Racine, WI fatal motorboat accident, Sept 1920

ARTIST LOSES BRIDE IN STORM ON LAKE

Former Anna Mitchell, Painter, of this City, Washed from Motor Boat Off Racine.

CHAINED TO CENTREBOARD

Husband, Whose First Wife Way Elizabeth Flynn, Sought Thus to Save Her.

Special to the New York Times.

CHICAGO, Sept. 12. - A thrilling story of having clung to his overturned motor boat six miles out in Lake Michigan off Racine, Wis., for eighteen hours and seeing his bride of six weeks, whom he at chained to the centreboard, washed off by the waves after an eight-hour struggle, was told tonight by John A. Jones, a landscape artist, following his rescue. His bride was Anna Mitchell, a portait painter of New York. No tace of her body has been found.

Mr. Jones was rescued by the fishing tug William, Jr., and is in a serious condition at a Racine hospital.

Mr. Jones and his bride were on their honeymoon. Jones obtained a divorce last July from his first wife, who was Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the Socialist, and married Miss Mitchell at Crown Point, Aug. 13. Her family had objected to the match, and so the two eloped.

They had left Chicago on their honeymoon in an eighteen-foot launch which carried a square sail. They put in to Ephraim, Wis., Aug. 21, with much difficulty. A storm had disabled the boat and it was half swamped. They went as far as Washington Island, subsequently, and were on their return trip. They left Milwaukee Saturday afternoon.

At 3 o'clock the motor suddenly stopped. The waves were high, and while Mr. Jones tinkered with the motor, the day passed into night, and suddenly the boat capsized.

"I found my wife struggling in the water," Mr. Jones said tonight. "I got her into the boat after I had righted it. I put her in the bow. Then came another heavy sea and the crazy boat tipped again.

"Then I got the chain and fastened the poor girl. I thought she was secure, but the waves released her from the chain, shot her into the lake, and carried her beyond my reach.

"Meantime, I had been burning clothing soaked in gasoline. Nobody saw the signal. Nobody came. I saw passing craft all day today, but could not attract the attention of any of them."

Mr. Jones is a landscape artist, and lives at 4,826 Prairie Avenue. He was thought to be a bachelor, and few knew that he was married until he began suit against his first wife, called "the Socialist Joan of Arc." She had never used the name of Jones, never calling herself anything but Helen Gurley Flynn. They had been married for more than twelve years. They had one child, John F. Jones, who is said to be with his mother in New York.

Mr. Jones in his divorce bill said that his wife deserted him two years after the ceremony.

John A. Jones and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the former I. W. W. agitator and campaigner, were married in 1908. Many stories have been told of their married life, the most unusual being that she retained her maiden name and always addressed Jones as "Comrade."

Jones and Miss Flynn were married while they were making a tour of the Minnesota iron mines. According to a story told by Miss Flynn after they separated, she met Flynn at an I. W. W. in Chicago, when she was only 17 years old, and he induced her to go with him on a speaking campaign.

Two days after the wedding Miss Flynn went to Minneapolis to consult a specialist about her throat, which had been strained by her speechmaking, and her husband took a job in one of the mines. Two days later he was accused of setting fire to one of the mine bosses' houses and the bride returned to her parents in Connecticut.

From that time the path of the "comrades" was not smooth. She defended him against many accusations, however, and frequently asserted that a trumped-up charge had sent him to jail in Grand Rapids for thirty-five days after conviction for carrying concealed weapons. She said that she loved him and married him because he was the first man who, in his talk, could make her feel ignorant.

The New York Times, New York, NY 13 Sept 1920
__________________

Transcribed by Tim Taugher. Thanks, Tim!