San Antonio Light (Newspaper) - June 27, 1937, San Antonio, Texas f iff I Gravefound ByHathematiQ tgiitiin tlHIItt r WonTheDuel Over HerAndtlisLife mmmflgfgi THE crew of the Sand Merchant made snug for a rough voyage as a storm blew over Lake Erie one night last October. A howling gale lashed the wavea higher and higher as they tried to make port, and the vessel began to wallow. Only a dozen miles or so from Cleveland, the craft, made cumbersome by ita cargo of sand from Pelec Island, listed heavily. Life-boats were lowered. Almost without warning the craft rolled over and plunged to the bottom. The members of the crew, hurled Into the icy water, tried to climb into the life-boats, but only managed to capsize them. All that the sailors could do then was to get a precarious grip on the keels and hang on for dear life. Those who cried out were only heard by those who were themselves "in the same or rather out of it, for they were all drowning together. One of the very first to go was the wife of the first mate. She had boarded.for a short trip and was the only woman on the vessel. Dawn broke over a calm lake, icy still. Of the crew of 26, after ten hours of exposure, only seven remained afloat. But seven is said to be a lucky number; their frozen fingers clutched the keels by sheer instinct, for they had long stopped thinking about their awful plight. The two life-boats had drifted apart, and each group supposed the other was wiped out. But at last, and almost too late, they were sighted and picked up by two freighters malting the trip to Cleveland. No trace of the wreckage was left; and except for the sick survivors, there was nothing to show that the sand- ship had ever existed. Among those rescued, however, was Graham MacLelland, captain of the and he reported that the Sand Merchant had gone down, about six miles off Avon Point, Ohio, 12 or 15 miles from Cleve- land. This made the ship-owners hopeful of finding the exact place it sank, so that the costly vessel might be salvaged. But looking for a needle in a haystack turned out to be child's play compared with this plan to find a ship that sank in a storm. A search, however, was started at once, guided by Cap- tain MacLelland and also Bert Morrison, a compass adjuster. The latter had looked out of his house on the water-front the night of the disaster and noticed the lights of a vessel off shore. He saw no distress signals and decided it was a ship at anchor or a fishing tug getting in o So Swift Was the Flight of the Girl With the Long Knife and a Greased Body That She Passed the Guards, and Had to Be Stopped by a Bullet. The Compass Adjuster Had Looked Out of His Window and Had Seen the Lights of the Doomed Vessel Out on the Storm-Tossed Lake. His Remembers the Direction. late. But when on the following day he learned of the tragedy, he informed the searchers, and was asked to help locate the vessel. But only failure rewarded the searchers' efforts. At last science was called in to solve the mystery of the vanished vessel. Colonel L. V. Frazier, head of the United States engineers for the Great Lakes, held a consultation with Major W. D. Luplow and Senior Engineer O. M. Fredrick of hia staff. How on earth could they find what the sea had hidden? That question suggested the answer. On earth, and not On sea, was where the solution lay. They decided that If any other persons on the lake shore had noticed the boat or her distress signals, and if such could be found, the lines of their observations might be charted. The point at which such lines would meet the line along which Morrison had sighted the ship would be a gooti spot to look. Morrison's point of view by itself was not enough because, although he knew in what direction had seen the vessel, he did not know how far out from shore it was. Therefore all attention was converted for a while in interviewing persons for miles along the shore, and in advertising in the papers for Information. K. M. Harvey, of the engineers' office, spent days searching the lake shore for witnesses, and at last he met with success. He found that August Vian, who runs a barbecue stand just outside of Lorain. O., had seen the lights. Fortunately, shore dwellers are more apt than inland people to notice the direction as well as the description of things that meet their gaze. Ships and lights are noticed by their position in relation to the right or left shore. Thus, Harvey found that Vion's line of vision was north by 56 degrees east. Then Harvey found that Miss Geraldine Kotz of Avon Lake also had noticed unusual lights on a ship the night the Sand Merchant went down. The next morning she had remarked to her family that someone must have been staging a celebration. Her line of vision turned out to be pointing north by 30 degrees east. At the point of Morrison's home, the reading was north by two and one- half degrees east. Meanwhile, Colonel Frazier had ordered the steamer Peary, with Captain Nimrod Long in command, to be sent from Detroit to Cleveland to make one final search. In the cabin, Harvey, tog-ether with Engineer W. T. Laidley and Engineer H. A. Preston, in charge of the Cleveland district for engineers, plotted on a map the three lines of vision of Vian, Kotz and Morrison. They found that the three linos intersected to form a little triangle about six miles off shore and a little east of Avon Lake Park. 