The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 1, 1901, Page 37

36 . THE £AN FRANCISCO C‘ALL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1901. e ———————— GAEAT CONFUSION FOLLOWS THE COLLISION AND PASSENGERS HOLD TO BELIEF THAT IN THE EXGITEMENT AND DARKNESS MANY WENT DOWN T0 TERRIBLE DEATH ENGINEER ASSISTANT GIVES HIS STANDS AT VERSION THELEVER 5 3 Opens Safety Valve|| Christensen Ready to and 1hen Becomes Reverse I:ngine; at Signal. Unconscious. i i Chief of San Rafael’s! | Dense Fog Makes Him Fear Possible Collision. Engine Room at His Post. Not a Moment Lost at First Evidence of Danger. Prompt Action Saves| the Steamer From Explosion. ARTIN CHRISTENSEN, first assistant engineer on the San Rafael, said: NGINEER Joseph Jones of dhe San Rafael was slightly. in- - ' “I was at the bar when ;‘9:‘”, ;h' B;::::fl:i ils o34 the first z_}.‘g’n;l came to re- »f the scalp f fiying thn verse. lef Jones had bers. He says that he was | | specally cautious and during | | the trip he never moved out | | of reach of his engines. He also had an stepped outside and we were running under a slow bell. I had my hand on the lever from assistant in the engine room to help him “When the coliision came,” he said, I was stunned with a blow. When I re- covered I had presence of mind enough to open the safety valve so that ther could not be an explosion. I can remem- ber nothing more until I found myself on the Sausalito Bngineer Jones was taken to the Occi- dental Hotel. His physcilan says t injuries are not dangerous e - o WOMAN TELLS STORY OF WRECK AND SAYS SCENE WAS TERRIBLE Miss Annie Lewis Charges That Ferry Crew Lost Their Heads When Fatal Clash Came. Miss Annle L cwis Was on her way to Sa Rafael. In discuesing the disaster sh said: “After paying a visit to my aunt ir San Francisco 1 had to make a great rush to get the 6:15 boat. When I got down there, there was '‘no sign of the gate the time we left the ferry slip, and for the first time in my experience the bar was not taken out of the slot. I was standing with one hand on the lever and one on the bar to reverse the at the first call when, not to my surp: it came. It was the heaviest weather I have ever seen on the bay, and I knew that at any moment there would be a call to reverse the engine. It came shorter and sharper than I expected, and befors we could get sternway on the San Rafael the Sausalito crashed into us forward of the pilot house. “She cut us down to the water's edge, and a few minutes later the firemen came up and told me that the water was rush- ing into the engine room. I told them to bank the fires and come up. By banking the fires I thought that it would take quite a while for the water to get to them, and If the collision was very serious that we would be able to keep enough steam on her to make land somewhere. Chief Jones in the meantime was doing all he could to help some of the people, and while getting out one of the boats was thrown against one of the stanchions and | had his scalp badly torn. He was also rolled into the scuppers and his right arm opening and 1 wondered what was the mem— ST TR R S AR T + :udbr:xlht'lrg were ba.dlyhl;cera(ed_ Thers matter. 1 asked the ticket agent and s absolutely no cause that can be given e g melnga e | SPECTATORS WATCHING TUGS LEAVING THEIR DOCKS TO TAKE UP THE WORK OF RESCUE. ‘ for the aceldent outside of the fact. that boats. Finally at 6:20 we got away from no vessel could find her way in the fog.” the slip and when we were off Lombard < — ———— e - IR - PRSP PR vk street whart, as it appeared to me, there | |, , wenty-four hours, and I hope to God | salito. I saw Captain Tribble. T said to | the passengers on the Gan Rafael when on board the Sausalito when a firemap of | Was accompanied by his brother-in-law, | passengers. When many saw how her came & crash. Nobody knew where we |, ., o other like it.” | him why don't you lower the boats. At |she met with disaster. If speaking of the | the San Rafael came on deck and said the [ E. C. Counter, an electriclan, who was ically these two men were working ther were. 1 got o n deck and found tha Charles Bagg hief officer of the San | this time the Sausalito's boats were not | }6ss of the ferry-boat rrack said last| boat was sinking. The life boats of the | also saved. He sald: | was a wild scramble to get hoid of t the Sausalito and our boat were In coll- | poy ) " g | lowered. He repled everything was all | night: A two ferry-boats were lowered by this| “I was standing by the engine-room | ropes thrown by them, but neither man slon. The San Rafael had a big hole stové The collision came like a thunderbolt | right. I know that a man by the name | “I arrived 4t the ferfy siip about 6:12| timc. The passengers lowered them. I |smoking when I heard a scraping nofse, | woaia assist the men who were trying to 35 Do sl and was geing down. Every t of even If it was a f088Y | of Fay of Corte Madera was on board, | p. m. The boat was to leave at 6:15 p. m., | helped {o lower two. I saw many people | which I instantly knew was a collision. 