The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-05-05
Two Life Boats Belonging to the Missing YES
sci Picked Up at Sea-Delay in Max
ing the Information Public.
Belief that Most, if not ALI of the Pass
engers and Crew We're Saved.
RumOrs that the Egyptian Forces at Berber
Have Surrendered to the Rebels
Cable News of ALI Kinds.
LOST In MID-OCEAN.

LOST IN MID-OCEANs
Wreck of the Steamship State of Florida
Part of the Passengers and Crew Saved.
| New YORK, May IA blueeoated messenger
| boy, with brown envelope in his hand ran into
| the office of Austin Baldwin & Co., agents of
the State Line Steamship Company, So Broad
way, at IL o'clock this morning Ten minutes
later the rumor that the steamer State of Flor
| ida had foundered at sea had spread all over the
lower part of the city and the steamship Office
was crowded with excited men who were anxious
to learn the fate of friends and relatives The
only information the agents of the line had to
give them was the cablegram received from
Glasgow as follows: 1.-THE steamer Devon, New
York, for Bristol, picked up April 81, two life
boats of the State of Florida, without occupants
or gear. sailing vessel bound west signaled
the steamer City of Rome, April %, in latitude
46, longitude A. She had the shipwrecked crew
| of the State Line steamer on board"
| The State of Florida sailed from New York
for Glasgow on April II at o'clock in the morn
| ing. She had therefore been overdue for some
days No news has been received from her
| until this dispatch came The fact that two of
her life-boats had been picked up was not con-
elusive evidence, Mr.. Baldwin said, that she was
lost, because both might have been swept from
the davit in a storm. 1t was the reference to
the signal seen by the Anchor line steamer
! City of Rome that seemed to confirm the belief
that she was lost. sailing ship, when picking
up the passengers and crew of wrecked steam
er, would not be likely to hoist on board the
heavy life boats, but would let them go adrift
after stripping them,
| ioJi Abof O,ol1y flo
were saved, to the exclusion of the passengers,
does it notl' said listener.
mo; messages are transmitted between ships
at sea by means of small flags of different shapes
and colors, which are aloft a small line
There is no combination of flags for the word
passengers. The word crew means all on board
ship but it does not follow from this I am sor
ry to say, that all of either the crew the pass
engers were saved.
| London Press dispatch received later said
| the captain of the Devon reports that she picked
up the life-boats of the State of Florida on Sun
| day evening, in latitude AZ deg. 25 min, longi-
tude "a deg. 10 min. The boats were therefore
| picked up over 400 miles east of where the City
| of Rome saw the sailing vessel that had on board
| the crew of the State of Florida. Allowing that
the sailing vessel would make less than 100 miles
q day, in the weather that has prevailed it is
| safe to say that the ship was wrecked about the
| 18th, and not far from where her boats were
| found.
The City of Rome reached port on Sunday
| last When asked how it happened that the
| public had not been informed of the signals seen
| by her. Mr.. Baldwin said he did not know; he
| had heard nothing until the morning dispatch
came; but he supposed that the agents on the
| other side had been waiting for further informa-
ton At the Anchor line Office it was said that
rhe captain of the City of Rome had unquestion-
ably made report of the signals seen, and that
| the information was given to the agents of the
| State line. No information had been received
at the Anchor line Office here beyond what was
already known, and nothing at all had been
| heard about the signal before yesterday
| This fact created some doubt as to the gen
uineness of the story of the signal until later
news confirmed it, especially as the State of
| Florida comparatively new, and was very
strong vessel. With later dispatches came the
| theory that the ship had been blown up in mid
ocean by Irish dynamiters On Wednesday last the
| Associated Press received a dispatch from Glas-
| gov, which said some anxiety was felt at that
| time for the overdue steamer. 1t by say
| ing that detectives are awaiting the arrival of
| the steamer to arrest somebody who is supposed
| to be dynamiter." Agent Baldwin was asked
if he thought it was possible that dynamite had
| destroyed the ship, when he laughed derisively
| and said: ''The supposition is not worth
serious thought it is unreasonable and impos
| sible"
When Mr.. Pierrepont Edwards, the late
British consul, was asked Wnat ne tnought
about it, he said he believed that the facts would
! show a legitimate wreck.
Secretary Patrick Joyce, of the Fenan broth
| erhood, was manipulating great heap of news
| paper wrappers. When he was asked if any of
| his friends sailed the State of Florida, he
| said II do not know, but do not think so. l
would have known it if they had; but then if
there were any there they did not sink the ship
| Why should theyP
O'Donovan Rosa looked very solemn, and
| said II shall prosecute any paper that accuses
| us of sinking the State of Florida. We do not
ship dynamite over there 1t is too easy to make
it right under Gladstones nose to take the risk of
| shipping it. Besides it would be suicide for the
| one who sunk the ship"
| Other coniectures on the causes of the wreck
| were that the ship had run into an iceberg or
| some other vessel.
THE PASSENGERS.
Among the passengers on the State of Florida
were:
Mrs B. Ward, Cleveland.
Henry Wood Ohio
Miss Lillian W. Wood, Ohio.
| Mrs NJ e. Wood, Ohio.
Miss May Shackleton, Ohio.
Walter King, Canada.
James G. Graham, Canada
James Cruikshank Braddock, Pa
Andrew Tarus, Chicago
Thomas Williamson, Chicago.
Thomas Taylor, jr., Chicago.
Miss Amy Taylor, Chicago.
Mr.. and Mrs. Taylor, Chicago.
Mrs Anna Taylor, Chicago
Miss Ada Taylor, Chicago
Abraham Williamson, Chicago.
George Eddington, Toronto.
A. Bethune, Toronto.
The State of Florida had five water-tight
| bulkheads. theoretically, both ends would float
if she was cut in two in the middle, but in actual
| disaster the bulkheads have frequently proven
| ,1;pr, iY 9TH io1x