'This was rather farther east than the point at which the Sand Merchant's captain had last read his longitude, and It was also cast of the area in which the search had been made. So accurate was this method of finding the wreck that It waa located just outside the triangle that had been formed by the junction of the three points of view. Richard Boycc, a diver, wan sent down to circle the wreck at the lake floor, and he found it with cabins burled but still In one piece. 6 NE night last year, a naked brown-skinned girl crept along the sands of the Sahara and waited for the _ moon to set. She stared like a tigress at the ruined walls which held all she. knew it was occupied by many soldiers, but one in particular slept there. It was the temporary outpost of a French Foreign Legion battalion, sent to "mop up" a small native revolt in Morocco's unsettled frontier on the north-western edge of the Sahara Desert. Then moving swiftly, the nude girl crawled past the dozing sentries. The last time she had stolen there, it had been for love. But this time there came from within, not soft mur- murs of love which none might hear, but the piercing death-cry of a man stabbed to the heart. Again and again the knife fell, and as soldiers came running as fast as' the sand would let them, they were appalled to see a naked girl come out, dripping blood and carrying a long Saracen The soldiers of fortune, veterans of many a fierce battle with the Arab, were not to be frightened by a mere daughter of one. They rushed for the girl, but in a moment she was past them like a phantom. S o swift was her flight that already she was out of reach, and the men were forced to end the chase by shooting her as she ran. When they picked her up, sob- bing in the sand, they found out why only a bullet could stop her. The beautiful girl had greased her entire body to elude cap- ture. Trapped, the girl became hys- terical and the svords came pour- ing out almost in spite of herself, "He killed the man who was more than life to she whimpered: "Now, by Allah, the killer is killed and my love is avenged." Then she fainted from the loss of blood. Prince Aage of Denmark, Europe's most celebrated soldier of fortune, who commands the battalion, was swiftly informed of the murder; and it waa through his prolonged investigation and subsequent report to the government that this mystery has been unravelled and ita results made known to the world. The'Commandante ordered the girl to be brought to him as soon as she was properly clothed and had her wound treated. But when she stood before him at last, it was in stubborn silence. He begged her to explain how this tragedy had befallen, and promised mercy if her tale proved she had been wronged. But she added nothing to what she had confided in the first flush of triumph when the soldiers caught her. Angered by such atony concealment, Prince Aage had her placed in the military prison. Soldiers meanwhile located her family and it was revealed that the girl, known as was a much-sought-after siren, -one -of those who drive soldiers mad with her caresses. Her relatives were told that the girl was in jail for murder. One of them came to the prison bringing clothes for her; he had heard that for lack of others she was wear- ing a French uniform, and for an Arab, there can be nothing more shameful. The soldiers were sympathetic, and after carelessly looking through the clothes for a weapon, they allowed them to be given to Ayala. A few hours later, Ayala was found sprawled on the .floor, her lovely hair her lips parted, her heart silent. Poison had been sewn into an Inner lining, and by taking it she thought to make sure that her secret would die with her. So It would have, were it not for the untiring efforts of Prince Aage, who was not willing to let such a mystery go unsolved in his post. But his task was not easy. From friends of Robert Boyd, the dead Scotsman who had been knifed as he slept, the Commandante could learn nothing; a Legionnaire never tells on a comrade. At first the Prince favored a theory that the murdered man had killed an Arab, perhaps in a tavern brawl, and been avenged by the bereaved native mistress. This belief led him astray for some time before he decided that it was a blind alley, and that no such incident gave the girl cause. All this time, other possibilities were not neglected, little was known about Robert Boyd, for in the words of Prince Aage, the Foreign Legion is a "military monastery where nobody knows about the past." But Boyd's papers were searched, addresses on letters to him were traced to relatives in Edinburgh, and these were questioned. At last a full report on him was ready. Boyd was an assumed name, and his right name was Angua Stewart. He had been a World War veteran serving with the Royal Scoto on two continents. After Armistice and demobilization, he went back to his sweetheart, only to find her married to a munitions of those who safely manufactured the tools of death with which he took life and risked his own. Life seemed ashes to him then, Something to be tossed to the winds, and BO in 1920, he decided to find death or forget- fulness in the Foreign Legion. Two years later there came to the Legion another lost soul, a disillusioned ex-officer of a Cossack regiment, named Serge Robetzky. The two became friendly. Both had found only defeat in the outside world, and both were always found in the bloodiest part of any skirmish. Reckless and cynical, they fought side by side for many