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George L. Lorton
Member
Username: retro_geo
Post Number: 784
Registered: 2-2008
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 12:48 am: | 
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Thanks indeed Jim! Interesting and yet sad story about Miss "Louise" Overgene, the Teacher. Sounds to me like she was getting ready to or already retired too. |
Jim Kalafus
Member
Username: jak
Post Number: 4755
Registered: 12-2000
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 12:55 am: |
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DEATH TAKES HALF A FAMILY
Ship Fire Victims' Coffins Tragic Anniversary Finale
Two flower-bedecked coffins side by side in the living room of their home in Sunnyside Queens yesterday were the mute finale to a joyous wedding anniversary that ended in the flaming ruins of the Morro Castle.
For ten years, Anthony and Mary Lione had worked hard to maintain their home and bring up two husky boys. They decided to take a vacation: they and the children, Raymond, 9, and Robert, 4.
Two of them came back from that trip - Bobby who still prattles innocently at the home of a relative, unmindful of the tragedy, and the mother, suffering the pain of a flame seared body at Flower Hospital, and the deeper anguish of her double loss. Her husband and other son will be buried tomorrow.
Mrs. Lione's story vividly caught the horror of it all. "We rose at the sounds of alarm she said. "I did not stop to dress, but clothed the two boys. We were on deck about an hour and a half. Then I saw my husband and Raymond lowered over the side. They let Bobby down next, and I lost sight of him until we were carried aboard the Monarch of Bermuda. The last the mother heard of any of them was the voice of Raymond crying as he went over the side. "They've got to save me! I don't want to die!"
But his body was one of those taken ashore at Sea Girt. He was to have entered school yesterday as a fourth grade student. His father, Anthony, 34, a year older than his wife, was a salesman in the Jamaica office of an insurance company. He had been an architect and previous to that an orchestra leader. The two will be buried in Calvary Cemetery tomorrow, following a mass in St. Teresa's Church where Lione was an usher.
Meanwhile, the bodies lay together at home, lights from candles in front of the crucifixes flickering on the faces of the father and of Raymond, the boy who did not want to die
Goodbye, dear, and amen. Here's hoping we meet again. Twas great fun...
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Jim Kalafus
Member
Username: jak
Post Number: 4777
Registered: 12-2000
| | Posted on Sunday, September 14, 2008 - 1:18 am: |
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>Thanks indeed Jim! Interesting and yet sad story about Miss "Louise" Overgene, the Teacher. Sounds to me like she was getting ready to or already retired...
I don't think that there was a mandatory retirement age for teachers in 1934! 
What I found interesting about Miss Overgene is that she was a school teacher, 58, unmarried, and on a romantic cruise to Havana. The 1934 school term began that Monday morning. Since she taught K-4, at least a few of her former students are still alive...I've often wondered about tracking them down via adverts, to see what the impact of learning on the first day of school that your teacher had died aboard the Morro Castle was like. And, doubtlessly, there are surviving class photos of this most elusive of victims, if someone takes the time to look for them.
Formality, as practiced in 1934, made tracking down several of the married female survivors and victims difficult. Mrs. James Dillon of Brooklyn, mother of survivor Mae Maloney went STRICTLY by that name. Even the Ward Line apparently had only her married name and not her first name....every last document in their archive; every last newspaper article or list; and every last book that told her story refered to her simply as "Mrs. James Dillon." The 1910, 20 and 30 censuses were no help at all.
Mrs. Dillon; her daughter; and several friends swam and drifted most of the way to shore. At some point, after sweveral hours of exertion, she smiled and her head went limp. Mae Maloney, her daughter, kept saying "I hope that mother will wake up" but the others in the group knew she was dead. They were rescued, and Mrs. Dillon's body recovered, 100 yards off the beach at Spring Lake.
I am 99% certain that her first name was Lulu. A "Lulu Dillon" of the exactly the same age as the Morro Castle victim, was buried in Green-wood Cemetery in Brooklyn two or three days after the disaster. She is the only female Dillon buried in Green-wood for a couple of years on either side of the fire. There is room for coincidence there, of course, but the age; hometown; date; and rarity of that surname in Green-wood during the mid-1930s indicate that this probably the right woman.
Several other women remain nameless in the same way. "Mrs. Dr. Harry Brinkmann," for instance, remains just that.
Goodbye, dear, and amen. Here's hoping we meet again. Twas great fun...
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George L. Lorton
Member
Username: retro_geo
Post Number: 797
Registered: 2-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, September 14, 2008 - 5:46 am: |
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Hello Jim,
quote:I don't think that there was a mandatory retirement age for teachers in 1934!
No and with the depression on she might of decided to keep working. It seems though that she was getting up there for 1934 to keep on Teaching but that's me.
quote:to see what the impact of learning on the first day of school that your teacher had died aboard the Morro Castle was like.
Were they even told what had happened to Miss Overgene? If I lived back then I wouldn't be telling any of those kids that their Teacher had died like that. I'd leave it to the parents discretion to tell their kids about Miss Overgene.
quote:Formality, as practiced in 1934, made tracking down several of the married female survivors and victims difficult.