1| crowd the women and chidres oo body wp rushing for Sansalito while | ;00 n the starboard quarter|Jack Forbes of Mill Valley and Frank [but she was ten minutes late. I should|jump into the water when it was stated | yelled to my brother-in-law to get & life | “Stand back!" “Don't get excited!” - were trying to get the boats | .5 4 kout on my own ac- | McBride of San Quentin.” Judge that between 200 and 3¥ peoplc | that the San Rafael was sinking. I|preserver and he rushed aft while I ran | «Keep quiet!” each cried alternately, but to have amt ne whistle but could not | * Andrew Westwater, draughtsman, sald: [ Went on the San Rafael when the ferry | should judge that elghty people went irto | forward. I ran on deck and scrambled on | the wild erush continued. During’ nis Then 1 heard one Whisfie | I know that the whistles were blowing | ates were opened. 1 went to the card | the water. We threw life preservers over | board the Sausalito. My only thought | time Miss Virginia Beam was awept Gut gain next thing I heard was | from the time we left the slip and we | Foom as soon as 1 got on the boat and | from the Sausalito and lowered lanterns [ was to save my life, but when I reached | of the lower cabin Inte the e’ S the give two bells: then our ship | were going ahead at a slow but steady | Was playing whist when the collision tock | with ropes. a place of safety I helped others. says she was floating around for half an v begar w up; then there were {Wo|rgee Suddenly from my position on the | place. The fog was very dense, in fact I| *“Two tugs came up to the scene. One| ‘The passengers seemed to have a pre- hour before she was rescued, yet all the and moved around as if belle more and she began to g0 &stern: | ypper deck I heard a whistle on the star- | have never seen a thicker fog in the six | of them was there before the San Rafael | monition of impending danger. They were time witnessed the gallant work of the ing at all while then [ knew there was trouble. The next | poarq bow. Shortly after, less than a | years I have lived across the bay. The | sank, the second one came up afterward. | highly nervous because of the dense fog. | two young men. ship was c water's edge *S | minute before 1 could turn on my heel | minyte the Sausalito crashed Into us a | San Rafael was golng at half speed from | I saw many people brougnt to the Sausa- | Every one seemed to be talking about the | T 3o not know how I got into the wa- far as I coul n had to rush | there was a smash. The Sausalito had | short distance above the paddle box. She |the time we started until the Sausalito |lito in the small boats. I think about | danger of collision and was half ex-|ter ™ sald Miss Beam last night. “I was from the engine room to sa ves. | struck us forward of the ptlot house. We | ,0keqd away soon after. It was fully | ran into her. ‘ forty were saved by the life boats. I sup-|pecting an accident. When the shock | pear the kitchen when the boats struck I got one of the life buoys, t heele r untl the starboard paddle | ion minutes and probably fifteen min-| I heard whistles blown while we were | pose that the two tugs must have plcked | came I heard groanirg and I feel certain | and was soon swept into the water. I saw didn’t have to go overboard. After getting ut of the water and I utes before the San Rafael sank. When | playing cards, but I did not pay any par- the Sausalito backed away the water be- | ticular attention to them. We knew noth- gan to rush into the gap. I got into one | ing of the Sausalito bejng close to us until of the small boats with ten or twelve otii- f the collision took place. The Sausalito ers. We were swamped and all of us, I |struck us on'the side opposite to the card e ma am pretty sure, came up and clung to the | room, where I was. I ran out on deck | drifted with the ebb tide for fifty minutes | ANGELO BRIZZOLARA tle boy was gone she tried to jump over- gunwale, There were some women in this |and Captain Johnson, the second mate, | after the collision and people were being board. Brizzolara seized her with one | some of the people up. I should judge | that the cook was pinioned by fa'ling { | | boat. A Miss Bridgman of Sausalito was | told me we were in no danger. 