The Seattle Star Newspaper, November 19, 1906, Page 1

[ustenion at Dares to Print the News ie eg He ein Together and Almost in Twin in Crash or More Go Down to Death Like Rats in a Blakeley and Were Employed in the Mills ; | STEAMER DIX | BY A. D. PRINCE. all Seattle is thrilled with horror and pity at the ul | ogee on Puget sound last night between the le sound steamer Dix and the Alaska Coast y's steamship Jeanie, which sent the Dix and 4¢ of passengers and crew to a watery grave in 100 5 of ; id investigation has already been d b the Se Uaited fates marine inspectors to place the i it belongs and to punish the man or men re- it. Pl 1 Dix and the steamship Jeanie went into § off Alki Point at 7:24 o'clock, when theater loving was settling itself comfortably to see the make be- f of the stage, not knowing that only a short gut in the harbor death was reaping a frightful harvest ‘of fellow creatures were struggling for their lives greater tragedy in which there was to be no at the curtain’s fall. tails today show the tragedy was even more n at first anticipated. The estimate of yo last lied to 42 at the hour of going to press, and the Mf missing are still drifting in. It is now feared the ft of death may reach the 45 mark. Scores of craft of fiptions have been scouring the waters in the vicin- wreck all day, but not a single body. or even a piece for that matter, has been recovered. HIDEOUS BLUNDER OF SOME SORT. the catastrophe was due to a hideous blunder of on the part of some one in charge of one of the 8 universally admitted. ~ Tt determination of the culpable one and his punish- 2 the guilty one is still within the pale of human pun- i, tests with the federal authorities, who have taken er of investigation in hand. fhe one blamed for it by Capt. P. H. Mason, of the ie, is C. Dennison, the mate of the Dix, who was at the ‘when the accident occurred. If it was Dennison, the of the court of inquiry will not trouble him, for he among the luckiess ones who paid the penalty awful folly. there are circumstances connected with the col- M which, the authorities believe, may place the blame an entirely different quarter, or at least distribute it so More than one answerable for the mistake which inmocent men and women into eternity. on, it is said, while the two vessels were steam- by side so close that they almost touched hulls, his wheel to starboard and brought his craft directly the bow of the larger ship bearing directly down CRUNCHED THE HULL OF THE DIX. ‘The heavy jibboom of the Jeanie bit into the frail hull Dix aft of amid iships, crunching it, according to avail- Sccounts, like an eggshell and heeling the stricken ‘Ver on its beam ends into the hungry waters. Near! 75 people, including passengers and crew, were the at the time, the majority being below in the Practically all of the passengers were residents of Blakeley, bound home after a Sunday's holiday in Among them were women and children, although the Were employes of the lumber mill at Port Blakeley, | ING People, who, after a week of toil, came to Seattle Sueday of fecreation and in returning met—death. Went Meet it with their minds filled with thoughts of home one second in which fo prepare for eternity From all accounts, and as the nature of the catastrophe 8, those in abin were caught with bewild- t before they realized the danger the « EY MET pe hengry waters leaped savagely through the wound- of the sinki », choking death cries down the throats. | shrieking passenger | THEIR DEATHS were met in their frenzied rush ruel avalanche of water, which | » the gasps of death ipon its starboard beam, then | peared in a whirl of waters, t below Avena A. Lermond, of the Dix, was one of the ortunate ones in the cabin at the time of the colli- | ehcaped Lermond was tir . “pai 4nd purser a came. That g in the double capacity of 1 was below collecting fares when the the fact that he was not le the crew of the Jeanie went to te { saved was complete the gh a score or more of launches, tugs, cen scouting the waters ngle other person has irely covered up the sunken on ite broken surfacg te and other t ¥ of the wreck, not Sup. The sea hag ent absolutely no sign she went down we |S. A. McPHE Was on the Scattle-Mmrt Blakeley