The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 16, 1896, Page 1

VOLUME LXXX S PRICE FIVE CENTS. NO HOPE FOR THE COLOMBIA, Each Swell Churns the Vessel on Jagged Rocks. BORNE IN TOWARD THE SHORE. Water Fills the Forward Hold to a Level With the Hatchways. CAPTAIN CLARK BLAMED FOR THE DISASTER. of Kept the Vessel Moving at Thirteen Knots an Hour in the Fog. PESCADERO, CaL., July 15.—The Pa- cific Mail steamship Colombia is thump- ing the life out of herself and her master is walking her trembling deck trying to explain why he ran his ship thirteen knots an hour in a fog almost as dense as milk. But whatever reason Captain Clark give for plunging ahead at high speed through a vapor-hidden sea, the Colombia wallows bheavily on the rocks a few hun- dred yards to the southward of Pigeon Point. The reef is gnawing great holes in her good steel huik, and to and fro down in the forehold the waves rise and fall, She struck first on the port bow and the jaggea rocks rent her cruelly there; then the wounded craft, pushed ahead by a 13-knot force, went farther on to the sharp points, and the ground swell, with its lift- ing and sinking, is' completing her un- g. Every time she lets down on the ster of rocks the shattered platfes in her bottom bend and break. She groans as she rolis in her bed and the grinaing of the reef that is destroying her resounds weird and uncanny through her compart- | ments. This was a beautiful, calm, sunny day do not believe the Colombia can be saved. They try to put a cheerful face on the situation, but it is an effort to do so. When asked separately by a CALL repre- sentative whether it would be possible to save the vessel three of the ship's officers said “I do not think so.” Another said, laconically, ‘“You tell us how.” When asked this morning how he felt Captain Clark replied, *“Well, I'm still on deck,” and then the captain caught hold of a ropeto steady himself as the ship lurched toward the land. ‘Every swell that strikes the Colombia works her further in shore, inch by inch and foot by foot. By thistime to-mor- row, if the present rate of progress keeps up, it will be possible to pitch hay down on to her decks from the fields above. To such ignoble possibility may a noble ship come in her great helplessness. Up to noon to-day there was water in only one compartment forward. There is no water aft, though the rocks are ex- pected almost with each roll to punch a hole into her and let in the sea. The fires under her boilers were out this morning. The reason for this was stated by one of the engineers to be to save coal. Most of the ship’s coal is in the forward compart- ment, and the bulkhead next to it is full | of rolling water and floating and pitching cargo. It could be plainly seen through the open hatch. During a half-hour this morning the water in this compartment raised two feet, until it was flush with the deck, and broken boxes and packages of merchandise were almost thrown over the sides of the batch as back and forth she rocked. Captain Clark said this afternoon if the weather was favorable he intended to drop his anchors and try to work the Colom- bia’s stern around so that she would float with only her prow on the sand and rocks. The tug Vigilant is lying about & haif mile out to sea for this purpose or any other service she may be able to render the stranded ship. The tug Reliance lay out to sea all forenoon, but leftat 120’clock for San Francisco with Mrs. Strand, the stew- ardess of the Colomb:a, several attaches of the ship and other passengers. Mrs. Strand waved a sad farewell to her shipmates as she left forthe tugin one of the ship's boats. Captain Metcalf, an underwriter’s agent, took charge of the stranded steamer. The Colombia’s crew, the from captain down, will remain with her until ordered to leave. All the boats are tied alongside, and during the night a big, white lifebbat from the life-saving station at Fort Point and the doomed Colombia appeared to came down and dropved anchor between ‘being diligently lichtered of her cargo, IR % ,:%; AW s Ld .. GETTING THE g ,';JQPUUSF”( HORSE-LAUGH. the ship and the shore. This it could eas- ! ily do, as the Colombia rolls in less than four fathoms of water. The figures on her bow show twenty-three feet, while her | stern is comparatively high up. As the ship lies at present there is no danger to the lives of those aboard, but if a blow ghould come up and the swells run high the ship’s boats would be very necessary. ‘Work aboard the Colombia to-day indi- cates her abandonmeant, as much, if not more, than it does anything else. She is and everything aboard is being packed up, preparatory to removal, from lamp gicbes to the ship’s stores. The steward said it Continued on Third Page. — aS '/_/\ = j?