years. It was a strange friendship, formal to a surprising degree, and when one of them was able to save the other'a life in battle it would be acknowl- edged with no more than a nod, or a. terso "thanks." When Prince Aage finally heard of this friendship, he remembered the who only two weeks before the murder of Boyd had vanished. It waa assumed at the time that he had been killed in ambush by some Arab sniper. Curs- ing himself round-, ly for not having connected the deaths of these two men before, the Prince went ahead, convinced that he was now on the right track. Nearly fifteen years after they had first been thrown together, trouble came to Robetzky. and Boyd in the shape of a woman, In some way, although nobody could say how, both of them fell in love with the same intriguing courtesan. As a result a hatred-between the men sprang up. Each felt that the other was betraying their friendship, and neither could find it in his heart to forgive. It did not help things when Robetzky warned Boyd to keep clear of her. One night Ayala refused to entertain Robetzky, saying that she had a headache; consumed by suspicion, he watched Boyd's tent. But though in his wild jealousy he divined her plans night, he did not know her pur- pose. Thus, watching Boyd's tent he saw Ayala glide into its shadows. What he .did not know was that Ayala had determined to visit Boyd a last time, to tell him that things between them were over. The next day the suitors had a quarrel ending in blows; and their calumny of each other was overheard by a soldier. It was this eavesdropper, when Prince Aage finally located him, who supplied the mystery's missing details. But apparently quarrels brought no solution so that they curtly agreed to fight it out to the finish. Two compan- ions, pledged to secrecy, acted as their seconds, and early one morning, muffled by the desert wind, two shots rang out. Boyd came back, but not Robetzky. In spite of the blinding passion that compelled him, Boyd should have known better. By losing his. friend, he did not gain the girl. .Little Is known about Robetzky; like Ayala, he said little. But there had been a bondage between these upon which it was not possible for Boyd or anyone else to the dim past, the temperaments of Robetzky and Ayala had sprung from the same fiery race. They were both products of the exotic Orient, and no Scotsman could long compete with that strange accord. The alluring Ayala may have been curious for a while about the quick and raw Scottish temperament, but this must soon have faded Into boredom. And poor Boyd, by killing Ayala's true love, only doomed himself. Friends tried to keep Ayala Ignorant of Robetzky's death, but "murder will and one treacherous mouth exposed the merciful lies of all the rest. Then it wag that she carefully planned to kill Boyd as he slept, and make his canvas tent his shroud. She greased her body to make sure that none might impede her, until the knife was planted In his heart. When she reached her victim. In the very tent to which she had once come on a more romantic errand, she stood over him. She lifted the killed him. AH three who acted in this strange, wllcj love affair, have died because of it. Nothing remains of their tragedy except what Prince Aage sat down to write the authorities. HensPayinl Students'Way IhrrtCollege THE goose that laid the golden egg is dead, but some of those hens down in Alabama are laying college diplo- mas. They don't exactly lay college diplomas, 'but they lay their equivalent. To sum It up, boys and gtrla in Alabama are letting chickens pay their way through college. This sounds unreasonable, but, nevertheless, it's true. Statisticians at Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Ala., have figured out that a flock of 300 leghorn hena. properly cared for, will keep a boy or girl to collpge. And hundreds are finding this solution as well as profitable. John E. Ivey, extension poultry specialist at Alabama Poly, has compiled some valuable atatistica on poultry rais- ing, and through these figures, hundreds of young boya and girls are now getting a college education though they nover dreamed of going beyond high school. The policy that has been adopted, and highly stressed at Auburn is one that has received nation-wide attention. In 1035 more than boys and girls wrote college officials and asked for some advice as to how they might enter college. They declared it would be impossible for them to receive higher schooling unless they could get jobs. No college can find jobs for people, but through the extension department at Auburn, many of them have now received their chance. Statisticians got to work. They figured out that from 1924 to 1029, 100 hens with an average of 160 eggs gave a gross return ot When 75 per cent of the feed was raised at home and with only 25 por cent purchased, profit was realized above the purchased feed. On this basis, a flock of 300 leghorn hens would supply enough money for a boy or girl to remain in college. i f To tell prospective students this, however, would lead many to jump at conclusions without realizing the things- they must do to make a go of it. For instance, on .this plan, a boy or girl, or their parents, or relatives, should raise 75 per cent- of the feed at home. The father or other member of the family would have to care for the while the boy or girl is in college, sell the eggs and send him or her the net returns for college