The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-02-28
THE TORNADO.
TuE sUyHEv SHIP u LIHELED, AND
IN THE MARsHAL's HANDS.
statements or Presidents Of Insurance
Companies and Others.


All Tuesday night until late in the day Wed
nnsday The wrecked Tornado. lying at the 1901
of Mariguy street. was tossrd about by the waves
OF tho Mississippi without nm effort being m'de
To rescue her from her perilou position, which
ss she gradually eet'l d, threatened Heyite95le
destruction To hefsef and cargo.
Al ahout o'clock. however. things wore q hii-
gerent aspect, as deputy marshal put IN an ap-
pesrapce and libel d the ill-f ted craft.
AtG O'clock In the evening orders came from
t,nitea states Mars9l Wharton nstructing
Can't. ColburD. Of the nreboM PROTECTOR. 10
pumn out tho sunksn Tornado. and to allow
assistance from tho tugs NoSnan. Harry
Wright. Heroine and Bio GrandS'
Tho nreb ,at Protector togeth OF win the iour
tugs. Immadia ely arted 70 WORK on VIC W,o ojs
anl al luat accounts were la u talr way OF RUS
ing her. .t1,;, TIM Josa IF tho
mi fatnJ Tornado have aroused generMl INTEREST,"
~ M Community q reporter Of the DEMOCRAT
called upon tho presidents Of the various mn
rance companies anu look doWn HON ''o' VIZ
following statement: 81
.Tuos ADAMS, ESQ
PRO ,iaent ftbc Crescent Insurance. COMPANY
Mr. Adams said that he Thought Iapt, Ellis
had acted under inlud ious ndNlee' nn' ,na tt ~
was not ut present prepared TO maze s, sta,e
ment. He thought that very soon the Whole
facts Of the case would be brought to light be-
fore the community.
President NJ the Fnctots and Traders Insu-
rance Company, The MDor said: an con
yincea that the nre tug Protector could nave
saved the ship Tornado am OF the opinion
of some mismhDagamolt , -
1t il mn established fact that fire ~ nnot OK.
int when submerged IN carbontc acid gas. lt
may slnoulder for awhile, but 1t Is bound to DO
sxtsrninated in the end
WIN. A. BELL, ESQ,
president pro tenn. Of the New Orleans insurr
reporters inquiries, said: Tuesday morning
at lI1t visited the ,a4sel nnh founh the cap,
tain and the agent Mr. huS ,o'h bnss 81 tbat
had been cut in the deck aft the mainmast, !
remarked to Mr.. schultz that It was pity mat
swer TO which he stated that he believed he had
the fire under control But not ngreelng with
him dec cd Y more prudent 70 le ~ we sh 1ht
to her impending fate, and looked upon tne
loss to this company as u total one go
In my opinion he sinking of tho Tornado
was entirely tho result OF Encouragement.
At ii o'clock Tuesday morning ]. in company
With Mr. Tonrhy h. k to ,ne o anp val
my 1h be 'e "en haa been allowed to take
take charge OF her In time the ship could have
If Capt. Ellis acted upon advice. in my opin
ion he was very badly advised.
ERNEST pRAasT, ESQ.
president of the Peoples INSURANCE, Company
TUESDAY lead w. Whe ".' / saw her between and
o'eIook Sunday evening i was then convinced
we would sustain u LOGS OF 30 per cont. by sal
wage our loss would have been very little on
cotton.
On Monday morning at about 10 o'clock !
visited the boat and saw that the Protector had
been prevented from working on her. anu tina,
the Other party" had charge Of the aff .ir. l
considered our loss by salvage won d he 90 per
cent On Tuesday when saw her was satis-
fed that would hnve 10 ray the l0ta' loss, ana
when Jaw her this morning, t1neaning We'd
nesdav morningl Will be vii ing TO pay the
lpap ia
Ithnk that the Protector has boon fooled out
of this job. and had she had charge OF her she
would have saved vessel and caigo with but
very slight damage.
| think we have been roughly handled by
sharks and wreckers
PAUL FouRcHY, ESQ, .
President Of the Merchants Mutual Insurance
Company--I went on board the ship Tornado Mt
about 1890 sunday ming; found NE Iro-
gas inte the chips hold. About tlnt tine two
fire engines cane up, and took their position
on the wharf close TO the vessel. The matches of
the vessel n this time were covered. | asked
Mr.. O'Connor what was the occasion that
was no occasion for them 10 be- there, bur he had
sent for them Mt the request of Capt Ellis.
| staid aboard until u in. and had several in
terviews with tho CAPTAIN, tryin. to urge him
not to open the patches, as considered the Are
entirely under the control Il the Protector; but
opened SO as To cnabls him to see il the fire was
really out. Shortly after ~ o'clock the matches
were. opened by order Of Capt, E!l,s. At about
out of the main hatch some Of them more or
less burnt Immediately after Tho cotton was
taken out rs understood, the captain ordered
the engines TO pump water into his vessel At
this moment remonstrance WIS useless with
the captain, and ,nft III" deck Of the vessel.
About 10 o'clock MRjur Hearsey. tho editor Of
MI, Knit. we ithree ca,iei ,Chisf ooonnoir
aside and asked him to give Major Hearsy his
idea Of the condition tho Y, ssel. At that mo
meat the chief saih that he did not consider 1t
necessary to throw any NOR. water into the
vessel, aud he had So advised Can't. Ellis. He
further stated that in his opinion If the
hatchcs were left hattoned down Tor a few hours
Rep.-Mr Fourchey. do you think that had
the vessel been left in Tho hands OF the Protec-
tor, she could have been saved
FOurchey-I have no doubt Of IT: at IL o'clock
on Sunday she was practically saved to all np-
p.s ai and was III better condition than the
Tor the reason The Tornado decks se we're s' ner
Rep How do you account for Capt Ellis ac-
tions ?
Fourchev-I cannot account for his actions in
any reasonable manner.
m RepWho Dc q y1n think is responsible for
:, Fourchey-l think Captain Ellis action in
dspossessing the Protector on sunday led to
Rep-What is public opinion in regard to this
disaster, 30 far ma you know.
Fourohev : The gen raj opinion among in
aurance men is indignation" owing to the
mismnnagamont.
Rep. DO you think Capt. Ellis has been mis-
adyised2
Fourrhey-If his conduct has been the result
Of advice that was bad advice indeed that he
took.
Rep Can you cite an instance chat will com.
pare with this aisnstor2
Fonrchey-To my knowledge there Is not
another case record
A. KAL1SsKI, g
captain Of the Underwriters Salvage Corps-
Az the tap Of the bell. IN the onorring 81 the
twenty-fourth. repair d with the salvage
oiargnv street. "
arrived thore about ton minutes after the
bells had struck. l found deIee volumes of
smoke issuing from the main hatch. indicsing
that quite o Hro was raging below. Two steam
engines Immediately got to work pouring
water down the main hatch. By this time the
Protector lend, d. also let out her water hose
and poured three s, reams into the ship While
this was going on Capt. Colhurn OF the Protec-
tor sought an Interview with Cane Ellis. OF the
h horihaao; aSd 9htainsd his consent to car
the fire. All Mnter WIS then stnnnnd Tho hnteh