Evening Star Newspaper, June 12, 1930, Page 3

— THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. ; THURSDAY, JUNE- 1A 103t TAL RESIDENTS ] Girls on Illl-Fated Fairfax Thought Choice Between Fire and Water. (Continued From First Page.) “when Sara was hurt. A colored man, one of the stewards, I suppose, came running by screaming and jolted her against the side of the ship—Sara wasn't hurt seriously, though—just a bad bru. d Driving ome, Miss Browne to 925 Ingraham street, where she lives with | her father and mother, Sergt. Maj. C. H. Browne and Mrs. Browne, and Miss Poynton to 2722 Twelfth strect north- east. the girls took up th> story again. | People were praying in the passage- y, standing up straight with their heads uncovered and not in the least ashamed. Everybody prayed. 1 think, ! some in English and some in Portuguese and Spanish. The foreigners must have been of the ship's crew. Heat Breaks Porthole. “About them,” Miss Browne said, “the | heat from the burning gasoline on the water broke in a porthole just over | our heads. Some of the glass fell on us, we were so close to the wall, and flames | and smoke came shooting inside. “We had to go then—anywhere, I hardly knew where. Sara and I got| separated as we ran down the passage- | way with the others. It was then I| thought of what my father had told| me—he's a Marine, you know, and he | once said, ‘If you ever need help in a | hurry, just call on a Marine.’ | “There were several Marines on | board. They had left Boston with the | Fairfax and were going to Norfolk to take another steamer for Nicaragua. I found one of them when I came out on | deck and he took me to one of the life boats that was being filled with women and_children “On deck we could see the gasoline burning on the sea ail around us in the fog. I never got a glimpse of the tanker we rammed. It had gone down long before, I guess. They were bandaging those Who had been burned; some were dead, I learned later. Taken to Life Boat. “The Marine guided me to the side of the ship, where they were filling the life boat. 'We found we would have time to go back after my coat, as I had on only a light dress. The two of us went back then. “When we came to our cabin he said 1t mightn't look proper to go into a girl's cabin, so he held a match in the companionway while I waded through the 6 inches of water inside and got my coat. “They were still fighting the fire in the upper structure when the Marine— I never learned his name—helped me into the lifeboat. Water dashed over us from the fire hose. We hung there and waited for the fire to go down on the sea below us. It seemed a long time later when they put out the fire on the Fairfax and helped us back on The two girls, who are employed in the same life insurance office here, left Baltimore by boat Friday afternoon for Boston, arrived there Monday and left on the afternoon of the following day for Norfolk. Toward dusk on Tuesday the girls had finished dinner and were unde- cided whether-to go to the social room aft or join numerous other passengers on the deck forward. Attracted by Amos 'n’ Andy. “What decided us to g0 to the social room,” said Miss Browne, “and it must have ‘saved our lives, was the fact that they had a radio back there and we wanted to hear Amos 'n’ Andy. We went back and turn:d on the radio, heard the broadcast and were seated comfortably reading when the crash came. “It seemed as if the ship stopped suddenly and at once there was an explosion. We ran toward the deck and met & lot of passengers running in, and when we turned back to go toward the cabins the passengers run- ning up from below blocked us in the eway. “Neither of us seems to remember much of what happened at first. Some (e Napenai P e SPECIAL NOTICE. THE AMERICAN SECURITY AND TRUST Company of the District of Columbia, regis- trar_under deed of trust dated July i. 1926. mads by the Chevy Chase Club, & corpora- tion created under the laws of ‘the District purstant to the provisions ted in the said instrument in connection with the sinking fund. has drawn for redemption at the office of the registrar 7. 1930. bends numbered: 1. 133. 153 8 {or 31,000 each. 440 for $500. secured by said deed of trust. The bonds enumerated herein are called for the purpose of the sinking fund and the interest on said bonds Wil cease on the first day of July. A D 1930 'AMERICAN SECURITY & TRUST CO. By HOWARD MORAN. (Seal) Attest Vice President. FREDERICK P. H. SIDDONS. Secretary. A_SPECIAL MEETING OF THE SERGT. George Berry Camp. No. 10. Dept. of the Potomac, U. 8. W. V.. is called to meet at the residence of the commander, 131 Heek- man st se. Priday. June 13, at 8 pm., for the purpose of electing delegates 1o the dept. encempment. My order CLARENCE RUSSELL, Commander; W. T. CONRAY. Adjutant. 