expenses. So a chart was compiled, showing the amount of money they would make per a certain number of eggs, at varying prices; the proper food the hens would require to produce properly; gross income from different numbers of chickens; Bear's Own fttttfr Ill It rtsttt trfttffff. WHEN John' Stendal, 66-year-old sailor, adventurer and Alaskan gold miner curbed his wanderings and returned home this week to reside with his son In the little town of Ingalls In Mcnomlncc County, Michigan, he brought back with him strange talcs of the frozen North. Gold, but never enough, kept him in Alaska for 36 until now at 66 he Is back with hia son and has decided not to return to the lonely placer claims he owns on Glenn Creek, 00 miles from Ncfiana and the nearest railroad. In those 36 years of searching for gold, Stcnrtal has sect! and done many things few men have been privileged to see and do. His recreation has been hunting and playing soli- taire, for he lived alone on his claim, his nearest neighbor a mining partner six and a half miles away. In Winter, with dog team, he always made his annual trip to Nenana to sell his gold dust and lay In supplies for another year. Swampa and mountains formed an Impass- able barrier between him and civilization until the deep snows came. Out of the Alaskan hinterland come strange tales, but none more strange than that told by Slendal of his neighbor Nimrod Johnson, who ate a bear with its own teeth. Johnson had his teeth extracted by one of Alaska's flying dentists. The dentist took an Impression of John- son's gums and returned to Dawson by plane to die before the plates could be made. Undaunted, and with a conception of dentistry gained from his acquaintance with the short-lived dentist, Johnson took Impressions of his mouth with tallow, rpade a cast from river clay, melted an aluminum kettle for the plate and Into this set teeth of a bear he had killed. Numerous fittings and filings finally adapted the teeth to Johnson's mouth. Then, with an appetite sharpened by weeks of broth and gruel, Johnson cut up and cooked the ate it with its own teeth. The Father or Some Other Member of the Family Is Usually and Frequently Unwillingly Elected to Care tot the Chickens While the Students Acquire Academic Knowledge. the proper time to purchase hens, etc. Every detail worked out for the prospective student. Then, when a high school graduate wrote in and asked for a job to work his or her way through college, the chart would be sent to him or her. Naturally, some were afraid to tackle the task, but those who were determined to get a college education gladly accepted the opportunity. Today it is estimated that more students In Alabama alone are working their way, either entirely or partially, from raising-hens and selling their eggs. To become a more successful "egg" student, a boy or girl is urged to start his "business" before he or she finishes high school. P. O. Davis, executive secretary of Alabama. Polytechnic "A boy or girl desiring to earn his or her way through college in tills manner should bear in mind the fundamental fact that he or she should do his or her earning at home and not wait uiltil he or she is ready to enter college to start the project. "Each Summer for several years, the writer has received letters from many hundreds of fine boys asking for an opportunity to work their way through college. Many of them have come to the office for personal interviews. I have been saddened by their expressions as I explained to them that colleges are not operated to employ boys but to educate them; and that If jobs were they are is not feasible for a student to earn more than a minor portion of his expenses and, concurrently, get a thor- ough education which is very Mr. Davis declares. "With the facts before us we have worked out at Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, what- we call Proj- ect No. 1, for boys who visualize a college education. This project Is being sponsored by youth leaders. Briefly stated, it provides that a boy take 300 hens each year and make them 'pay him through.college.' There is no secret about this project. It is merely a good practical poultry hus- bandry. It should be started during or before a boy's junior year in high school. 'It is assumed that someone in his family will run it while he is away at college. During vaca- tions, he can make a crop of corn which is good for 7S per cent of a good laying he adds. Another favorable argument for the new "nest egg" method of paying for tuition is that there Is no great dan- ger of the egg-market being spoiled by too many studenla, for some time at least. Official statistics show that there Is literally a scramble for eggs In Alabama, and the de- mand must at present go unsatisfied except when eggs are brought in from other States. No fewer than more hens are needed before the egg requirements for the State are filled, and that means that Alabama boys and girls can earn college educations for themselves every year by egging them- selves on. In doing so they make not only a handsome mental profit for themselves, but they really help Alabama out of a serious poultry shortage. Now at last It can squarely put up to the young people whether they think college Is "not worth an egg." The hen, If it were asked Its opinion, might state that it is worth as many eggs aa many hens can make to send a "good egg" through college. br Wetklj. Ino. Brluta JUihlt Bwemd.