( svv)’sm Pamr! I TU6 RELMwcR WW scun.Jowen CaLarsiAy R e g PR g ) S _——— — HOW THE GOLOMBIA RAN ASHORE. The mark B shows where Captain Clark thought his vesssel was, with a clear run for San Francisco befors him. mark A shows where the Colombia really was when the kipper hauled away on his course, which was NW. The by N. In ronsequence the vessel ran ashore below Pigeon Point. The other vessels indicated im the drawing were yesterday visiting the tcene of the wreck. rest safely on a quiet sea. She went ashore at low water and her forehold, with fifteen or eighteen feet of water in it, holds her bow down on the rocks when the rising tide elevates her stern. Still the bow lifts somewhat on the swell—just enough to let the forward part of the steamer’s hull pound the plates out of her, and the okes can be heard ashore through the juiet alr, % Whoen the Colombia struck she was headed northward, airectly for San Fran- cisco. Captain Clark was hurrying. He bad been speeding up the coast from Aca- pulco, his last port, and was trying to make a record with the new Pacific Mail steamer that came out to take the lost Colima’s place., He was already two days ahead of time and was still doing well, so he was hugging the points of land and no seagrass was growing under his keel— bence the thirteen knots an hourin a dense fog. Within 200 yards of a field of hay, cut end in stacks, lies this courser of the seas, uwow helpless on the shore. Spectators from all the country around dotted the shore to-day and watched her roll and zrind. Some brougkt their lunch-baskets snd made & picnic of a disaster. The Colombia pitches but little, as her bow is hard on the rocks, but every time a swell strikes her she comes down aft with a force that momentarily threatens not only to stave her in but to break her in ¢wo. Sometimes she rolisover at an angle >f 45 degrees, and comes back onto the rocks with a force and suddennes that threatens to snap her spars. That was a langer momentarily threatened this fore- noon. Captain Clark stood on the star- board side of the forward deck this morn- ing when she turned over further than usual and came back with a thud and a crash. 2 e *‘That’s a hard one,” hesaid curtly, *‘and hey're getting bigger. She won’t last long if they get much worse.”” The Colombia liesin & little bay, with the Pigeon Point lighthouse high above aer on a point about a quarter of a mile to ihe north. When there isa blow outside the waves house-high chase each other nto this bay. If a storm should come up sutside the Colombia-would be tossed up wnd down on the rocks so that there would not be enough left of her in twelve aours for use as scrapiron. This is what ibe ship’s officers are afraid of. Even if he weather continues calm, which it is dkely to do at thistime of year, the officers The Steamahip Colombia as She Appeared Near Pigeori Point Lighthouse Yesterday When the Visiting Underwriters 10 BE OR NOTT0 BE, Momentous Question Ad- dressed to the People’s Party. INDORSEMENT OF BRYAN IS DEATH. x Alliance With the Democracy Will Make That Party a Suppliant. CHAIRMAN TAUBENECK'S NEW SCHEME. Sergeant-at-Arms McDowell’s Impor- tant Visit to the Arkansas Convention. LITTLE ROCK, Agk., July 15.—J. H. McDowell, sergeant-at-arms of the Popu- list National Committee, arrived here to- day from St. Louis and immediately went before the State Populist Convention with a proposition which he said was written by Chairman Taubeneck and would be submitted to the National Convention at 8t. Louis next week. It is as follows: The all-absorbing question now agitating the political world is what the People’s party and the Silver party will do at their respective conventions to be held in St. Louis July 22. In order to restore silver to its lawiul place and make & combination with Democrats they must do one of two things: First—Indorse the Democratic ticket nom- inated at Chicago and merge into the Demo- cratic party; or Second- minate a ticket of their own and enter into an agreement with the Democrats on one set of electors. If the first policy is pursued the People’s party will lose its iden- tity, and for the following reasons become an annex to the Democratic party : First—Whenever one party indorses the Ni tional ticket of another it has no further ex- cuse to exist, Second—All the State, Congressional, legis- lative and county candidates in the People’s party, with the exception of a few Western States, will have to resign, because it will be impossible for the Populist candidates to make & fight for their local tickets when the party nationally indorses