12 3 OTICE TO CREDITORS. The National Merchnats Assoclation met {o the office’of tne company in Wasningion, C.. on the 10th day of June. 1930. for the purpose of considering the advisability of changide the name of said company. and 21sald meeting It was moved. seconded and unanimously adopted to change the name of said company from National Merchants' As- Sociation. to that of System Service Com- Pany and 1o advertise the change of name T0 ‘two newspapers, in the District of Colum- bia, s motice to creditors of the National Morchants' Assoclation 2 Viingss our hands'this 10th day of June. D. 1930. C. GRANT CHASE, President M. L CASE, Secretary. ‘ o Sei2.i9.36 CARD OF THANKS The sevenih annual convention of the National Federation of Men's Bible Classes heldin this city. has passed into history and the general chairman wishes to publicly thank all_those who aided to make it ® success. They follow: Maj. Gem Wm. G. Everson. Dr. Homer J. Councilor. MaJ. Frank A Frost, Inspector W. H. Harrison. Col as. O. Stark, Dr. A V. Cummings. Mrs erifude A. Donovan. Mr. Guy A. Ourand, Mr. Normai Sandridge, Mr_ Percy 8. Fos- Rer. Mr. John Thomas. Mr. Walter N. Palin- Mr.and Mrs. Robert H.Clark. Mr R “Frank Barr, Mr. Luther Kinard, Mr. Jobn Clair ' Hambly, Mr. J.'C. 'Vicki R Parris & Co. and A. Kahn Tnc, for do: nating loving cups. (Slened) RICHARD BPENCER PALMER, General Chairman. couvention. & . PLASTERING. BRICK. CEMENT WORK general remodeling and Tepair: special price Call atter 5 pm Lin. 10227, Wm. Brice THAIRS FOR RENT—SUITABLE FOR BAN- juets, receptions, parties or meetings. From 0c o 20c per dey each, New chairs UNITED STATES STORAGE CO.. 418 10th st n.w. Metropolitan 1843 ___ WANT TO HAUL FULL OR PART_LOAD to or from New 'York. Richmond, Boston. Plutsbureh and all way points: special rates NATIONAL DELIVERY ~ASSN.. INC.. 1317 N. Y. ave. Nat. 1460. Local moving also WANTED —RETURN LOADS From NEW YORK CITY T JUN] From NEW YORK CITY ... Prom NEW YORK CITY From NEW YORK CITY To NEW YORK CITY . To NEW YORK CITY . UNITED STATES ST0) 418 10th ST. N.W. Metropolitan 1845 J. H. Sengstack, Tinner, Pormerly in business at 737 1ith st. s fs Rowiocuced a0 Wl oh. Wl gl Wanted—Load from New York, Philadelphia, Richmond. Chicago, IIL;’ Pittsburgh, Fa.. and At- TEXPECTED DEATH Damaged bow of the passenger CENES FOLLOWING THE SEA TRAGEDY er Faitfax after it hit and sank the oil —A. P. Photo. college boys on the boat buckled on our life preservers. The one who helped me with mine was so excited he almost tore my arms off, and then got it on ‘back ward.” With the other passengers, the girls | were transferred at sea to the Glou- cester and returned to Boston, where they were given first aid and put up at | a hotel. On the following morning Miss Poynton was treated at a local hospital for her bruiscs by direction of | the ship's physician. | When Miss Poynton became separated | from her chum_ she, too, was assisted into_a lifeboat by a Marine. “What's left of ‘our vacation,” Miss “we're going to spend at | j L} In the four intzrminable hours which | the girls spent on the smoke-swept, crowded deck of the crippled Fairfax, watching for the lights of the rescue vessel through the fog, they heard stories of heroism and cowardice from their fellow passengers. One member of the crew, believed to have been a sailor, sought in vain to keep a young girl from jumping over | the rail in the intense excitement after | the explosion spurted burning oil over the sea and over the Fairfax. | The girl, however, wrested free and | leaped overboard. The sailor followed without hesitation and neither of them was seen again in the seething caldron below. | At another time a mother wrapped her clothing about her baby and dashed through the flames, receiving fatal burns herself, while the infant escaped unharmed. | Husband and wife, mother and chil- | dren, families and traveling groups were torn ‘apart in the milling crowds. Some dashed frantically through the burning oil on deck. seeking loved ones and themselves becoming ignited by the flames. Browne said, home!” Heroism and Cowardice. Tanker Sank Quickly. The tanker went down almost imme- diately, witnesses said, but most of its cargo was heaved outward upon the waves by the explosion. No one seemed to have glimpsed the doomed crew of the tanker. In the confusion, the Marines and Service men on board appeared best | to keep their heads, assisting the ship's | crew to rig fire hose and to quiet the passengers. One of these men, they were informed, helped repair the radio aerial after it had melted away, clam- bering up the mast to a_precarious perch in the smoke and heat which | billowed up. When the welcome lights of the Gloucester came in view through the smoke and fog, it was an hour before she could be maneuvered alongside | closely enough to permit the transfer of passengers Bunks were ripped out to make im- provised stretchers for the injured and the dead and these were passed over the rail in the glow of the gasoline fires on the waves and the illumination of searchlights. Once aboard the rescue ship, the girls | were assigned comfortable quarters. | Hours later they hurried ashore with the worn and injured passengers to the boom of camera flashlights and the ex- cited greetings of crowds on the ‘docks. “It was the most thrilling experience of my life,” Miss Poynton said, “but I hope I never go through another one!” Scotland has started a campaign against fakers who promise positions to applicants on payment of a small fee, and make no effort to fulfill the promis laptc C To Pittsburgh, N. Y. Cumberland, Md.. snd Hairistu s, Pa Cmith’s Transfer & Storage Co., Bis Yeu 8 North 368, Printing Craftsmen . . . are at your service for result-getting publicity The National Capital Press 1310-1213 D St. N.W.