route wie a 2,8 fo Se qnantien : THE SEATTLE STAR Rain and Warmer Tonight < WEATHER FOREOABT Tuesday Rain, Moderate South Winds. SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, MONDAY@NOVEMBER 19, 1906 WOMEN AND CHILDREN ARE NUMBERED AMONG VICTIMS kling of an Eye the Little Sound Steamer Rit Bow Upward and Sinks Beneath the Surface of the Water--Penned in the Cabin a Score | Trap--Majority of Those Lost Resided in Port; There-Stories of Survivors. LIST OF DROWNED. |C. DENNISON, mate of steamer Dix; at the wheel when the collision occurred ; age 24. ALBERT McDONALD, lumber surveyor, Port Blakeley Mill Company; age 25. ALBERT McDRURY, lumber surveyor, Port Blakeley. SWAN SWANSON, setter, Port Blakeley Mill Company. FRED PIGGOTT, filer, Port Blakeley Mill Company ; age 35. C. BYLER, manager of store, Port Blakeley. W. BYLER, his brother, employed in store, Port Blakeley. FRED BOULET, head filer, Port Blakeley Miil. PETER BUZZATTIE, barber, Port Blakeley. RALPH CLARK, clerk in store, Port Blakeley. MRS. LILLIE GRANGER, Port Blakeley. AUGUST NELSON AND WIFE, Port Blakeley. JAMES SMITH AND WIFE AND BOY, Port Blakeley. MRS. T. C. FORD, wife of superintendent of Port Blakeley Mill Company. FRANK M’QUERIE, shipping clerk, Port Blakeley Mill; age 24. C. J. KENNY, hospital steward, Fort Ward, U. S. A. JOUN KEATING, filer, of Port Blakeley. JAMES PARKER, engineer steamer Dix. CHARLES WILLIAMS, sawyer, Port Blakeley Mill, ag Pittsburg av. Ballard; age 50. BAZZINTIA GARCIA, lately from Manila; a Filipino, A. WEBSTER, lumber surveyor, Port Blakeley mill, MARTIN HANSEN, longshoreman; age 50. WILLIAM BRACELL, longshoreman, Blakeley ; age 25. PETER LARSEN, oiler, Port Blakeley. . C. BELAIR, filer, Port Blakeley Mill Company. ‘OLAND R. PRICE, son of the postmaster of Port Blakeley; age 17. FRANK GORDON, laborer; age 60. One fireman from steamer Dix. One deckhand from steamer Dix; name unknown. Three Chinamen bound for Port Blakeley to get work. Five Japanese on their way to work at Port Biakeley. THE SURVIVORS. C. NELSON, Port Blakeley. JAMES McBOICE, Port Blakeley. JOHN BENSON, carpenter schooner Godfrey, R. BREBNER, longshoreman, Port Blakeley. J. MING, Chinese, Port Blakeley. DAN McEACHERN, Port Blakeley. CHARLES KRANTZ, second mate schooner Godfrey. FRED GEYER, ordnance sergeant, Fort Ward. W. T. WARD, Port Biakeley. PEDRO PRONDO, Filipino, Port Blakeley. M. ARATOKI, Jepanese, a student at Wilson's Modern Busi- ness college. E. DARITE, Pore Blakeley. JOHN McBANE, Port Blakeley. A. BERGLUND, first mate schooner Ruth A. Godfrey, now at Port Blakeley. LARS OLESON, Port Blakeley Mill Company. A. DURETI, Filipino, Port Blakley. P. W. PRIMROSE, Port Blakeley ALICE SIMPSON, aged 15 years, the only woman saved, of Port Blakeley. FRED SAUER, Ballard. MARKUS OTNES, Port Blakeley. LEONARD MARTIN, Port Blakeley. LEONARD MASTER, Port Blakeley, only one of his family, consisting of father, mother and brother, to survive. P. LERMOND, captain of stearner Dix. ALBERT JACKSON, deckhand steamer Dix. HENRY ANDERSON, Port Blakeley. JULIUN ALMERSTER, Filipino, Port F. E. ERNPIE, 1108 Thirty-seventh av. R. T. OGAYA, Japanese, Port Blakeley. E, Port Blakeley. LAWRENCE PETERS, Port Blakeley. GEORGE W. OWENS, lumber surveyor, Port Blakeley. JAMES A. JONES, lumber surveyor, Port Blakeley. ALFRED W. DIXON, chief officer steamer Elleric, now at Port Blakeley. WILLIAM JENSEN, Port Blakeley. EDWARD ENGDAHL, Port Blakeley. ANTONIA JENSEN, Port Blakeley. S$. MEISCHUA, Japanese, Port Blakeley. F. FUKUI, Japanese, Port Blakeley. AXEL CARLSON, planer, Port Blakeley. FRANK EMPIRE, tallyman, Port Blakeley; age so. UNACCOUNTED FOR. WILLIAM MAHER, ship calker, Ballard. JOE BOUCHER, ship calker, Columbia City. Blakeley. north, Seattle. the accident happened.. The vessel was a comparatively frail craft, hardly one-sixth the size of the Jeanie, which has a net tonnage of 862 tons, and a length of 186 feet Both left their respective piers at comparatively the same time. The Jeanie was bound from the Smith cove docks for the Tacoma smelter and was loaded with ore The Dix left the Great Northern dock at her schedule time, and, the night being bright, with a clear moon, was going ahead at full speed The two ships