1 got a | picked up all the time by the life boats. | AND FRANCIS MULHERN Nt Wousl 5 Tons hemd | and him- | [ i on board the Sausalito e was done for many lives were | “While I was 1y things together and trying to save them, a woman and & baby came along and the baby was cry- e were about fifteen minutes out ing and evidently wanted its mother to | from the slip when the San Rafael dash- attend to it. 1 offered to take the baby | ed into us. It was about 6:30. I was sit- and help the mother out, but she wouldn't ting in the saloon playing cards. The Bau- were going down. There were stem to stern of the ship and pandemonium reigned ns, foreman of J. H. Keefe, Brizzolara and Mulhern throwing the ropes to save the frightened passengers. But as I am a good swimmer I feit no fear and easily kept afloat. “When Mrs. Waller found that her lit- ng possibie that about forty people were missing | timbers. If any lives were lost they were think that when account was taken on the Sausalitc. | children, as the elder people had ample If they were not saved by the tugs they | time to es¢ape from the sinking steamer. must have been drowned. The Sausalito one of them. It seemed to me as if we | life preserver and put it on. There was| “I think that the boats were lowered in | ARE RATED AS HEROES | self, and the other end i3 were clinging to that boat for a full half | no difficulty in getting the life preservers. | good time and that everything was done | | | | - stanchion. Others came to his e allow me to do so. The next alito struck and broke right through the | hour. All were rescued. In the party | Every one around had them on. by Captain McKenzle that it was possible | Mige Virginia Beam, Rescued After | restrained Mrs. Waller. Just mfi was that the mother and restaurant should judge there were | were W1l Shore of S8an Francisco and a | *There was considerable xcitement but | to do under the circumstances. T | s S Yt shavt S fng to scrambie up people aboard. The crowd was | Mr. Moore of Corte Madera.” no panic. Women were gcreaming, and A % Their Work threw the rope to me. I grabbed it and placed between the Sau greater than the ordinary Sa(urd:y night | : the men were trying to quiet them. When DELIEVES THE COOK AG",‘“‘;". cclollntg T :Mel‘::o_ £ bory zulled Avgnds ) . and they suddenly disappeared. | crowd. The crash was great. The panic | 1 got around to the other side of the boat ngelo Brizzolara of Sa X “No sooner had I got on the boat o Ty owiibocly. Wenpiesril. owed was awful to hear. 1 saved | D8 ¥8 THE SAUSALITO the Bausalito was close to us. She had WAS BADLY INJURED [eonl dealer at 117 Washington street, this | Brizsotars fainicd. * moomstins o5, an and were lost 1 don't know, but I walke the name of Leonard, a law- BACKED AWAY AFTER backed off after the collision and then city, and his friend, Francls Mulhern of Kent_station, were passengers on the | heap on the floor. The doctor who San Rafacl and were the first persons o | tended him said something . his jump from the sinking. steamer. But | had given way, but he could e IN BAY COLLISION chest seemed to snap and he fell in = all over the upper and lower deck of the f the firm of Leonard & Hawkins. I HITTING SAN RAFAEL | came up head-on and tied up to the San Sausalito and could find no trace of them d him out of the water. i Rafael. I helped to get women and chil- 1 saw Jim McCue thrown against one of |, Charles E. Wendt, foreman of Samp- | J. D. Warrack Believes That at Least | dr¢n from the S8an Rafael to the Sausalito. | 8. Crisp of San 'Ax;selmu Hears Groan ing After the Two Steamers ot up t d | son & Fisger, sallmakers, tells the follow- | “Many women who were in the uppe Brizzolara and Mulhern proved them- | what. He was carefully nursed and mw:sp:o.::i::dfr:r:";x:wh-‘ad ‘But I’;:’Tr:j ing story: Eighty People Went Into the saloon wate helped through the’ windows | Ceme Together in Fog. selves to be heroes and assisted in Saving | sent to his brothers house. ot same he started in to help people from When the crash came I was in the sa- | Water After the Accident. to the bridge-house, and then from that| S. Crisp, a marine engineer of the trans- | many lives. i h re- | g TRe cTews of both boats acted splen- the sinking San Rafael to the Sausalito. loon and I rushed to the upper deck. I| J. D. Warrack, an employe of the Whitc | point reached the Sausalito [ port Eherman. who resides at San An-| Both grabbed colls of rope and wit re. | didly and