__Phone National 0850 WHEN ROOFS LEAK —don’t crawl around with pots_snd Pans UryIDE to catch the drip. Send for ys, ~ We'll stop the leaks prompi- .7, «t's our business. We know how! KOONS Bootne 119 3rd St. BW. Company trict 0933, GULDENS . Mustard‘ Port side of the liner after it had been showered with blazing oil. FAIRFAX DEATHS BLAMED ON PANI Woman Passenger Describes Horror in Blazing Sea of Oil. The following graphic descriptiol the Marine disaster ~which night off the Ma: when the 8. S. Fair the oil tanker Pinthis, is written by Mrs. Neil A. Dayton, wartime Red Cross nurse and formerly ‘chief surgical nurse at Raritan, N. J., arsenal. = Mrs. Dayton has been haiied naval and Marine officers, of whom 'there were & number aboard. as the heroine of the disaster for her first-aid work and cool-headed- ness. She is the wife of Dr. Neil A Dayton. research physician of the Massa- chusetts State Department of Mental Diseases. BY ANNE DAYTO! Passenger Aboard the S. 8. Fairfax. BOSTON, June 12 (NANA).— When the steamship Fairfax, on which T was returning to Massachusetts, was just outside Boston Harbor, I knew from the listing that she had turned toward the Cape Cod Canal, which is only & short trip from the harbor entrance. I could not see anything nor could any of the passengers, as there a dense fog. The steamer was moving very slowly. ,A naval man told me that ‘we were proceeding at what they call “steerage speed”—just sufficient speed to enable the capialn to control the rudder. Suddenly the ship crashed. T was in Will Rogers SPRINGFIELD, Mass., June 11.— Just been over to Northampton and had a fine visit with Mrs., Coolidge. She showed me their lovely new home and grounds. Mr. Coolidge had gone down to New York to attend the monthly in- surance directors’ meeting. I asked her if he ever missed one. She laughingly said not for $70. I asked her what he did about the meetings when he was in California. She said he sent in his double. I hated to have missed him, but I wouldn't have found out anything if he had been there, In fact, I think I got a great break. Yours, WILL ROGERS. PS—I was ap there getting an honorary degree from Smith College. ‘Not with Old Sol doing his best to melt the pavements . . . espe- clally when I can ride in & com- fortable Bell Cab, in absolute safety. BELL CAES JEIROPOLY, 1727 CITY PROPER 35¢ CiTY PROPER e the lounge and with others ran Two Washington girls who returned home last night to tell thei tanker Pinthis off Scituate, Mass. Picture made at the ship’s dock in Boston. ences in the Fairfax tragedy. Left to right: Miss Sarah Poynton and Miss Tona ! Brown. —A. P. Photo. | e o | | out on | {d\’(:k, Everything shook at the imparct | | and ‘my first, thought was that we had | | run_ aground. Blinding Flash Amid Screams. ‘We were no sooner on deck, where | men were shouting orders and women were beginning to scream, when there was a blinding flash and a sort of dull oar. | _Then it literally rained fire on the | ship. I did not know until afterward | that we had struck a tanker, the Pin- | this, and that the oil in.the tanker, about 10,000 gallons, I believe, had flowed into the engine room, become ignited and exploded. The whole sea was afire and it w as_bright as day. It was not more than a minute later when I saw that our ship was ablaze. Above our heads the whole ship seemed | to be on fire. The flames were licking BUT It e B TOOK MANY LIVES i -SUMMER experi- | —Star Stafl Photo Capt. Albert V. Jones of the Pinthl —A. P. Phof along the sides and you could smell paint burning. We didn't know whether the ship was going to sink or whether it was going to burn. The most natural thing | to do was to run to the top of the ship and that is what every one did. As a matter of fact, the ship was not in danger of sinking and if the passengers, including myself, had stayed in_the cabins or in_ the lounge I don’t think there would have been any lives lost on the Fairfax. Run Into Death in Flames. But with everybody going up on the deck, we ran right into the worst of the flames. The place had been sprayed with burning oil and there were people running around with their clothes on fire. The lifeboats wers burning and the ropes that they swing them down on were on fire. The cabins were burn- ing and no one seemed to know what to do. The most frightful thing was the colored crew of stewards. Some of them were burned by the oil and they be- | came panic. stricken and started jump- ing overboard. I don’t know how many