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About The Advocate-Democrat. (Crawfordville, Ga.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 14, 1897)
FIRE AT SEA. riallory Line Steamship Leona Partially Destroyed. BLAZE OCCURRED AT NIGHT. Thirteen Passengers and Three of the Crew fleet a Horrihle Fate.—Frantic Ef¬ forts Were Hade to -Save Those in the Steerage.—' rigin Unknown. A telegram from Now York saye the Maiiory Line steamer Leona, which left her pier Saturday, bound for Galveston, put back and arrived in port Sunday night with sixteen corpses on board. The dead were thirteen steerage passengers and three mem¬ bers of the crew, who succumbed to a terrible fire which occurred off the Delaware coast at an early hour Sun¬ day morning. The terrible horror of the story can hardly be told. Those who lire dead were penned up below decks, and although frantic efforts wire made by the officers of the vessel to wive them, the fire hnd gained such terrific headway before the danger was discovered that ail escape was cut off. The ttlenmor curried In her cargo many bales of cotton bagging. It is not known how the fire originated, but when It was discovered it burst forth with such fury that It was impossible to reach the steerage. Even the steer¬ age passengers were apparently un¬ mindful of the danger, else the smoke and flames had not reached them. The saloon passengers were first aroused and in such a manner as to occasion little alarm. When II became apparent that Hie fire luid cut off the steerage the captain and his men poured great quantities of water down the ventilat¬ ors and the most frantic efforts were made for the escape of those penned up. In tills way eight of the steerage passengers escaped. A Passenger's Story. Among the passengers was S. V. Winslow, of Rutherford, N. .1. On his return to Hits city late Sunday night Mr. Winslow told the followinggrnphic story of the tire: "We left the pier at.Ti o'clock Satur¬ day afternoon with clear skies and beautiful weather. We passed through making excellent time, the chief en g'ueer congratulating himself that all was well and even making the remark to one of his assistants that ne could not itelleve this good luck could con¬ tinue, for tiie trip had started under «tich favorable auspice*. "Sandy Hook was passed and the lights of .the Jersey shore were st*.U vlsiJtle if j«vB JHi'fveiH' to bed. 'ty the time we panned Barnegnt light at 10 o'clock all the passengers were in bed. The pnssenger* in the steerage had al¬ to retired to their bunks. "The watch going off at 12 o’clock reiiorted everything well. There was no suspicion of any tire or other trou¬ ble. The sen was very smooth and there was no wind. The moon was shining brightly. “First Mate Wallace was pacing the bridge at 2 a. m. when ho thought ho smelled smoke coming from the fore¬ castle. He went down the forward companionway and opened the door to the steerage. The moment lie dill this (here wax A Burnt of Flame which burned his face. Wallace turn¬ ed and rati on deck and cried the alarm of fire to the forward watch, teling bint to waken tlie steward and have all Hie passengers aroused ns quickly as possi¬ ble without creating any excitement. The steward did this in a quiet man¬ ner, going to each stateroom and wak¬ ing the occupants. "He said In a calm tone that there «* of the * ship, * n ' aU and it ,! U might ' h ;\ f r be V a, "^ visab V Z\ c for the passengers to get t eh Lings tni?rthf»r It miirht be possible, m* ml ,„M. that the ship would have event unity to be abandoned. "There was no excitement among Hie saloon passengers, Must of them packed their luggage and carried it from their staterooms Into the main saloon and remained there, after the officers assured them that there was no Immediate danger; they took matters quiet ly. "The steward made frequent trips forward and came back with reports of tiie progri ss of the flames, lie said tiie tire was I'ollfllH’ii Inflow decks, and as the flame did not rise very high the passengers did not fully realize their per!!. "Captain Wilder Rushed on Deck at the fire alarm, clad only in an under - shirt ami trousers. He a-urned com maud and at once ordered the crew to rescue the steerage passengers. On the name deck with the steerage, on the port side of the ship, a large quantity of cotton bagging was stored, sepa rated from the steerage passengers by a board partition. “The main deck was almost complete ly filled with freight, cutting off all exit from the steerage to the after part of the ship. The oniy way out from Hie steerage was up the forward com panion way. captain’s ordcfe. “Tite crew, on the rushed for the companion way and at¬ tempted to descend. 