approached each other at an angle, and in such a manner that the smaller craft had to cross the bow of the other in order to pass. Each saw the signal lights of the other, and the absolutely clear night made it impos- sible for either not to see what the other was doing But when off Alki Point the two ships, for some reason, had approached so closely to each other that there seems to have been some uncertainty on the part of each steers. man as to what the other intended to do. The version of F. W. Geyer, ordnance sergeant in the United States army, stationed at Fort. Worden, who was among the rescued passengers of the Dix, is one of the most plausible There was no fog, the night was clear, and the first intimation we had of anything» wrong was the bell to re. verse,” he said, “After that a crash, Then a whistle of dis- tress from the Jeanie, and we were in the water, CONFUSION ON THE DIX. "The Dix saw the red light of the Jeanie, stopped and started to reverse, then started ahead again, making an at tempt to pass the bow of the other steamer, “The Jeanie also reversed and, seeing the Dix stop, start- ed ahead again under full speed. “The Din, too, was well under way, and tho Joqnip ‘ica ys 8 FORTY-TWO LIVES LOST IN THE WRECK F THE STEAMER DIX OFF ! NLY ONE CENT DEMAND YOUR CHANGE 4 CENTS PEI ars 25 INT THE SINKING OF THE DIX. tence of the man at the wheel on the Dix was at least par- tially responsible for the accident.” Capt. Mason's statement is to the effect that Dennison swung his wheel hard to starboard when he should have put it hard down to port. “When I saw what Dennison was doing I cried out to him and demanded to know what on earth he was doing,” . Mason declared when seen this morning. “I imme- diately gave orders for full speed astern, and the Jeanie was pag od with all her power when the Jibboom went through Dix’s hull. It was not my fault.” 2 DANGEROUS NEARNESS OF BOATS. “If any further corroboration was needed, Capt. Mason's gtaternent bears out the fact that the accident was at least partially possible by the dangerous nearness to which two ships were, for some reason, allowed to come to each other. Capt. Mason declares the shock as the two vessels came « was not a very severe one, and if not there must, in the opinion of the authorities, have been something radi- eally wrong with the Dix, for the hull crumbled like a rotten tomato and she wallowed over on her side immediately. There was not much time to launch any boats.. No time even for the men to go to the assistance of the women.. Ev- eryone fought for his own life. Those on the upper deck and those few who got out of the cabin alive leaped into the water, leaving the less for- tunate ones to get along as best they could. A few managed to clamber aboard the Jeanie, while others made their way out on the martingale of the Dix under the bowsprit. A frightful medley of hideous sounds filled the air, TERRIBLE BATTLE FOR LIFE. That the imprisoned ones in the cabin fought for their lives as only human beings in such a plight can fight ts more than borne out by the stories, told with shaking, ashy lips, by those few who escaped. The scenes crowded into that brief, heartbreaking pande- moneum of frenzy between the pitifully short time that the Dix heeled back from the impact and settled upon her stern for her last plunge will be vividly remembered by those who saw them for the rest of their lives Those who looked back into the cabin saw a seething cauldron of watery fury in which men and women, splintered partitions, chairs, tables and debris of all sorts jumbled to- gether in a conglomerate, swirling mass. A WHIRLPOOL OF DEATH. Out of that awful whirlpool of death gleamed white faces with the fear of death stamped horribly upon them, and im- ploring hands that begged piteously for the aid which no hu- man hand could give. With a guttural, sickening sound the waves closed over the doomed ship and sucked it to the bottom. In the meanwhile those who had jumped overboard were being hauled as rapidly as possible aboard the Jeanie.. Capt. Mason picked up all the passengers to be found and after an hour of search for more landed them at Pier to, where the news of the catastrophe spread with lightning like