The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 23, 1901, Page 3

'THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1901. 8 RIO’S HOODOO AT LAST SENDS HER TO DESTRUCTION PILES HER ON see i FATAL LEDGE — ‘nusually Long Voyage of Mail Boat Ends at the Bottom of Ocean Near Harbor Entrance the rescued whkere the event there is s f saving any of the g0, as re is over twenmty fathoms he end of the ledge ke a milirace. er she struck the Rio inacle of the rock, with only and = & Rio de Janeiro Haw 186 SLO™Y™ FROM HONOLULU PrernG vp Wescrace- , = slow in gath- hed gone a dozen fog settled Jown e fog nd Meiggs he made out ssed in Officer and and Knew eck Until came in strom, R. H. | cabin ROUNSEVELLE WILDMAN AND WIFE AND SCENES NEAR WRECK.' e were bringing In the | <t - - zm‘x‘\‘; 5; “We lay at anc! night.”” sald he, | floating wreckage and two of them, Chief [ out with the tide near the lightship. A “and I turnad earl because I knew [| Engineer Herlthy and Mr. Carpenter, : > would have to get up when the vessel | were picked up by our boat. Several oth- L I % was ready to get under way. It is part|ers were picked up by fishermen, among of my Guty to help xet the anchor in. It | thes 2 o AT LOOKOUT HYSLOP my du nchor in. | them being Mate Holland. The fishermen was 4 a. m. yest ay when I was called and told to get out on the forecastle head | as the anchor was going to be hove up. When the anchor was got up we were under way and we had not got the thing catted before she struck. There was one heavy bump and then another. I re- marked to my mate ‘We're on the rocks.’ With that I ran and sounded the forward sald John | bilge. That also is part of my work. I Exchange | found there was ten feet of water in the 3 | hold and once ran to the bridge and £0 repor to Captain Ward Pilot say the boilers blew up, but if they* did I don’t know anytaing about it. There was certainly an awful lot of small wreckage about. I for me that whoever gald Captain Ward SAW OF THE DISASTER Heard the Last Despairing Shriek on the Siren as the Rio Went Down. tramer which I now know to be th ; ed off shore abo ursday evening the Merchants’ cident Is a liar. Before leaving the bridge he called out, ‘Women first, boys,’ and then went downstairs to awaken the other passengers.” —_———— COLLIER CZARINA WAS It was a calm night gh * ” ght 1 would awake and | Jordan, who were walking up and down. steamer ringing, while | * ‘Have you sounded the other bilges? rn _ber riding light | asked Captain Ward, and I answered, ‘No, At § o'clock yesterday | sir.” With ten feet of water in the fore- Tugs After Flotsam and & lifted and I could make of the steamer and could Jetsam., bold I dldn’t think it worth while monkey- | ing with the other bilges. Captain Ward | uld ifke you to state | locked himself in his room after the ac- | | ALONGSIDE THE RIO | was p e anchor chain as | shought - different vever, and his | port Thursday night, but anchored off the | row Then she got | order was a curt ound them.' I| Presidio for the night. “I ran past the v nd r fog whistle at | younded amidship a d twenty feet solden Gate in the rog, said Captain | € r ntil she disappeared | of water in hold and went back to v, “and when I got down | shriek. I thought| report. I met Captain Ward coming down | near the City of Rio de Janeiro I misto d Fort Point and I notified | from the bridge and when I told kim what | her lights for those on tkte south sh x ge that 1 thought the Rio had was the state of affairs he said, ‘Go fo Then I heard the shins bell and saw the | 2 1 three hours later be- | your boat. I wili warn the passengers.’ | riding light and made her out to be a mail { the disaster.” ‘Th, last I saw of Captain Ward was boat. T then made out my position and | e e & when he was golng down the social hall | managed to get inside. This was about FRANK TRAMP GIVES | steps to eabins on the main deck. T |7:2 p. m. and the fog was so thick that I A think he went down with the iship. | couldn’t see ten feet in any direction. GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION bes How Lifeboat Was Smashed ““The first boat over the side was No. 11, | in charge of Third Mate C. J. Holland. | soon as news of the disaster spread. The 1 She wss crowded with passengers ard |tugs Milton and Millie did a !and offes Felling Mast and Many | bod & number of oont ol Eatiircs Honshons, and Whitehalis and fishing boars Passengers Drowned. | aboard. Just as they were preparing to | were picking up bales of matting, steamcr T the ship's carpenter, who | push away from the side the mizzen mast | chairs and wreckage all day. first boat, gives a | fell and smashed the boat in two. Some | The bark J. D. Peters that came in du-- int of the disaster.