbels believed films would ultimately make Germans accept the Nazi’s solution to the “Jewish problem.” The triumph of his vision was their version of Jud Süss. In this movie, the Nazi’s anti-Semitism was not blatantly in your face. It was placed instead insidiously and subtly inside an engaging historical drama. With quality production values and a well-known cast of actors, Jud Süss engaged the audience on an emotional level. Goebbels knew it would finally change Germans’ minds about their Jewish neighbors.
The German movie was based on a different 1827 novel by Wilhelm Hauff. This Goebbels remake of the British film stressed the Nazi stereotypes of Jews as crafty, untrustworthy villains. Jud Süss was directed by well-known German director Veit Harlan. In this movie, Jud Süss is played flamboyantly by actor Ferdinand Marian as a seductive scoundrel, rather than a victim. He undermines political methods and subverts law and order. Worst of all, he unabashedly satisfies his sexual appetites by raping a Christian girl and having her fiancé tortured.
Movie poster for Jud Süss, 1940, Berlin, Germany
The lead actor, Ferdinand Marian, was forced into playing the role of Süss. Goebbels warned him he would destroy his career if he refused. In the Nazi version, Jud Süss opens in 1733 with Oppenheimer providing the new duke with lavish presents, that entangle Karl in an expensive, extravagant lifestyle. Oppenheimer begins granting the duke large loans to finance pet projects. As the duke does not have the treasury to repay the loans, Oppenheimer demands to serve as Finance Minister to collect his due via taxes, duties, and tolls on the people. He places his Jewish cronies in positions of power as tax collectors, causing suffering amongst the Germans.
In the German film, Oppenheimer also convinces the duke to open the city to Jews. They arrive by the thousands. Süss lusts after the beautiful daughter, Dorothea, of the chief minister, but she rebuffs his advances. He orders her abduction and arrests her fiancé. As the fiancé is tortured in the dungeon, Süss brutally rapes the girl. Burdened with shame and grief, Dorothea commits suicide. Süss is arrested by rioters and condemned at trial to death. He is hauled to the top of the gallows and hanged in the presence of an angry mob of Germans.
At the end of the German movie, the Duke Karl’s final address to the people drives the Nazi’s propaganda message home: “May our descendants hold firmly to this law, so they can save themselves much sorrow … and save the lives and blood of their children and their children’s children.” The duke then orders all the Jews to be expelled from Wurttemberg.
The German film portrays Süss’s execution as a just and poetic ending of an evil, despised Jew. It is followed (before the credits) by a Nazi declaration, warning Germans about the perils of allowing Jews into their midst. The German movie was blatant, anti-Semitic agitation. It builds on the repeated Nazi propaganda message that Jews are ‘sub-human vermin.’ Possessing a talent for disguising themselves as Aryan Germans.
The Nazis injected anti-Semitism into the film in sinister and subtle ways.
Suss’s loans to the duke were both for his own self-glory AND the opportunity to allow more Jews into the city. Nazi propaganda depicted Jews as insidiously disguising and inserting themselves as part of a deep conspiracy to gain power and wealth for the Jewish community. After seeing the film’s final cut, Goebbels wrote in his diary: “An anti-Semitic film of the kind we could only wish for. I am quite happy about it.”
Goebbels opened the film simultaneously in 80 Berlin cinemas to great fanfare. Jud Süss became a hit. It was viewed by 20 million Germans owing to Goebbels’s propaganda blitz and director Harlan’s reputation. A Nazi Party press release issued at the time of the movie’s premier stated, “It is the duty of all to point out that every Jew has only his well-being and that of his brothers in mind, even when he pretends generous motives.”
Jud Süss was a success across Europe as well, where it sparked anti-Jewish violence in France, Italy, and elsewhere. Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler had it shown to all of his elite SS troops AND the Hitler Youth. In the movie, Suss’s crimes included “blackmail, profiteering, indecency, and high treason.” But only one mattered most, a Jew having sex with a Christian. The Nuremberg Law of 1935 banned sex between Jews and Aryans.
The Nazi film documented that laws excluding Jews had been the norm over Germany’s long history. The film prompted street demonstrations in Berlin with crowds shouting “Throw the Jews out of Germany!” As the war progressed, the film was shown to SS Einsatzgruppen units in the Holocaust Death Camps, to “boost morale” and affirm the Nazi Final Solution.
Goebbels propaganda campaign was successful and Hitler was pleased.
The Nazi anti-Semitism message offered to the German people was now affirmed. Fear and hatred of Jews in German was now acceptable. The movie offered a solution to the German Jewish problem as well—deporting and ‘relocating’ Jews. Of course, during Hitler’s Third Reich, deporting the Jews meant eventual genocide in Nazi death camps. But once the idea of deporting Jews was accepted by Germans, what eventually became of them was out of sight – out of mind.
At the end of World War II, the liberation of the Nazi Death Camps allowed a horrified world to witness what had happened to those deported Jews. A public outcry, organized by groups of Nazi victims, led prosecutors to press charges against the movie’s director Harlan for “crimes against humanity.” Victims of Nazi persecution testified to the effects of the anti-Semitic propaganda film.
They stated that Jud Süss had spread fear and terror amongst Jews, and fuel hatred and violence against them. The trial ended with Harlan’s acquittal. Veit Harlan may have escaped criminal liability, but he did not escape guilt. While Jud Süss did not directly cause the Jewish Holocaust, it certainly had a role as a catalyst.
As the Russian Army stormed into Berlin, Adolf Hitler trapped in his bunker under the Reich Chancellery. He shot himself in the head on 30 April 1945. Joseph Goebbels, architect of years of vile Nazi propaganda, was at Hitler’s side, always the loyal sycophant, along with his wife and children. On May 1st, Goebbels murdered each of his six children (five daughters and one son) with cyanide capsules. Then he and his wife went outside the bunker and took capsules of their own. Soldiers doused their bodies with petrol and set them aflame.
The Nazi threat was finally dead … for now.
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