Jjumped. ‘There were several sailors and Ma- rines aboard—men who had been trans- ferred from the Charleston Navy Yard RMILK DAYS ! pa ——— and were going to all parts of the world—China and South America and Nicaragua. They were the coolest peo- ple in the ship, Some of them started breaking state room doors in case people were locked in and they saw that every one had life preservers. They were fighting the flames and four of them repaired the radio antenna, which had burned down. No Sign of Tanker Crew. There was no sign of the tanker crew as the tanker had sunk with the ex- plosion, ~ But the sea was a bubbling fire. It really looked as though the water were burning. The sailors swung three life boats out, which were not harmed by the flames, but they couldn't launch them because of the ofl burning on the water. Fortunately there was no need to get away from the shi se it was not sinking. A number of women and a few babies were in the life boats and they hung there for hours it seemed, until finally the fire on the Fairfax was about out. In the meantime, the Gloucester, an other ship, had come alongside to' take the passengers off so the fear of the ngers was allayed, but they began to complain of their injurie The sailors and_ Marines were work- ing everywhere. I asked rome of them t0 go to the medical supply room aboard the ship and get everything out to render first-aid, Some of the steward- esses showed them where the supplies were and they helped and we around the ship looking for people who had been burned. There was one terrible sight—I will never forget it. There was a young girl, 18 years old, on board who was going to Baltimore to be married. She ot panic-stricken when the flames were leaping all about her and ran for the railing. A sailor, who was with the boys who helped me. ran after her. | Her name was Joseph Walker. the other | He seized the girl to ke;glhave entered into the panic and gone | boys said. her from jumping overboard, but struggled with him and they both went down into the burning water. Nobody | could go after them, there was so much to be done on the Fairfax to save the others. We applied olive oil to the buins of the people on board and when we ran out of olive oil we got lard from the kitchen. The boys carried the bandage: went | | and the stewardesses and I put them |on those who had been injured. A great many persons were burned by the rain of oil but not many seri- ously, perhaps about a dozen. There | were others burned worse than these but I think they jumped overboard. After we were transferred to the Gloucester they told us ambulances and doctors were waiting in Boston. We kept on going among the passengers to e what we could do. One woman died before we got back to the harbor. She was horribly burned. There was another woman with a little baby. Both were burned But the mother had wrapped the baby in a wet sheet s0 he was not as badly scorched as he might have been. The mother died later. There were many who were suffering from inhaling smoke fumes and I guess 1 was one of them. although I didn't realize it until I got back to the wharf and had to go to bed. My clothes were burned in places but I was not injured except for the congestion in my chest from the smoke 1 breathed. | I nearly fell overboard when the offi- | cers ordered everybody off the top deck because of the smoke fumes. They told us to go over the railing and climb to the deck beneath us. I would have | slipped off the rail but a deck hand caught me and lowered me down safely. I think he was drowned later because I did not see him again. Sailors and Marines Were Heroes. 1 had seen suffering before this, al- | though I have not practiced nursing { since 1920, but I never saw anything | | more harrowing than that night on the | sea. It was such a strange combination of fog, accident and fire. And the whole sea was ablaze. When we were safelv on the Gloucester we could look back and the sea was still burning fiercely. | "1f there was heroism aboard the Fair- | | fax, it was the sailors and Marines who are entitled to credit. £very one might | overboard except for the work they did in quleting passengers and helping the ship's officers calm them. | When the colored stewards jumped there seemed to be a magnet pulling | every one over into the water, but the | sailors and Marines steadied 'the pas- | sengers and the cool heads prevailed. | (Copyrignt, 1930. by North American Mews- paper Allian: Let The SHADE SHOP Launder Your Tontine Window Shades When your du Pont TO. soiled from constant use call them. NTINE window shades become us for an estimate on cleaning We operate a modern shade laundry in connection with our shade factory—a unique and distinctive service of which hundreds of home owners are taking advantage. 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Next to Fox Theater W hile shopping or out for luncheon we invite you to visit one of our fountains, where cooling, refreshing drinks and tasty homemade pies, cakes and sandwiches are servel.