The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, April 22, 1904, Image 2
Powder Explosion on
Missiouri Wreaks
Deadly Carnival.
Twenty-nine Marines Hurled
Into Eternity While Doing
Target Practice Off
Pensacola.
A Pensacola, Fla., special says: By
the explosion of 2,000 pounds of pow
der in the after 12-inch turret and In
the handling room of the battle ship
Missouri, Captain Willlam 8. Cowles,
commanding, twenty-nine men were in
stantly killed and five injured, two
of whom will die,
The Missourl was on the target
renge witli"the Texas and Brooklyn at
practice about noon when & charge of
powder in the 12. inch lefthand gun ex
ploded, igniting four charges of pow
“der in the hansllng room, all exploded
and only one man of the entire turret
and handling crew survives,
But for the prompt and efficient work
of Captan William S. Cowles in flood
ing the handling room and magazine
with water, one of the magazines
would have exploded and the ship
would consequently have been destroy
ed with every man on board.
At the time of the explosion the
fourth shot was being loaded and from
indicationg the first half of the charge
had been rammed home and the sec
ond section was being rammed home
when gases from the shot previously
fired or portions of th ecloth cover ig
nited the powder.
The breech was open and a dull
thud gave notice of something unus
wal. No loud report was made, but
flames were seen to leap from every
portion of the turret. A few seconds
afterwards another explosion some
what more fierce occurred. This was
it. the handling room below, where 1,
600 pounds of powder or four charges
ready to be hoisted@ above and ignited
Three minutes after the explosion
ali were on deck and the surgeons
from the Missouri, T'exas and Brook
lyn were attending to those pot dead.
The twenty-five men of the turret
were found lying in a heap. They had
srarted for the exit when the first ex
plosion occurred and had just reached
there when the more terrible explosion
in the handling room occurred which
burned and strangled them to death.
Bodies Terribly Mangled.
The bodies were hardly recogniza
ble, the terrible and quick fire having
burnt clothing from the bodies of the
men, and the flesh hung from them in
shreds. The faces were mutilated by
the smoke and flames. Only one man
was breathing when the turret crew
was rescued, and he died a moment
after he reached deck.
In less than five second after the
first explosion two streams of water
were being played in the rooms, and
when volunteers were called for every
man of the ship responded and were
eager to go into the turrets and rescue
the crew.
The second explosion occurred near
ope of the magazines and so hot was
the fire that the brass work of the
magazines was melted. Smoke and
the fumes of the burned powder made
' it almost impossible to enter either
| the turret or the handling room, but
’ officers and men, with handkerchiefs
] over their faces, made efforts to res
cue the men inside. .
' Before the fumes of the burning
’ powder had left the turret officers ang
men were in lifting the dying and dead
| men.
’ GAMMONS MAKES CONFESSIOw.
Tells of Killing Farmer Kimsey and
His Daughter, Fannie.
A dispatch from Jackson, Miss,,
says: Ed Gammons, the young white
man who killed Lake Kimsey, of Wa
ter Valley, and his daughter, Fannie,
has made a confession in regard to
the killing of Mr. Kimsey.
In his confession he, for the first
time, tells of the killing of the girl,
with whom he was in love.
He says that when he went to the
house after killing her father in the
field, he told the girl about it, and they
at flrst planned to run away and get
married, but he says the girl suddenly
changed her mind, and asked him to
kill her, which he says he refused
to do at first. Then she tried to snatch
the pistol from his hand, whereupon
he told her to step off a few paces and
Grn her back, which she did, and
then he shot her.
First Minister from Paraguay.
Don Cecilo Baez, envoy extraordina
ry and mniister plenitpotentiary to
the United Staes from Paraguay, was
received by President Rooseveit at
the white house Saturday, Secretary
of State Hay presenting the new min
ister.
IPRO'I'EST UNDER CONSIDERATION
Uncle SBam Cannot Act on Hypothetical
: Wireless Telegraphy Case,
The state department has taken the
’protest regarding wireless telegraphy
|lu the Russo-Japanese war uander con
‘isideration, but following the almost
‘unbroken practice, it probably will de
cline to take any action on a hypo
thetical case,
If an American citizen is arrested by
tbe Russian officials the state depart
ment will lay down a line of policy
to meet this rovel departure in in
tcrnational law.
| e e e e e
' DISPOSITION OF S'ULLY’S COTTON.
Judge Orders that Warehouse Receipts
5 be Given to Receivers.
After a hearing in the United States
district court at New York Saturday
Judge Holt issued an order directing
the Guarantee Trust Company to turn
over to Receivers Taft and Miller, of
the supended firm of D. J. Sully &
Co., the warehouse receipts for the
3,008 bales of cotton and the cash bal
ance of $12,209 which was still held
by the trust company.
i e e e e
g CRUM.CASE CALLED UP.
‘ TRI
Nomination of Charleston Colored
| Collector Again Postponed.
! The nomination of W. D. Crum to
be collector of customs at Charleston,
S. C, was called up in executive ses
sion of the senate Thursday by Sena
itor Gallinger.
| Senator Tillman, who opposed the
' confirmation, explained that he was
'not well enough to make a speech and
the nomination went over out of cour
| tesy to him.
jTO RELEGATE TRADING STAMIE,
Atlanta Merchants Will Not Pay Heavy
License Tax Imposed.