rapidity, and every available craft was impressed in the work of rescue. The Jeanie accompanied the others back to the scene of the wreck and remained around all night in the hope that daybreak would reveal someone overlooked in the darkness. But none were found. The current soon washed away all signs of wreckage, and in a marvelously short while there was nothing about the placid, smiling waters to indicate that one of the worst trag- edies in the history of the sound had just transpired. SEARCH ALL NIGHT The government launch Scout, the tugs Tyee and Wyad- da, with half a dozen or more launches chartered by various KERR BLAMES MATE of the proximit until the mind of the fell caused me to deck, Dennison had no rh t6 attempt to cross the bows of the large he un digui tly hae right of Thay 1 with the Dix bu 1a half, Dennison When | took the ry highly t the company ve amended him to me, He always appeared to me to be an excelent seaman, He wat 4 yours man amd I nove larew @ bee be be lniawieated, & dem't M4 weep eet rae? meek, ears bree Pa CHESS Fe eee eee ee ee eee ee ee he SHE eee eee RE Ree eee Ree ee ee tF parties, were among the first to go.. Everyone was stirred to activity by the thought that somewhere out in the cold waters fellow beings might be struggling for their lives. An area of a radius of four miles on each side of the scene of the accident was scoured by the rescue fleet, and the waters were lit up with searchlights. Not a log, mass of drift wood or any sort of floating thing but was eagerly scanned by the anxious watchers. Shortly before dawn the Favorite, owned by the Blake- ley Mill company, joined the fleet and added her efforts to the others, but with equally discouraging result. The sea had claimed its victims, and would not give one of them up. The Jeanie, owned by the Alaska Coast Company, was 5 ea Eonar purchased from Schubach & Hamilton, and has operated to Alaskan ports. The Dix was owned by the Alki Point Transportation Company, and during the summer months was on the route between Seattle and Alki point with the steamer Manette. Returning to Seattle from the scene of the disaster, Cap- tain Parker A. Lermond, master of the Dix, made a state~ ment. The captain is one of the best known masters on the sound. He is 45 years old and has followed the sea since boyhood. “We left Seattle at 7 o'clock with a full load of passen- gers for Port Blakeley, I should about 70 in all. “I was captain, also acting as purser. “After getting away from the dock and after the course had been shaped for Port Blakeley, I called my mate, Charles Dennison to the pilot house and told him to take the wheel, I started to collect the fares. “At this time we were about two miles due north of Alki point headed for Port Slakeley and running at our usual speed. I noticed what # clear night it was, also how smooth the water was. On our starboard quarter I saw the lights of a steamer.” While collecting my fares I conversed with everybody, knowing sractically all of my passengers. “I was standing m the center of the ladies’ cabin. on the upper deck, when I heard the bell ot the Dix ring a stop. I | rushed forward to see what was up. As I reached the deck, starboard side, I saw a vessel loom up right on top of the little Dix and then the crash. “The jibboom of the oncoming craft crashed into us aft of midships and the Dix tipped over to her port. She righted (Continued on Page Six.) —m or, was standing on the upper deck when t rash came, and succeed: ed in escaping from the eddy caused by the sinking vessel. Speak- | nx of the disaster, he said Whe n the Dix was struck I quickly away to avoid con- tact with sinking vessel. I was in the water two hours before being rescued, known to me, clung to my 8 rs for half an hour and R. Brebner, a tallyman, w ns) had ¢ remained in this position one of the h t,| | might have od her. However, rr he released hold and seized Hlow mill man, made mbs. This hindered ng, and we both sank irface. I shook her off to catch her in a », but my efforts were the crash n and myself nsel the darknes missed my hold and the unfortunate wo- an sank before my eyes.” W. T. Ford, whose mother was irowned in the sinking of the little e says STEAMER JEANI! 4 4 ‘ lt ta