'They were driven Pack by dense volumes of smoke, and flames quickly followed, The smok> arid flames also came up through the ventilators, and it was apparent that below decks was a roaring furnace. 1 "Then it dawned on the officers ant crew that the unfortunate people Sit the steerage were probably burning tv death. Gapt. Wilder saw his crew, driven back from the companion and the realization of the horror low made him desperate. “He rushed to the stairs and od to go below. He did not go down more than a dozen steps when the in creasing smoke and the flames shoot¬ ing up around him drove him back. "He stepped back to the shelter of the pilot house His Face Was Scorched. His eyes were burned off. He stood there dazed arid overcome for a mo¬ ment. Then he exclaimed: “My God, no man can go through there and come out alive.’ “When the steward aroused me I jumped up hastily and dressed. I ran forward to see how extensive the fire was. The captain was just coming out of the companion way after his fruit¬ less effort to go below. I stood by and irk'd to look down the hole, but the heat anil smoke were so great that I was driven back. “When I looked down into that horri¬ ble hole the thought came over me like it had over the captain and crew that there were helpless people down below who were probably burning to death. "I tried to peer through the smoke to see if the steerage passengers were running around inflow, and 1 hoped we would be able to reach them in some way. "I listened for sounds, but could hear nothing save the roar of the flames us they grew steadily in volume below and rolled round and round iu the nar¬ row quarters. There was not a scream, not a groan, and no signs of life be¬ low. “On deck there were only the hoarse shouts of the captain and the hurry and bustle of the crew as they rushed about laying lines of hose and pouring streams of water down the companion way and through the open ventilators. “Only a slight wind was blowing from tiie south, and that carried the volumes of smoke aft over the full length of the ship and enveloped hei in a shroud of ehoking black, until the captain gave oisder* tc change tin nrnene completely, so the smoke would be blown over the bow. The speed ot the ship was first slackened, then the order was given to keep up bare-steer age way. “I stood in the loo of the pit of the house watching the officers and crew making futile efforts to reach the steer age. The horror of the situation was at first paralyzing. It seemed n> tbough the men and women whom 1 had soeu go into tiie steerage the day before were being cremated beneath my feet. “The deck was getting blistering hot. The flames began creeping higher and higher, through every outlet from be¬ neath the deck. The pouring of water down the companionway and through the ventilators had no effect save to send up the smoke in great puffs and cause angry spurts of fire to dart me naclngly above. "When the news of the fire reached the forward part of the ship where the stokers were feeding the boilers, they deserted their posts and ran to the deck, eighteen of them in all. They clambered l nto the second boat on the port side and began cutting it away, h irst Officer Wallace and Engineer Taylor J were after them in a moment, ^ ^ ^ ^ refused to obey. the .ash.ugs • and went on cutting away of the boat. ‘Come out of that boat.’ rrare.1 Tay lor. Then he added, reaching with his hand for a revolver, ‘I will shoot the man who cuts away the boat.' "The Spaniards looked at the chief engineer and then sullenly obeyed. “During the excitement of tiie first hour we did not know any one who had gotten out of the steerage alive, but later we found that eight of them managed to get out. “The fire burst up through cracks about the pilot house and then Into th« house itself. The quartermaster stuck to the wheel until the Ham, s almost en vclopisl !. . i. Cap:., a Wilder ordered signal lights of distress burned and In n'verv few minims then- flashed uy i . the darkness far to the north an an gw#rUlg 6iguaL u eaIm , from the Citj >f | Augusta, of the Savannah Line „. h ch oamt , alongside about daylight/ _____ In Kantneky tt. w.mt is taut tfi* Wttiaksr *» All ri fbL JitdMow advarttalng pay* CAPITOL NEWS. Members of the Bimetallic Com* i mission Sail. TARIFF COMMISSION WANTED Senator Cullom Believes that a Permanent Tariff Commission Composed of Experts Would Results in Much Good to the Country. James M. Tyner, of Indiana, has appointed Assistant Attorney Geuera [ for the Postoffice Department ^ 'jvner at once entered on the dis c . baxg g of Ws duties, Dr. J. H. Hollander has been ap ; polnte ^ Secretary of the International Bimetallic Conference Commission. 1 — ig Professior of Economics at the [Us-Hopkins University and a inch and German scholar. Jtter lflie first experimental exportation made of from this country was Vfednesday from New York City when tlj Government, through department an agent, SI jt by the agricultural jiped three-quarters of a ton of se lectod butter for sale in Europe. ti. H. J. Taylor, colored, Recorder of Dti-ds for the District of Columbia, called at the White House one day last week and It is understood that his res.gnatlon will be tendered and that his successor will be Ex-Representa tlvAcheatham, also colored, of North Carllina. Taylor is from Kansas City. CMimissioner of Pensions Evans lias discovered a decision rendered by t^ Supreme Court some years ago, in w bh it is held that pension exam inin ! Surgeons are not employes of the Gov iment, hence cannot come with in ttl pale of the civil service. There are put six hundred boards of these exanXiers, nearly every doctor of them Democrats. As fast as Mr. Evans can do the'work they will give way to Re¬ publicans. Ex- Ice President Adlai E. Steven¬ son, (tin. J. H. Payne and United StatesJfeenator Edward O. Wolcott, who tile recently appointed by Presi¬ dent > Kinley as a commission to con¬ fer wi I the heads of European Gov erntnei-, relative to the holding of an int t# - inal bimetallic conference, Bit if Havre on the French liner depari'i V- liS^Slfoirda/'' Before their Mr. Stevenson said that the eomuils.* on would go directly to Paris auu aft* t conneeXqn with the expedi¬ tion wa 'rants, wc fid visit London, Berlin, 1 r ienna and the capitals of the other El ropean Governments. He ex¬ pected tpat much good would be ac¬ complish ed by the commission and did not antic ipate any trouble in inducing the Gov< rnments to appoint delegates to the ci mtemplatcd conference. The Donate has agreed to an amundmt nt to the sundry civil bill, rev ok lag the order of Presi, dent Clc-eland made on February 22, last, establishing forest reservations aggregating 17,000,000 acres. The de¬ bate brou gilt out much criticism of Mr. Clevelandj's order, Rawlins Senators and Pettigrew, White Wilson, Turner. speaking against it. Mr. Gray, of Delaware* defended the course of the President, pointing out that it was the result of an inquiry authorized by Congress and conducted by the Nation¬ al Academy of Science. Mr. Allison end-uvoreil to have the amendment re¬ stricted so as to leave the question of revocation to the President, but he was defeated oil an aye and nay vote—14 to 32. Mr. Gorman made a point of order against the amendment, but this being submitted to the Senate, was de¬ feated—23 to 25. The amendment was then agreed to without division. Rev. Silas Myers, of Simpson eount y Mississippi, is in Wash i ington locking after the bill to pension tiie ex-slaves. The bill was introduced by Senator Thurston some years ago. and created a great furore amoug ihe ex-slaves in tiie Southern State*, particularly those in Missis¬ sippi and Louisiana. Because of the credulity of the Southern negroes, many sharpers and schemers took ad vantage of them and . have worked , all „ wrts of devices to extort money from "»’*“■ Rev Myers brings with lum the signatures of over KW0 M.ss s.sip Pi ex-slaves who have sent him here to investigate the matter and to see "doit ^ done. He is indorsed by the colored press of the South and pro¬ poses to state his business before Con¬ gress in a few days. He is a remark¬ able negro of the