Too bad the Census wasn't any help to you. That would be hard to find out what happened to those married ladies or even what their christian name was. Yet you don't want to call them Mrs. Married Name either. Although I should say that's better then nothing. |
Paul Williams
Member
Username: paulsebastianwilliams
Post Number: 13
Registered: 8-2008
| | Posted on Monday, September 15, 2008 - 10:08 am: |
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My sisters - and a lot of other women - don't like the "Mrs His name" thing - it takes away a womans identity and treats her as an appendage to a man |
George L. Lorton
Member
Username: retro_geo
Post Number: 799
Registered: 2-2008
| | Posted on Monday, September 15, 2008 - 3:48 pm: |
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My sisters and even my ex don't like it either. But I guess back in the 30's and before and after Women felt different. |
Michael H. Standart
Moderator
Username: mstandart
Post Number: 24854
Registered: 12-2000
| | Posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 - 4:17 am: |
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From the Asbury Park Press:
Mystery ship: Disaster of coastliner still unsolved
quote:BARNEGAT LIGHT An entire think-tank of suspense novelists could not dream up the scene aboard the burning oceanliner Morro Castle on Sept. 8, 1934, a historian told his audience Saturday during a lecture at Barnegat Lighthouse State Park.
More at http://www.app.com/article/20090121/COMMUNITY/901210454/1065
Comment: Dynamite? Where did that come from?
Cordially,
Michael H. Standart
Equal Opportunity Curmudgeon
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George L. Lorton
Member
Username: retro_geo
Post Number: 1433
Registered: 2-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 - 4:45 am: |
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Interesting! There is still a lot of mystery there. I hope Jim Kalafus catches this.
"Some quick romancing and then a shower. Morning ,noon and night, they hound me!"
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Michael H. Standart
Moderator
Username: mstandart
Post Number: 24862
Registered: 12-2000
| | Posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 - 4:52 am: |
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>>I hope Jim Kalafus catches this.<<
So do I. This is the first time I've seen dynamite being referred to in this one. If it's true, I'd like to know why it was there.
Cordially,
Michael H. Standart
Equal Opportunity Curmudgeon
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George L. Lorton
Member
Username: retro_geo
Post Number: 1437
Registered: 2-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 - 5:11 pm: |
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So would I. Jim or any of the other Morro Castle Historians might know. I don't.
"Some quick romancing and then a shower. Morning ,noon and night, they hound me!"
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Michael H. Standart
Moderator
Username: mstandart
Post Number: 27955
Registered: 12-2000
| | Posted on Friday, June 12, 2009 - 10:48 am: |
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From The Asbury Park Press:
Asbury Park to honor ship rescuers, families in parade
quote:ASBURY PARK The Asbury Park Historical Society is looking for people or their descendants who helped save lives during the 1934 Morro Castle ship disaster to take part in this year's Fourth of July Parade in Asbury Park.
More at http://www.app.com/article/20090611/NEWS/906120342/1004/NEWS01
Cordially,
Michael H. Standart
Equal Opportunity Curmudgeon
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George Lorton
Member
Username: retro_geo
Post Number: 327
Registered: 5-2009
| | Posted on Friday, June 12, 2009 - 11:17 pm: |
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That's nice that they are honoring the memory of Rescuers of the Morro Castle Passengers! |
Michael H. Standart
Moderator
Username: mstandart
Post Number: 30114
Registered: 12-2000
| | Posted on Monday, September 7, 2009 - 4:42 am: |
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From The Asbury Park Press:
Cruise ship's tragic end
quote:ASBURY PARK As the Ward Line's flagship Morro Castle was just seven miles off the coast of Lavallette shortly after 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 8, 1934, two young ladies were being entertained in the smoking room by two men they had met aboard the ship.
With just a few precious hours left in their whirlwind fantasy cruise to the tropics of Havana, Cuba, they were determined to stay up as late as possible on their final night together.
Three page article begins at http://www.app.com/article/20090905/NEWS/90905068/1004/NEWS01/Cruise+ship+s+tragic+end
Comment: 75th anniversery of this event is tomorrow.
Cordially,
Michael H. Standart
Equal Opportunity Curmudgeon
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Michael H. Standart
Moderator
Username: mstandart
Post Number: 30132
Registered: 12-2000
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - 3:26 am: |
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From The Asbury Park Press:
Probe found ship's officers at fault
quote:ASBURY PARK Less than 48 hours after the Morro Castle fire started on Sept. 8, 1934, federal investigators were calling the ship's officers, crew and passengers into a packed room in Manhattan to determine what happened. There was a lot of finger-pointing as the officers and crew were immediately the focal point of the disaster.
Two page story begins at http://www.app.com/article/20090906/NEWS/909060355/1004/NEWS01/Probe+found+ship+s+officers+at+fault
Cordially,
Michael H. Standart
Equal Opportunity Curmudgeon
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Mark Baber
Moderator
Username: mab
Post Number: 3651
Registered: 12-2000
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - 2:15 pm: |
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From The Jersey Journal, here's a local take on George Rogers' role in the fire and his later criminal trials.
MAB
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OceanicSteamNavigationCo/
http://www.greatships.net/
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