Leading Atlanta merchants who
have been giving trading stamps, have
agreed to discontinue that feature of
their business on July 1, and the city
council will have before it at its next
meeting a measure seeking to have the
recently enacted ordinance placing a
$lOO license on trading stamps become
effective on that date
’ . |
Battleship Strikes a
Mine and Quickly
(Goes to Bottom.
Vice Admiral Makaroff and;
Nearly His Entire Crew
Went Down With 0
Fated Vessel.
An Associated Press dispatch from
St. Petersburg says: Official telegrams ‘
from Port Arthur state that the Rus
sian battle ship Petropavlovsk has
been sunk off the entrance to the har
bor. i
It is estimated that eight hundred
men lost their lives by the destruction
of the ship. . -
Among those who were drowned
were vice Admiral Makaroff, the com
mander of the Russian naval forces in
the Far East.
So far as known only four of the
officers were saved, among them beingl
the Grand Duke Cyril first officer of
the vessel, who was wounded. ‘
As the Japanese fleet approached,
Vice Admiral Makaroff ordered his
whole squadron out of the harbor to
mee; the attack.
* According to the Associated Press
informant, while preparing to draw up
his line of battle in the outer road
stead, the Petropavlovks struck a
mine on her starboard side, amidship,
and immediately began to heel. Be
fore the crew could flood the compart
ments of the vessel in order to keep
her on an even keel, she turned bot
tom up and sank in a few minutes,
carrying down almost the entire crew.
Captain N. Jakovloff, the Grahd Duke
Cyril and two other officers were sav
ea because they were standing on the
upper bridge. The frightful loss of
life among the officers and men was
due to the fact that they were at their
stations ready for action.
The Petropavlovsk turned turtle in
a manner similar to the British battie
ship Victoria, which was rammed by
the Camperdown in 1893, and to the
incident in the Chino-Japanese war,
when a- Chinese warship turned tur
tle, many of the crew remaining alive
for several days, hammering desper
aiely on the upturned hull.
The correspondent of the Associated
Press wag informed Wednesday after
noon that Grand Duke Boris was going
to accompany his brother to Mukden.
According to the advices received,
Grand Duke Cyril’s injuries were
slight,
Report Received by Czar.
. The following dispatch was received
in St. Petersburg from Rear A'dmiral
Grigovitch, the commandant at Port
Arthur, addressed to the emperor:
“Port Arthur, April 13.—The Petro
pavlovsk struck a mine, which blew
her up, and she turned turtle. Our
squadron was under Golden Hill. The
Japanese squadron was approaching.
Vice Admiral Makaroff evidently was
lost. Grand Duke Cyril was saved.
He is slightly injured. Captain Jakov.
loff was saved, though severely in
jured, as were five officers and thirty
two men, all more or less injured.
“Rear Admiral Prince Ouktomsky
has assumed command of the fleet.”
POSTAL WIRES ARE CUT.
Western Union Telegraph People a’
Savannah Start a Merry War. :
Monday the Western Union started
a erusade against the Postal Telegraph
@ompany in Savannah. Manager
Poebles, of the Western Union, took a
foree of linemen and cut down the
wires from the Western Union poles,
on which they had been strung. This
eut eut an important sub-station of the
Postal and destroyed three circuits.
An appeal was made to the city au
thorities, but found it was unsupported
Ly any ordinance. ;
IRONCLAD TRAIN FOR CZAR.
Russian Ruler May Go to the Front
in Protected Railroad Car.
An ironclad train is being built for
the czar to take him to the Far East
if he should decide to head the army.
The train will consist of a summer
and winter palace car home, sleeping
quarters for 300 men and stables for
a hundred horses. The difficulty is com
bining safety with a minimum of
weight. The rails of the Siberian road
are not heavy enough for ironclad
traing such as the English used in
Africa.
JELKS GOES TO MEXICO,
Alabama Governor Seeks Health on
the Advice of Physicians.
Hon, William. D. Jelks, governor of
Aiabama, accompanied by his wife
and daughter, left Thursday for Las
Vegas, N. M., in search of health.
The governor’s health is badly rum
down and on medical advice he will
seek rest in a high altitude. He ex
pects to be gone several weeks. Lieu
tenant Governor R. M. Cunningham,
who is in Europe, has been cabled to
come home and take charge of the
executive office after the expiration of
twenty days.
MAKAROFF BRAVE OFFICER.
Sad Fate of Russian Admiral Creates
Profound Sensation.
- The news of the death of Admiral
Makaroff caused a profound sensation
in naval and military circles at Wash
ington, for he was probably better
known than any other Russian naval
officer. This was because of the fact
that he had visited the United States
in 1896-97 and also commanded the
Russian north Atlantic squadron. The
general opinion is that Makaroff was
an officer of singular ability. In the
matter of personal bravery he had no
superior.
IGORROTES TO FEAST CN DOGS.
Edict of Humane Society at St. Louis
to Be Ignored.
There is great joy in the Igorrote re
servation at the world’s fair in St.
Louis. The Igorrotes are going ‘o
have a dog feast, for which all arrange
ments have been made. Six delicious
dogs were mysteriously tethered to
stakes in the reservation Sunday and
carefully guarded by the savage Igor
rotes from the Philippines.
Governor Hunt, who hae charge of
the Igorrotes, states that the humane
society canmnot interfere with the pro
posed feast, as the reservation is 300
yards outside the ecity limits, which
also precludes interference by munici
pal authorities,