| of tbe passengers managed to swim (o !ing the afternoon reported a body drifting There were swarms of wreckers out a lifeboat that had all the appearance of never having been launched was seen 9ff the Southampton shoal and near to it was half of one of the ship's deck houses. The | chances are that by this time there is not much of the Rio de Janeiro left. BRIEF HISTORY OF THE RIO DE JANEIRO Since the Year 1890 a Hoodoo Seems to Have Hung Over the Craft. The Rio de Janeiro was built by Jokn Roach & Son of Chester, Pa., in 1578. She 3548 tons gross and 2275 tons net bur- en. For the first few years of lior life the Rlo was a success, but commencing with the year | 18% there seemed to be a “*hoodoo” on her. | The collier Czarina, fiom Scattle, made | Of August 5, 13%, she was in collision witn the British steamer Bombay and was se- verely damaged. This occurred in Hong- kong harbor and the Rio had to dock for repairs before she could return to San | Francisco. e On December 13, 18%, she went ashore at South Kagoshimo, Japan, and was so badly damaged that her cargo had to be | discharged and the vessel «ocked for re. pairs. *"On March 6, 16%, she started from Hon- olulu for Yokohama. Continuous heavy head weather was encountered and when the Japanese coast was stil 1200 miles away it was found that there was onl 250 ‘tons of coal in the bunkers. T steamship was run back to Honoluiu, bu before she got there the cabins and state- rooms had beem gutted in order to pro- vide fue! for the furnaces. On M?’ 23, 1598, she coli!ded with an un- known Japanese steamer off Honomoku, Japan. but was not ceriously damaged. 2nd now comes the crowning catastrophe. den. She was 343 feet long. 38 feet § inches | Crowd of Wreckers Out in Boats and | beam and 25 feet 9 inches deep. ascape. f LOSS OF THE RI “There Is & chnnc:c:hnt the family may | men. Established ¢! / be Saved. There are very heavy north |1SSL Consuftation 'PILOT JORDAN i PRAISES WARD - Gives Clear Account of the Causes | Leading Up to the Disaster as Near as He Is Able to Judge 1LOT FRET wh 7 to assure his fam spending a few minutes at his home dan went where Preside ting for In spea ces Pilot Jor- sald: “I went out on Monday in one of the pilot boats and went on board the Rio de Janetro on Thursds at 5 ck. | It was very foggy Heads and Captain Ward decided to lay to for t night This morning cleared, and 1 went on ordered the anchor up. st and second officers termasters were on the bridge as we got ay 1 could see the CIMff He N Head As we got under way w the fog | coming down agatn. T could see both | points of the Heads fog came down “antain Ward tol to go,ahead d hear the f Point Bo- and Lime Pol nita " ebb tide runnin vas a strong and the Rio ing see the land the erash I realized tr on to think for a m would go down after we struck t showed tha not cipline was m uck the o and a boat break fr: engers in § oman and * Whan sideways I must have & fifty never saw carried and 1 again From the description giv woman and child by the pilot, i dent that they were Mrs. i | her child. Continuing, | “When I came to the dazed and did not know for a minut had happened. I started to swim and caught hold of a big plece of wood which floated toward me. e with a Chinaman on top it. I got as near as I could and the Chi man helped me on to | | missing officers of the wrecked steamer. | They had been married less than two i years, both coming from Baltimore. Their The heavy fog wh: devotion each to the other was so marked | ¢ that the young widow is completely pros me down on us as we were und evented us from seeing w way TRIUMPH AT THE GOLDEN GATE | trated and almost Inconsolable In he . —_— — grief. want to say that Captain Wa e | Engineer ad been connected | . below, as has been stated in an | Continued From Page Two. fall rl‘;\ xvlv{!: ,\nlnr;“&rr.:’ | evening paper. He was on deck from the | S —~rv- e ascTeian - - on the o de . .