I am an avid genealogist. The past is very important to me. I spend a lot of time in cemeteries photographing tombstones to upload on website the FindAGrave.
I enjoy recognizing long dead people by putting memorials to them online. However, every once and a while something grabs me about a specific grave. It could be the name, or the dates or a ceramic photo. In those cases, I feel compelled to dig a little deeper. That's what this series of blogs is about: The tales behind those graves. Some of my subjects will be heroes. Some will be villains. Some will be victims. And some will linger in between, like most of us. However, don't be surprised if the tales are inherently tragic. These are grave tales. They all end in death.
19 IN STATE ARE DEAD IN STORM;
2 FISHERMEN DIE IN BAY; 2 RESCUED
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Most Of Victims Are Apparent Heart Attack
Cases; 4 Jump Into Water From Sinking Boat;
Winds Hinder Snow Clearing
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Two temperature records, one 65 years old, and a snowfall mark were broken yesterday by the storm and subfreezing weather, the Weather Bureau reported. The 13-degree reading at midnight and after broke the previous record lows of 14 for December 12, 1957, and December 13, 1895. The depth record for a 24-hour December snow was established by the 14.1 inches that fell Sunday and yesterday.
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State Toll
Nineteen persons were dead yesterday as Maryland lay prostate before ever-growing drifts of wind-whipped snow in subfreezing temperatures. There is little prospect of relief for at least two days.
The gusty winds, reaching speeds in excess of 30 miles an hour, were the biggest single factor hindering snow clearing throughout the State.
Although main State roads were passable for the most part, county officials reported that secondary roads were being blown closed minutes after plows passed through.
Most of the dead were apparent heart attack victims and collapsed during or soon after shoveling the heavy snow, which had an undercoat of ice in many places.
(I am leaving this section of the story to focus on the fate of Meyer Sacks.)
Two fisherman died of exposure yesterday after they, and two companions, jumped from their sinking boat into the chilly waters of the Chesapeake Bay.
Rescued by a passing tanker, the Yacona, were Paul Sacks, 17, of the 3400 block Park Heights avenue, and Samuel Levin, 45, of the 5400 block Crismer avenue.
The dead were Meyer Sacks, 47, father of Paul, who also was taken from the Chesapeake by the Yacona, and Howard Cockerell, captain of the 42-foot fishing boat, who was picked up by the Coast Guard cutter, Appalachee.
Harrowing Night
The four made up a fishing party that had left Annapolis Sunday morning, were caught in the snowstorm and spent a harrowing night on the Chesapeake before help arrived.
"We had already made our peace with the Lord, if you know what I mean," said Mr. Levin at Anne Arundel General Hospital in Annapolis, where he and Paul Sacks were treated for the effects of exposure.
The younger Sacks said the cold was so intense "it was like knives going through us." At times, he said, "we wanted to sink just to get warm."
"Tried To Get Back"
The youth, a student a Polytechnic Institute, gave the following account of the ordeal:
"When it started to snow Sunday noon, we tried to get back. But we couldn't see for the snow and the seas plunging over us. We didn't know where we were. Then the compass went bad.
"We ran until the gas gave out, but we were running in circles. Finally we drifted into the western shore and anchored. My God, it was cold. We broke up all the inside of the boat -- the toilet door and the floorboards -- for a fire we made in a garbage can.
"Sam made a flare out of a rag and turpentine and waved it at the shore. Someone saw it and flashed back with a light. That was 5 o'clock.
"Sam said, 'Well, boys, we're all right now.' We tried to believe that as the hours went by. But the guy must not have called the Coast Guard because no one came.
"About 1 in the morning we cut ourselves loose from the anchor. We had to. The boat was pounding apart. When the cabin filled up, we went out on deck. We hoped we'd drift ashore.
"It opened right up and sank. We saw its lights still burning under the water.
"We all had life preservers and for a while we talked. What were we saying? That it was time to give up. I held on to Dad.
"Then we saw the freighter. They threw me a line and pulled me aboard.
"Our Last Trip"
"It was supposed to be our last trip of the season.... We went out after those pound-and-half perch that come in in the cold water."
Mr. Levin and the older Sacks, a longtime friend, were the operators of a television sales and service business in Baltimore. Mr. Cockerell, an upholsterer, also ran a party fishing business.
His brother Edward, of Baltimore, said Mr. Cockerell held a bay pilot's license and had long experience on the water.
The Coast Guard said it first received a report of the sinking fishing boat, the Rose Marie, from the Yacona. The Guard notified the Appalachee which was about 8 miles from the scene.
After the cutter arrived, and picked up Mr. Cockerell, it drew alongside the tanker and took the other three aboard to return to Annapolis.
Enroute to Annapolis the cutter was met by another boat with a physician aboard. The doctor came aboard the Appalachee and pronounced Mr. Sacks and Mr. Cockerell dead.
Crew Praised
The Coast Guard praised the crew of the Yacona for skill and bravery in bringing about the rescue in the choppy Chesapeake.
"We were not the heroes, but they were," one guardsman said later.
A search for the four men had been underway since 9 P.M. Sunday after the Rose Marie had failed to return to Annapolis.
After the men were picked up by the Coast Guard, a State Police helicopter flew Capt. Donald A. Hout, an Army physician from the Chemical Center at Edgewood, Md., out to the ships in the Bay.
There, Dr. Hout transferred to a Coast Guard patrol boat and was taken out to meet the Appalachee.
That was a truly harrowing account by the son Paul Sacks. It is one thing for a disaster to suddenly befall a person but the people on that boat had to live in growing dread as their situation became increasingly desperate. It was like being on the Titanic, but on a smaller scale. That said, emotionally, I'm sure the survivors of the Titanic felt no greater grief than Paul Sacks and Samuel Levin did. I'm sure they had to deal with some form of survivor guilt for decades, if not their entire lives.
Many other people also died during this snowstorm. Although I opted not to copy the whole story, the majority of the people who died did so as a result of heart attacks after shoveling snow. Here's the list of the dead:
Trust me, I will not be shoveling snow this winter. I'll wait until someone knocks on my door and offers to do it for me.
Remember, there is a story behind every grave. You never know what you're missing when you walk past one....
Grave Tales:
My novel Chapel Street is now available! You can buy the Kindle and paperback at Amazon and the Nook, paperback and hardcover at Barnes & Noble. Chapel Street is the tale of a young man battling a demonic entity that has driven members of his family to suicide for generations. It was inspired by an actual haunting.
Learn more about the book, click
Here.
Listen to me read some chapters here:
Read about the true haunting that inspired the novel here:
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 1, An IntroductionThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 2, The HouseThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 3, This Is UsThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 4, ArrivalThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 5, MethodologyThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 6, Clara's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 7, Clara's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 8, My Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 9, My Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 10, My Tale, Pt. 3The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 11, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 12, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 13, John's Tale, Pt. 1 The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 14, John's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 15, Come Inside!The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 16, Marion's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 17, Marion's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 18, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 19, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 20, Lisa's TaleThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 21, Recap, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 22, Recap, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 23, Recap, Pt. 3
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