deserve great credit.” We were right in the fair way and both Wwalked from the 8an Rafael to the Sau- | House residing in Sausalito, was one of “I think that about 200 people had got | zelmo, was a passenger on the boat. He'| assuring cries threw them e frenzied | Miss Beam, owing to her long immer- steamers were rolling heavily. The next T | sion, was immediately placed on a bed lurch threw McCue and a lady he was |+ — s i s helping against the side of the vessel and then he had to be helped aboard the Sau- | | salito because his arm was broken and | | he had recelved 2 number of other in- | juries. After quite an exciting time I got aboard the Sausalito and finally got back to Ban Francisco. As you can see, I am CAPTAIN M’KENZIE OF THE SAN RAFAEL | THINKS ALL PASSENGCERS WERE SAVED and put under the influence of sleep pro- ducing medicines, as it was feared that the shock to her nerves would be very se- vere. She was not allowed to be seen and the attending physician says that it will be some days before she recovers. It was on the Saturday night tollowing | Thanksgiving day, three years ago, that 41! y . - 7% ; A § o o e : the father and sisters of Brizzolara ‘were D e ey e et Sl Shvwe it APTAIN J. T. McKENZIE, master of the sunken steamer San Rafacl, is perhaps the most reliable authority on just how the accident occurred and the details of | | passengers on the steamer T o renre :‘;;:fl;xflr“}"\”u:‘:"flmr but I don't | | the exciting sccru\.s that f.ollo:&'cd subsequently. Hfs statement of the affair is as follows: : ; ; h;;: ’;‘;flf];rfi;:*k},‘l"e‘;'&:?m‘:e«;;mm | “I was in the pilot-house when the Sausalito ran us down and was the last man to leave the steamer prior to her going down. We left our slip about 6:20 | | were seriously injured. The accident of ‘ t 44 4 yesterday had a'peculiar significance to o'clock and backed out into the bay. I made my usual round turn rather slowly -and cautiously, as there were several craft picking their way up and down the bay as I Angelo Brizzolara, the day being regard- R S SCENES OF TERROR ATTEND COLLISION ed as the anniversary of his father's IN THE HEAVY Foc | | ‘2¢Ot : death. —_— i “After turning around I shaped my course for Alcatraz. The fog was the thickest that I have seen on-the bay for many years. I ran along on a slow bell and s R, o For a Time Pandemonium Reigned | | : : . ; : , MASHES THE CABIN 2 Biocis 5o l.'m e f: passed a tug to the port shortly after leaving the slip, After steaming along a few minutes I picked up the bell off the end of Lombard street. It was then about 6:30 o’clock, WINDOWS TO RELEASE uw“"ow:n xu:;, w:f'_:d_ || orthercabouts. As soon as I got my bearings from the bell I shaped my usual course for Alcatraz, running along under slow bell. My lookout, C. H. Jansen, the second mate, FEAR-STRICKEN WOMEN M. A. Jackson tells the following story | | zcas peering into the dense fog at the bow and my first mate, Charles Johnson, was with me in the pilot-house. Clinton Mason, a resident of Sausalito, of the disaster. 5 bee up town and intended to | “About half-way between Lombard street and Alcatras Island I heard the Sausalito’s whistle. She w6as coming toward me on her way from Sausalito. The e b o Ry agemgeandogei ; San Rafael. For a while he was on the egrd g 'v,“':,”mi":‘,,',“,‘,’,;” Lot fog was at this time as dense as cver I have seen it on the bay, and I have been navigating her waters since 1849. Some little txmg before the Sausalito got near us I stopped L‘:‘r“;{r:fif“; z)“" —— R‘;{! - “:;""3'; wetwees Lossbasd-strest whart jnd Alea- 1| my boat and blew the danger signal. The Sausalito answered with her two whistles and I backed my boat. I kept her backing all the time, for I wanted to take un- cabin. When the crash came Mr. Magpn ana 1 among others went out on deck usual precaution. While we were backing I suddenly saw the dim outlines of the Sausalito’s lights steaming head-on under slow bell toward my boat. She was scarcely a cull Wenms of cecape for the pes @ couldn’t see the ship's length and | wondered what w the watter. 1a Some boat’s length away when I first saw her. The Sausalito crashed into the San Rafacl just a little forward of amidships, where the restaurant is situated. It was quite @ | |Passensers was through the door, quite a ] Istal fi ol s position. ‘::;";’,"; “,f,.j,’l,“’,d.d;fi‘;,:‘;}';;‘:{;;‘fl;’[‘: crash, but at the time I did not think it was serious enough to sink her. The women and children began to scream qmi many of‘ {he men folks became greatly excited. | ?:Ehi‘(?