|t the ship struck until sh went | tan fishermen, many of whom did spler oy 17 H,‘p‘:‘kf“:; g . | did fer\'ige ij" rescuing the living and pro- e it f e ot Vies Presl —— —— - | tecting the dead. Fee -% Lo 4 netd ke { ‘Much interest is expressed in this bay | dent and General Manager B FL Schwer- ADVERTISEMENTS. horror to determine ok e e . e w its financial | loss has ‘been. Various estimates have | been made, some of them by the officials of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company { and others by merchants quite as well { qualified as they to speak. The safest | | and_most accurate estimate of the loss | I $1,800000. A conservative estimate places the value of the City de Janeiro at a sum between and | $700,000—probably the latter. There is no insurance -upon the vessel, a statement of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s | | officials to the contr: notwithstanding. | The Pacific Mail Steamship Compary has simply an insurance fund of its own, | The cargo was one of the most valuable which has been consigned to this port in | | many months, and was worth more than | $600.000. The wrecked vessel carried the new crop of Chinese rice and was also | heavily laden with valuable sil There | was also on board $600.000 in treasure. Of- | ficers of the Pacific Mail, in opposition to ';lh?!? assertions, declare that the vessel 1 had apartments at the Browning. Sutter and Hyde streets, where Mrs. MacCoun received the dread news that her dream only too tragically foretold. HOPES BROTHEBR’S- FAMILY MAY YET | TURN UP SAFB NEW YORK, Feb. 22—Consul General Wildman's brother, Edwin Wildman, w! is now in this city..and who was forme Vice Consul under Rounsevelle Wildman in Hongkong, is still cherishing the belic: that the Consul General and his famil may _have lifeboat, which has been blown out of the harbor, anl that they may yet be heard from. Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Wildman, who ar. now at the Everett House, communicated to-day with San Franeisco, after news of the disaster reached this city, and spen: | a terribly anxious evening in'vain hope that scme definite news of the missing family might arrive. Mr. Wildman was {n a very despondent mood to-night. “I received only & short while ago a lotter from him saying he and his tamily v oing to sail on January 22.” he said. N s remarkable ting that this steam- | health. The woman who enters upon ship was my brothe s‘ pet.hnnd Re always | marriage, suffering from x;lomanly wen}: int to sail on her when cross- i pe to record within its limits so horrifying | fl":dfi,é‘&.ch When I was last In Hong- | o> ’f*’ h‘gf’_"'_{g Sp trouble against an item of death as that which must be | kong he wanted m2 sall on her, too— y of trouble. made in reference to the doom of the City | he was so fond of ner. I sailed, however, | Weak woman are made strong and of Rio de Janeiro. When the vessel went | jast November on the Coptic.” The Rio | gick women are made well by the use of down at the Golden Gate vesterday morn- | 3 carried only a cargo of $200000 and no | treasure and that the ship was worth be- | tween $300,000 and $300,000. | the habit, however, for, officers of the Pa- cific Mail Steamship Company to give a correct estimate of any of the many | losses which the company has suffered through marine disasters. Victims of the Wreck. San Krancisco has never been compelled | It has not been THE OUTLOOK For a woman's happiness in the married state depends less, as a rule, wu the man she is to marry than upon her own e ‘Janeiro was the oldest and smalles: - sasst - ot : fhe &he carried 122 human beings to death. | essel on the line 37d I preferred to sail | Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescr ‘P“"(i‘r-i It is There were 201 persons on board and only | ve a large and modern ship. My brother | the one reliable regulator. It dries en- seventy-nine of them were saved. [t a steamer in speaks well for the herolsm of the ship's olcers that out of thirty on