Dispatch From the White Star Line Says That Elsbury is Not a Survivor
ALL HOPE IS ABANDONED
Gurnee Man on Titanic Not Among Survivors--Family Now Compelled to Give up Hope.
The last hope of the James Elsbury family of Gurnee that their husband and father, a passenger on the ill fated Titanic might yet be returned to them, was completely swept away when on Wednesday a telegram from New York stated that he was not among the survivors. When news of the disaster first spread, the Elsbury family clung to the hope that he might have been delayed in starting, but a cablegram from relatives across the water destroyed that hope and proved to a certainty that he was aboard the sunken vessel. Day after day passed while the family waited in suspense for some word from the missing one, sometimes fearing the worst and sometimes inspired by hope. At times Mrs. Elsbury was sure that he must some way have been saved, but as time wore on and no message came she began to lose hope, feeling that if alive, he would ere this have communicated with her. And then came the report that a man had been picked up in an unconscious condition by the rescue ship, and had been placed in a New York hospital. That he had never regained his reason and that his only utterance were the words "Lake County, Illinois." Then hope sprang anew in the Gurnee home and telegrams bearing Ellsbury's description, were at once sent and his picture was also forwarded. But a crushing blow was dealt the family when the answer came from the White Star Line that the man in question is not James Ellsbury. All hope of his being alive is now abandoned as is also that of ever receiving his body, and in all probability it will never be known whether the well known, highly respected Gurnee farmer, lies among the unidentified buried at sea or whether he was among the number whose bodies were never recovered.
ALL HOPE IS ABANDONED
Gurnee Man on Titanic Not Among Survivors--Family Now Compelled to Give up Hope.
The last hope of the James Elsbury family of Gurnee that their husband and father, a passenger on the ill fated Titanic might yet be returned to them, was completely swept away when on Wednesday a telegram from New York stated that he was not among the survivors. When news of the disaster first spread, the Elsbury family clung to the hope that he might have been delayed in starting, but a cablegram from relatives across the water destroyed that hope and proved to a certainty that he was aboard the sunken vessel. Day after day passed while the family waited in suspense for some word from the missing one, sometimes fearing the worst and sometimes inspired by hope. At times Mrs. Elsbury was sure that he must some way have been saved, but as time wore on and no message came she began to lose hope, feeling that if alive, he would ere this have communicated with her. And then came the report that a man had been picked up in an unconscious condition by the rescue ship, and had been placed in a New York hospital. That he had never regained his reason and that his only utterance were the words "Lake County, Illinois." Then hope sprang anew in the Gurnee home and telegrams bearing Ellsbury's description, were at once sent and his picture was also forwarded. But a crushing blow was dealt the family when the answer came from the White Star Line that the man in question is not James Ellsbury. All hope of his being alive is now abandoned as is also that of ever receiving his body, and in all probability it will never be known whether the well known, highly respected Gurnee farmer, lies among the unidentified buried at sea or whether he was among the number whose bodies were never recovered.
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