old slave class; is _ ,, ,___. tall, do oueut y and full of reminiscences. . _ In reply to inquiries as to his Y ! ews on a permanent tariff commission Senator Cullom has written the fol lowing letter: Washington, D. C., May 6. Mr. Samuel B. Archer, Secretary the Tariff Commission I.eague, Newark, N. J.: My Dear Sir: You have asked me two or three times whether I have been and am now in favor of a perm a nent tariff commission. I have for many years thought that there ought to be some means devised by which we could avoid these constant and ex¬ treme changes in tariff legislation— first going far in the direction of a high tariff and on the occasion of a change in politics going as far the oth er way. I believe that through the judicious agency of a permanent tariff commis¬ sion composed of experts, statisticians and business men, such changes could be made from year to year by Congress as might be Indicated and clearly shown to be wise. This would save the necessity of re¬ quiring a change of the whole tariff system by whatever party came into power. Certainly we cannot continue indefi¬ nitely as we have been doing with reference to that subject, because the business of the country will not tol¬ erate it. I hope sincerely that this Congress may provide for some kind of a commission which will aid in chang¬ ing the situation and should be glad if an amendment of the kind Indicated were to be Incorporated in the bill now before the Senate known as the Ding ley bill. Very truly yours, S. M. CULLOM. riobile’s New Outlet. The grading of the Mobile, Jr.ckson & Kansas City Road from Mobile to Dog River, a distance of twenty-eight miles, has been completed, with the single exception of two miles to the eastward of Big Creek, where the con¬ tractor is behind time on account of a wet cut, or one filled with springs. The cars are running out thirteen miles, a mile beyond Clear Creek tres¬ tle, which is 1,000 feet in length. The entire force is at work on the line, and everything is being as rapidly pushed as possible. Colonel Merrill, the head of the road, has left England for Mo¬ bile, and is now on the ocean, and his arrival is expected in a few days. There has been no let up in the work, and judging from the substantial man¬ ner of the construction it evidences the determination to complete it as a first-class road. TO WITHDRAW. A f Oreek Troops to Be Called Home From Crete. A dispatch to the New York Journal from Athens says Prime Minister Italli says that the Greek troops will be with drawn from Crete. The government having need of all troops possible, he says he has decided on gradually with¬ drawing the army from Crete. This would facilitate arrangements with the great powers, which have been unofficially Intimated. Greece has officially notified the foreign ministers of her intention to withdraw from Crete, and has demanded the admission of Greek warships within the blockade for this purpose. Greece awaits the official offer of the great powers to make proposals of peace between her and Turkey, if they please, but will not ask for it. An official note from the powers w'll probably be presented at once and all depends on its terms. The report iu the papers of an armistice is not true, but an armistice will probably be agreed upon if peace negotiations are opened. JUDGE HARALSON Re-elected President of the Souther" Bap¬ tist Convention. At Wilmington, N. C„ the Southern Baptist Convention last Saturday af¬ ternoon re-elected its old officers as fol i ows; president. Judge Jonathan Ilar a | g0Dt of Alabama, and Secretaries, Dr. Bansing Burrows, of Augusta, Ga., and J)r 0 Gregory, of Baltimore. The following Vice-Presidents were c h oscll: w. J. Northern of Georgia; J. r Kaff [ e , of Arkansas: R. A. Marsh, of North Carolina, and J. Levering, of Maryland. Complete Assignment. A deed of assignment of ail the as¬ sets of every nature, property notes, mortgages and debts of the Southern Building & Loan Association was filed in the county register's office at Knox¬ ville, Team., Friday morning. The eon veyauce is made to the receivers of the association, D. A. Carpenter and John W. Conner. The purpose is simply to formaUy place the assets of the as soeintioiu in the receiver's hands as or dered by the Chancery decree and to avoM ‘Staking of unnecessary proof on litigation m other States. Aside from this ... it . has no significance. , CONDENSED TELEGRAMS. The Arkansas Senate has killed the Trill forbidding candidates to treat. Alexander Bechhofer. publisher of the Baltimore Herald, died last Friday morning after a lingering illness. Dr. William MeSwine, member of the Mississippi Legislature from Grenada county, is dead, Mrs. Darling, of Rogers, Ark., enter¬ tained one of her visitors by slipping a bullet between his ribs. Now she Is held for attempting to do murder. The Transvaal Government has re¬ pealed the immigration law. Mr. Cos¬ ter, Transvaal Attorney General, re¬ signed because such action was taken. Editors of the El Corlinto Ameri¬ cano, a paper in sympathy with Cu¬ bans at Mexico City, are under arrest charged with Insulting a friendly na¬ tion. Robert Collins, aged 14. and hig brother Edward, aged 17, were playing in the woods near Christianburg, Va., when the former was shot and killed accidentally by the latter. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad has begun the erection of a grain ele¬ vator with a capacity of 500,000 bush¬ els near their new docks in Pensacola, Fla. The elevator will be completed by October 1. N. W, Nelson, President of the Met¬ ropolitan Bank of Richmond, Va., was found dead in his bath room Saturday morning with the gas turned on. Ha had been a great sufferer for some time and it is believed ended his life to get rid of his pain. Mr. Nelson was 77 years old. The Comte de Bouthelier de Chavtg ny, whose residence is at Richelieu, fifteen miles from Montreal, has been sadly bereft by the Bazaar De Chari tie fire In Paris. Among the victims ol that terrible catastrophe were the Comte's mother, sister, two aunts and several of his mother's distant rela¬ tives. The revolution in Ecuador, accord¬ ing to all advices received, seems to he in the nature of a holy war. Among the leaders of the rebels are many priests. The uprising, which started in the provinces of Canar and Chimbor¬ azo, while not as serious as was thought at first, is still causing some apprehensions. E. Kellogg Beach, a retired capital¬ ist, committed suicide in Chicago Sat unlay in the bath bouse of his heme, NcULT State street, tfy shoi»3n> himself in the mouth. Despondency over ill health is supppsed to have been the cause. Mr. Beach was a graduate of West Point. His fortune is estimat¬ ed as about $1,500,000. A dispatch to the London Daily Mall from Rome says the pact of the powers constituting the triple alliance was renewed Thursday, for a period of six years, The right to with draw, under the terms of the or¬ iginal agreement, expired on May 6, and Germany has succeeded in per suading Italy not to exercise the right of withdrawal. President Charles W. Spalding, of the defunct Globe Savings Bank, Chi¬ cago, was brought into court tne other day to plead to twenty-nine indict¬ ments against him, mostly charges of ■mbezzleinent. He entered a plea of aot guilty to each of the indictments, uid was then sent back to his cell in i he county jail. He has not yet been able to secure boudsmen in the sum of $300,000. One day last week the Chicago grand jury returned seven indictments against Dwight W'. Andrews, ex-State Grain Inspector, and Benjamin F. Jen¬ kins, ex-cashier of the State Grain In s[rector’s office, both being accused of embezzling State funds. Andrews is accused of embezzling a total of $11,- 450 and his bonds are fixed at $0,500, Jenkins is charged with taking $3,200. 11 is bond is fixed at $9,000. Neither lias been arrested. Government gauge Natchez, Miss., Saturday, showed .a rise o a a tenth in the river at that point. cj oral parties who have private gauges sa y Government gauge is not relia j,i,, t he present stage in an eddy at the corner of the wharf and that the river has shown a slight decline for several days. The weather was squal¬ ly with showers Saturday, but so far as heard from no damage to the levees resulted. The water behind the Louis¬ iana levees rose only one and one-half inches Saturday, but already a large portion of Concordia parish is under water and each inch of rise means a greater spread of the overflow. In New York city a man named Got hell is applying for a divorce. Per haps that is the very reason.
