Name | Robert William Portas | |
Birth | 10 Feb 1895 | New Orleans, Louisiana [1] |
Gender | Male | |
Census | 1900 | New Orleans, Louisiana |
Obituary | Obituary, Times-Picayune, 6 Apr. 1930, p2: PORTAS--On Friday afternoon, April 4, 1930, at 3:30 o'clock, Robert William Portas, in this 30th year, of 4023 Leonidas street, husband of Clair Tonry, brother of Mrs. J. Michell, Arthur and Henry Portas, son of the late Enrique Portas and Julia Pitard. Relatives and friends, also officers and members of the American Legion and the Holy Name Society of the Little Flower Chapel, are invited to attend services from the P.J. McMahon & Sons' Funeral Home, 4506 Canal street, near cemeteries, due notice of which will be given. Several articles were published after his death. This is the longest, from the front page of the Times-Picayune on Saturday, 5 Apr. 1930: ONE ORLEANIAN KILLED, COMRADE BURNED BY BOLT — Robert Portas Loses Life in Tragedy on Fisherman's Canal — Lightning Strikes Pair Under Pirogue — Anglers Take Refuge from Storm Under Overturned Boat — An Orleanian was instantly killed and his companion on a fishing expedition was severely burned by a bold of lightning which struck their overturned pirogue on the bank of Fisherman's canal, a tributary of Bayou Bienvenu, Friday, afternoon. Robert Portas, 35 years old, 4023 Leonidas street, was killed by the bolt. His companion, Francis Mancuso, 31, 931 Olives street, is in Charity hospital receiving treatment for electrical shock and first and second degree burns of the right arm and body. Mancuso's condition is not believed to be serious. Mancuso and Portas, the former said, left New Orleans at noon Friday on a fishing expedition which they planned to last through this morning. They took two pirogues on Mancuso's automobile to the pumping station at Jourdan avenue and Florida Walk, where they launched them. Sheltered by Pirogue The pair paddled their pirogues to the junction of the bayou and the Fisherman's canal, where they left one of the boats and started walking up the canal bank. After pulling the second pirogue along the canal for approximately 100 yards they halted because of threatening weather, pulled the pirogue on the bank and got under it. In the shelter of the boat, Portas and Mancuso ate sandwiches. "A terrific crash knocked me unconscious," Mancuso said, "and when I came to I lay under the pirogue for more than 30 minutes, opening my eyes but unable to move my hands or feet." "When I regained control of my faculties, I stood up and called for Portas. He was under the pirogue, and his face was black. After trying to revive him I walked to the bayou and crossed in the pirogue left at the mouth of the canal." Cries for Aid Staggering through the swamp and woods toward the Jourdan pumping station, Mancuso intermittently cried for aid, but his shouts were unheard. "When we went out to fish the bayou was crowded with boats," he said, "but when I walked back there was no one in sight. The fishermen must have been driven to shelter by the storm." Augustus Wegner, 63-year-old helper at the pumping station, was the first to sight Mancuso on his return to the canal. He notified George Heier, engineer at the station, and Heier telephoned to police. Mancuso was unable to estimate the distance which he walked, partly supporting himself on a stick, but police said the fisherman's canal is about three miles from the pumping station. Police Find Body Patrolman John O'Hara dove Mancuso to Charity hospital, and Patrolmen Edmund Scanlon and James Forstall commandeered a launch to use in their search for Portas' body. "We found the overturned pirogue on a little rise in a clump of willow trees," Scanlon said. "Ports' body was beneath the boat, and a nearby tree was split in two by the lightning." The policemen expressed the opinion that the same bolt of lightning that struck the tree cause Portas' death. The end of the pair's pirogue rested on a root of the willow. Portas and Mancuso were insurance salesmen, employed by the same organization. Widow Survives Portas was a native of New Orleans and had been in the insurance business for three years. He is survived by his widow, with whom he had planned to celebrate two and a half years of married life today: one sister, Mrs. J. Michel of New Orleans, and two brothers, Harry Portas of New Orleans and Arthur Portas of New York city. Fifteen years ago, Portas related at the Charity hospital, he went hunting at Paradis, La., with a school chum. In climbing through the woods Mancuso's friend was accidentally killed by the discharge of his own gun. | |
Death | 4 Apr 1930 | New Orleans, Louisiana [2] |
Notes |
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Person ID | I3139 | |
Last Modified | 30 Dec 2023 |
Father | Enrique Portas-Martinez b. 21 Aug 1856, Campeche, Campeche, Mexico d. 15 Apr 1910, Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico (Age 53 years) | |
Mother | Julia Cecile Pitard b. Jul 1864 d. 2 Feb 1919, New Orleans, Louisiana (Age 54 years) | |
Marriage | 19 Feb 1887 | New Orleans, Louisiana |
Family ID | F145 | Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Spouse / Partner | Clair Tonry b. 25 Feb 1904 d. 14 Feb 1979 (Age 74 years) | |
Marriage | Abt Nov 1927 | |
Family ID | F3862 | Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Last Modified | 30 Dec 2023 |
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