the Chicago nominees. Third—The Populist and Silver parties will lose their organigations, and will go to pieces after the Novembver election and become a part of tive Demacratic machine. - Fourth—The Populist ‘which a powerful factor with an fonpualintion batad it, would disappear and be displaced by & Democratic press and the Populist editors turued down. Fifth—Should the Populist party indorse the Democratic nominees and the ticket be suc- cessful at the polls next November the Pop- ulists would not be in a posftion to demand anything except whata Democratic adminis- tration might dole out to them. Sixth—If the Populist and Silver parties merge into the Democratic party the Demo- cratic administration will carry out the Demo- cratic platform as regards paper money Te- deemable in coin and no more, while all other reforms demanded by the Populists will have to walt until another new party forces an old one to take them up, as the People’s party has now forced the Democratic party to take up the money question. Seventh—If the Populist convention in- dorses Mr. Bryan it cannot deliver more than 66 per cent of the People’s party voters to the Democratic candidate. The disaffection caused by such a course would keep a large number of Populists who are bitterly opposed to surrendering the People’s party at home on election day. This loss alone would be suf- ficient to elect McKinley electors 1n Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and many other States. On the other hand, suppose the Populist and Silver parties consolidate and pursue the pol- icy of nominating a ticket of their own and by the Crew of the Fort Point Lifeboat. A DEMOCRATS DISAYED, The Populist Convention Too Large to Be Cap- tured. unite with the Democrats on electors, what will then be thelr status before the country ? | In the place of an annex to the Democratic party they will become an ally, tor the follow- ing reasons: First—It will preserve the People’s party organization for future use, and by making an alliance with the bolting Republicans the Populists will outnumber the Democrats and make them the third party at the polls next November. Third—If the combination ticket is success- ful the Populists will have either the Presi- dent or Vice-President and will also be ina position to demand an equal share of the Fed- eral patronage, including the Cabinet and foreign appointments. Third—Every Democratic mewspaper, espe- cially the daily press, will be compelled to trest the Populists on equal terms with the Democrats. This will give the Populists a daily press in the South and West. Fourth—The Populist party has the best lit- érature on the silver and money questions, which will be in great demand, and the Demo- cerats will have to help circulate it. Fiith—In the South the Democrats wiil be compelled to give the Populists a fair count and a representation at. the polls, because if an allianee ismade be the. two parties ballot stuffing and counting out would not go. Sixth—It will preserve the Populist press and make it much more powerful than at the pres- ent time. This alone ought to appeal to every Populist proper in the land to oppose the idea of becoming an annex in the place of an aily. Seventh—When that portion of the Popu- list platform upon which Democrats agree is enacted into lew the Populists can continue to educate the people on the other demands of the platform. These are the two roads which confront the People’s and Silver parties at the National Convention. Do these two parties possess statesmanship and generalship enough to take advantage of the situation and become an ally in the place of an annex? Will they preserve party identity and prove to the world that they are able to cope with the most astute poi- iticians of this generation, or will they sur- render their principles and orgamzation at the behest of an‘opponent which has never let an opportunity escape to stab them to death? Stevenson In Line. BOWLING GREEN, Kv., July 15.