&:{’z‘g{.:fflill’r"{cffis‘ffl"a::; n:f: Ihe wroem. and the n wwe beard two | held my post and sent my mate below to fi{ld out tlu; extent of Ihf damage and quiet the passengers. My crew took their proper positions and as far as they were concerned | | umanie in pom themselves. As the making for San Francisco. Then we || they kept their heads and worked according to their accident drill. oo o g g st g £ o e i ey Lo e ;"a“rl’“t’,ga;"","l w “In the meantime I sang out to Captain Tribble of ‘the Sausalito to stay alongside and pass us a line, which he did. As soon as we made fast Johnson came back | | crowded toward the stern o the boat H 2 . "ty Realizing that something must be done, sty hgacs gk o Sotere. Then | and reported that there was a big hole in the San Rafael's side. I then set about to do.what I could to sce that everybody got aboard the Sausalito. We lowered three life- and quickly, too, to avert a genoral panio o wonder what was the matt fore we could come 1o our sews-s | | boats and the Sausalito lowered two. Men, women and children piled into them, but we put most of the passengers on'the Sausalito by handing them over the rail. We | |\=. e sabin, Mr. Mason commenced o break the windows and tear away their "d us over till we didn’t know what passed the women and children over the rail and through the windows and most of the men hustled on to the Sausalito without any aid. zashes that a mode of egTess MIGAL be ob- was the matter. 11 7 : o 7 s a place was cleared the ave Dent thing 1 knew wus that owr | | carly all of the passengers had on life preservers and after the first shock they behaved themselves' very well. They were as cool and as Ay & lof of People | | A3 som a3 & biees Wee. gared G ship began to settle. 1 made no hurry, | | because I thought that the upper works as I would want to sce anywhere. The steamer was not settling very rapidly during the time we were getting the passengers aboard the Sausalito. When her hold got full some effort that Mr. Mason quieted their would keep her afloat, and that while the . . . . s . . . p s and satisfled them that there was no of water she started to sink very rapidly, but at this time all of the passengers were aboard the Sausalito. If some of the passengers did not jump overboard during the panic | :{:'nr;.?-"fr they ket cool. One by one the bottom might drop out of her we still would have time cnough to get aboard immediately following the collision, and my personal opinion is thfxt there were not any who wereh so faolislll ta]da that, I should say that there were not any lives lost. I am —— e e atlive poe W Th any boat that came to our assistance, | 1 viai 7 y " 1ere W } e o rs had taken advantage of the for- o't think many people. were demewed | | GUite certain that nobody was lost overboard during the transferring of the passengers. Those that were in the water were hauled aboard with ropes and everybody who engers had take 2 . : : ! ward door. Several women were cut and because when 1 got on deck there were | | wwent into the lifeboat that capsised lad life preservers on. [rovatcied By el e our lifeboats out and lifebuoys float ; . ¥ 3 ¢ . ¢ sashes, and ) : around enough for & man to walk on | | “As the steamer sank she listed to the starboard and in going down her forward mast nearly smashed one of the lifeboats that waaymg ’longside the Sausalito. | | padsy eut m b saking the windows. Y 3 1 ovise i . . e o dd. - ce the in t e Moo K i i : I was the last man to leave the San Rafacl and when 1 left the sinking steawter there was not a living soul aboard; I took a good look through the cabin and even went | | ,Onteq (o1 4 fifevoat that hung from the and while there was considerable contu- | i 700 y ich I i Y ') ;' davits of the Sausalito. oy Runsge o B s g below and cut the halter rope that held our freight horse, Dick. I tried to {ead lm‘n out toward the ‘dcr:k and he balked.. Tlm:e was not much time to lose so I just got him T o e ST Y “Q“ “As far as the accident is concerried, it started so he could have a chance to get overboard when she sank and possibly swim ashore. I dow't know whether Dick got into the twater or hot, but when I left the San | | some of the women reached the deek of is one of those unavoldable things that is . . . » % | | the Sausalite. The others were forced Sound to come up once in & Neetime. Call. Rafacl there was not a single passenger aboard the sinking steamer. back to the sinking steamer, but even- fornia hi never, in my experience, seen such a heavy fog as prevalled during this | F— s tually they were transferred without fure T i VPR T T S a7 S LA Tt A ther mishag i 5 B LS