board nine- teen perished at thelr posts. Of the twen- ty-nine cabin passengers nineteen were lost, and of the seven second class pas- sengers five were drowned. In the A would take trouble to miss r to go on that ship. aptaln Willlam Ward, commander of | the ship, was reputed to be the most pop-| ular officer in_the employ of the line. The fact that he was in charge induced a good many to sai on that particular feebling drains, heals inflammation and ulceration and cures female weakness. It nourishes the nerves and invigorates the entire womanly organism. It makes the baby's advent practically painless, | atic steerage there was the unusually low | vessel. My brother was a great friend and gives strength to nursing m_o‘\hm. number of fifty-elght passengers, forty- | of Captain Ward. 3 1 suffered for twelve years with female three of whom met their doom In the ship. | +On this trip he took his entire family. | trouble” writ=s Mrs. Milton Grimes, of Adair, The Asfatic crew numbered seventy-seven | consisting of his wife, who was Miss Letl- | Adair Co.. Jowa, "which brought on other dis- | abe Aaved the largest percentage of ita iia Aldrich, a niece of Unfted States Sen- | eases—heart trouble. Bright's Disease, nervous- numbers; while thirty-six were drowned |ator Willlam M. Stewart of Nevada: his | ness and at ¢ 1d be mearly paralyzed. forty-one were saved, two children, Rounsevelle Wildman Jr.. 9 | Had neuralgia of stomach. I caa freely sav | "For the second ‘time within three | years old. and Dorothy ars old. They | your medicines (nine bottles in all. five of months death has thrown the shadow of | also had with ihem the children's nurse. vorite Prescription,’ four of ‘Golden Medical Whom they took out from San Francisco several years ago, My brother has weorked very hard and ne and his family | have been under strain since these trou- | Discovery,’ and two vials of Dr, Pierce’s Pellets), have cured me. [ can work with comfort now, but before I would be tired all the time and have a dizzy headache. and my nerves would be all unstrung so I could not sleep. Now I can sleep and doa big day’'s work, something 1 had not done for over eleven years before.” Dr. Pierce’s Common Sense Medical Adviser, in paper covers, sent free om receipt of 21 one-cent stamps to pay ex- ense of mailing only. Address Dr. R. V. jerce, Buffalo, N. Y. IR KEVERSLD, his wing upon this city. Hardly three | months ago on a holiday dedicated by the nation to good &ll“‘ s{?od l?el!n: and pub- C ness. this city was thrown inte T 'E:t::'.m"tlwm by a disaster which L'.‘;' lous times in China began. Without parallel among us. And yester-| -He was much in m,;d Mh’ R day, on a day when the entire nation |absence, and thought t :uh( efi health of | honored the memory of a great man, |the children would be benefited by a | death came again in all fts horror. On |change. I understand he was to have re- | | Thanksgiving day the people of San Fran- | turned to Hongzkong in about thred cisco sacrificed their pieasure, abandoned ' months, 1 exnected to get 3 telegram their recreation and mourned for their | from him upen the arrival of the vessel | j own dead, and yesterday we mourned | telling_me whether he would come on to with the people of many lands for the | New York or whether I should go to horrifying disaster which had happened | Washington. which was his real destin; | tion, to meet him. T | B0 ‘Wildman aid_that his brother had | MRS. MacCOUN’S e ercin-law, o chAFEC of Allaire when PRESENTIMENT OF he sajled for this country. I asked him ' Wwhether he entertained any strong hope of his brother's o! winds prevalent on the California coast. |and private book | Two days before the Rio de Janeiro ! It is quite possible that they may have | fre t office or by reached port Mrs. Robert T. MacCoun | taken to a lifeboat which was blown sev- mail. Cures guar- bhad a lfran‘e presentiment that she | eral miles down the beach. My brother | anteed. 7:31 Mar- | would never see ihe shi; MacCoun 15 the wife of Engineer MacCoun, g‘ again. Mrs. irst Assistant who is among the was a fine swimmer, but that would not | ket street (elevator avail much with his wife and two chil- lc ntrance), San dren to rescue.” Francisco.