Early in the morning of September 8, 1860, the Lady Elgin, a ten-year-old wooden steamship, was rammed and sunk by the Augusta on Lake Michigan, just off Chicago.
The next morning, in Boston, England, a great cormorant landed on the steeple of the church,
much to the alarm of the superstitious. There it remained, with the exception of two hours’ absence, till early on Monday morning, when it was shot by the caretaker of the church. The fears of the credulous were singularly confirmed when the news arrived of the loss of the Lady Elgin at sea, with three hundred passengers, amongst whom were Mr. Ingram, member for Boston, with his son, on the very morning when the bird was first seen.