—Vice- President Stevenson and wife arrived in the city last evening from Bloomington, Ill. The Vice-President sai “I will support the nominees of the Chicago con- vention, but as to the outlook Iam not well enough posted to give an opinion.” Were Conveyed on Board NEARLY 1400 DELEGATES ENROLLED. Straight-Away People’s Party Men Will Refuse to In- dorse Bryan. ANARCHISTIC ALTGELD TO BE RFBUKED. Several Hundred Women Will Repre- sent Their Home Localities at St. Louis. Horer LiNpeLL, Sr. Louis, Mo., July 15. The greatest obstacle in the way of the Silver Democrats obtaining control of the Populist convention is the unprecedented size of that body, there being 1341 dele- gates. If Indian Territory, Oklahoma and Alaska are admitted to the convention, as they probably will, the vote will be nearly 1400. The respective States and Territories are entitled to as many alternates as dele- gates, and as every one is expected to send nearly a full quota of each, it is ex- pected that fully 2500 people will sit in the Populist convention. It will be the largest political convention in the history of American politics. Among the dele- gates will be several hundred women elected to represent the party in the locali- ties in which they reside. The apportionment of delegates to the several States makes a very interesting study. In the conventions of the Repub- lican and Demaocratic parties, New York, for instance, had 72 votes and California 13. In the Populist convention California will bave 39 and New York 44. North Carolina and Texas have 95 delegates each, the largest ailotment in the list. Kansas comes next with 92, then Ten< nessee with 77, Georgia with 61, Alabama and Illinois with'54 each, Minjesota and Virginia with 53 each, Nebraska with 51, Ohio with 49, Colorado with 45, New York with 44, Pennsylvania with 42, California with 39, Missouri with 38, Iowa and In- diana with 30, Michigan with 29, Ken- tucky and Wisconsin 25, Massachusetts 21, Arkansas 20, Oregon, Washington and South Carolina 17, Louisiana and Missis. sippi 15, North Dakota and New Jersey 12, Montana 11, Maine, Okiahoma and Maryland 9, Florida and West Virginia 8, Connecticut, Idabo and Wyoming and Nevada 7, Utah 5, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, District of Columbia, New Mexico and Arizona 4 and Dela- ware 3. The basis of representation 1s one dele- gate for each United States Senator and one for each Representative. The remain- der of the delegation of each State will be based on the State vote for the Populist's Presidential candidate four years ago. It will be seen from the foregoing appor= tionment that the coming People’s party will not represent population, but Popu- lists four years ago béing represented in this convention by the largest number of delegates. Thus it will be a body fairly representative of the Populistic senti« ments of this country and if I am not mis- taken 1t will be a very unwieldy one for the silver Democracy to mold to its own ends. The reversal of the order of importance in the several States, the last being put first and the first last, is a unique feature of this convention. Thus Nebraska will have seven votes more than densely popu- lated New York, while California, with a population not much larger than that of the city of New York, will have only five votes less than New York State. Hence the vote in the convention will be indica- tive not of the predominence of a State, but of the predominance of the Populist party in that particular State. Another unique feature will be several hundred women delegates, who, it is pre- sumed, will insist on having the last word on every question. For this reason itis expected that the proceedings and the debates will be characterized by that courtesy and gallantry which in the good old days before the war was so conspicu~ ous and such an agreeable feature of Dem- ocratic gatherings south of Mason and Dixon’s line. It is to be expected also that when these new delegates arrive here they will not be reticent as their male brothers, for the Populist woman, bless her, hasa mind of ber own and is brave enough not only to speak it, but to shoutit. The *‘middle-of-the-road’”’ Pops are be« coming alarmed and indignant over the attempts of the silver faction of the Dem- ocracy to absorb the People’s party by capturing its convention and are about to open straight Populistic headquarters and fling out the banner of their principles de- fiantly to the breeze. Dr. D. Shattinger of South 8t. Louis has engaged a large store next to the main en- trance of the Laclede Hotel for the straighte away, non-fusion, non-union, uncoms- promising Populists. The doctor repre- sents the People’s party Central Commit- tee and the People’s party propaganda of this city. The straight-away Populist has the mettle and he is coming in large num- bers from all the contiguous States to see that his side of the guestion shall have fair play. Four hundred of him will come from old Kentucky and will occupy rooms at the Holland House. Other Southerners will make the St. James the headquarters for the straight middle-of-the-road Peo- ple’s party of their section of tae country. They are all in training for a fight and will give the silver Demacracy the great battle of its life. The straight-away Populists are very much cheered by the news of the dafeos “THE CALL'S” Hmnqtmmns,}