DROWNED IN LAKE ERIE

Wreck of the Propeller Dean Richmond.

She Ran on a Reef in Lake Erie, Near Dunkirk, in the Storm, and Went to Pieces – Her Cargo and the Bodies of Her Crew Washed Ashore.

The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western line propeller Dean Richmond was lost some time during the night between Dunkirk, N. Y., and Erie, Penn., with all on board, comprising a crew of eighteen. She was loaded with flour and grain and bound from Toledo for Buffalo. There is no living witness of the disaster, and the manner of it could only be surmised from the wreckage and the bodies that came ashore.
The Richmond put into Erie at 5 o'clock p. m. to coal up, and departed shortly afterward for her destination.
Next morning the shore from Dunkirk to Van Buren, a distance of four miles, was strewn with thousands of sacks of flour, pieces of ship's furniture, etc.
About 9 o'clock a. m. a body came ashore a mile west of Dunkirk, and by papers on the body it was identified as that of ALBERT G. DODGE, of Fayette, Ohio, a sailor on the Richmond.
In the afternoon two more bodies came ashore. There was nothing on them by which they could be identified, but manifestly they were sailors.
To each of the three bodies was fastened a life-preserver, and as they were only partially dressed, it is presumed that the disaster came without warning and that they leaped from their beds only to find death in the raging waters.
All the bodies were terribly bruised by striking against the rocks, and it is believed that death was the result of exposure and pounding against the rocks, as they did not bear the appearance of having been drowned. The Richmond's after part came ashore a few miles from Dunkirk in the afternoon. It is badly broken up.
From all that can be deduced from the appearance of the wreckage and the bodies the propeller must have become unmanageable and gone on the rocky shore, where the tremendous sea that was running quickly pounded her to pieces. The sailors may have been suddenly left struggling in the waves by the collapse of the vessel or they may have had time to embark in the small boats, but to either event the end could not have been long delayed.
The flour which was consigned to Boston parties is being gathered up by the beach dwellers.
A dispatch from Buffalo, N. Y., says: “The bodies of five of the victims of the Dean Richmond disaster have come ashore at Van Buren Point, forty miles from this city, near Dunkirk. The shore of the lake is strewn with wreckage and merchandise, and the waves hourly yield up further evidence of the Richmond's fate.”
A report from Erie, Penn., states that the Dean Richmond's yawl has been found near where the first two bodies were picked up. There can be no doubt that all on board perished. The coast is full of rocks and the waves ran twenty feet high all night. The Dean Richmond was a thirteen-hundred-ton vessel, owned at Port Huron, and valued at $70,000. She was built in 1869 and rebuilt in 1890. The vast amount of wreckage indicates that she went to pieces late in the night.

The Cranbury Press New Jersey 1893-10-20
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!