The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-04-24
THEMATEHELD
Responsible for the
Wreck
OF THE LOS ANGELES.
Verdict of the Coroner's
Jury.
EXCITEMENT IN MONTEREY.
More Stories of the Terrible
Disaster.
FIVE BODIES HAVE BEEN FOUND.
Additional Awful Facts Come to Light
the More the Case Is In.
Vestigated.

MONTEREY, April 23.-Thirteen of the
survivors of the wrecked steamer Los
Angeles and the bodies of five of the vic
Tins were conveyed here this afternoon,
There were forty-nine passengers aboard
the Inflated ship and the crew numbered
thirty-six. Your correspondent has just
checked up all the papers saved from the
wreck by Purser Stanley, and finds that Of
the eighty-fve souls aboard the Los An.
geles when she sailed from San Simeon all
are accounted for as follows:
Picked up by steamer Eureka and trans
ported from Monterey yesterday by the
Southern Pacific Railroad. 42; conveyed
hither by various teams yesterday. "a
arrived here to-day with Captain Leland,
13; total, 70; lying in Morgue-William
Curtin of Los Angeles. W. F. Fitzpatrick
of Santa Barbara. S. n. Sheridan of Ven
tura, George Sherman of East San Pedro,
Thomas Nolan, fireman steamer Los An
geles; total number perished, 5.
Jim Book. Chinese. missing, where
Grand total, S5.
The inquest over the remains of Curtin,
Fitzpatrick, Sheridan, Sherman and Nolan
was TO have been held at Point Sur to-day
by Coroner Gordon. but jury could nol
be secured, and the bodies were brought
here. where the following gentlemen are
now sitting as Coroner's jury: F. DOud
Jr., William Harmon, T. P. Barnes, H. E.
Kent, E. Ingram, L. B. Slafe. D. <.
Fraser, j. E. Warren. d. NORM, S. E..
Pardee, A. L. Luce and E. Williams.
The first witness was Captain Leland,
who testified as follows:
'Mg name is II. D. Leland. My occupa-
tion is that of mariner. l was master of
the steamer Los Angeles. We left San
Simeon at ESQ P. NJ, April q. with forty
nine passengers and crew of thirty-siX,
bound for San Francisco via Monterey
and Santa Cruz ! was in my room and
about the decks during the day. The
weather was nice and clear. The winds
were very light and the sea was smooth.
Mr. RyfkGgeI, third officer. having charge
of the watch, we shaped our course from
Piedras Blancas to Point Sur. NV. u NJ.
by compass, our regular course. which
clears US Of all danger as far as Point Sur.
There we changed our course. At 80
2. NJ. / went forward, looked about, saw
the light Oh Point Sur and said to the Off
Ger, I'll lie down for while and take a
little rest. Give me a call when Coopers
Point Is abeam.' We were then about
five miles southeast of Point Sur. He re-
piled, All right, sir; Pll do so.'
81 lay down in my berth, which is nexr
TO the pilOt-house, with my clothes on.
was quietly resting when / received the
first iutimation that there was anything
wrong in the shape of bump on the reef.
/ rushed from my room into the piIot-house
and shouted Hard a starboardr | then
turned TO the third officer and said. How
is this. MIR. Rykfogel? You did not call
me when you were abreast of Coopers
Point He said, We'll. we amt up to
Coopers Point yet l told him. My God
Coopers Point is away three or four miles
astern.' He replied. Shes all right
She's going off the reef remarked thai
she was not doing anything of the kind
that she was fast.
II then went to the engine-room to in
Quire whether she was making water. The
reply came. Yes, she's filling fast Then
i
loud as could, Clear away the boats. "
We had passenger named Captain Ma
ginnis on board who asked whether he
could assist me in any way. | told him to
get all the boats ready and put all the
ladies and children in first. / then rushed
toward my room to see how she was
heading and heard the. escape-pipe had
burst and the steam was making terri.
bic rattle. A lady passenger stopped me
to ask that l get her life-preseryer, which
did, and thinking | might want one my
self L Kept one near me. l went on attend
ing to the placing of the ladder so that it
could be used in transferring passengers.
"At this time the chief engineer was in
the boat looking after the ladies. When a
lull load had been obtained he showed
away, at the same time inquirng what he
snould DO. L ordered him to remain where
ne was until further orders were given
hlm- then turned my attention to filling
all Inc other boats with passengers. When
nad lime to think of something else be-
SIDES saving my passengers l noticed the
boat was not humping much and | got a
sounding line and found great depth of
water. did not take particular notice of
the exact depth, but it was enough to
swallow the ship. Suddenly she pIunped
down stern first very rapidly.
1--WE had four boats engaged in rescuinp
the people on board. Every one of them
was loaded to its fullest capacity, although
it is barely possible that some NAV have
been able to carry more. When all the
boats were gone and the boat had plunged
in the water Stunned up the rigging as
high as / could go. There were several of
us on the rigging and some were in the
water. l could move neither up nor down
on the rigging. as there were several people
ahead of me and some below me. We
were washed about very roughly ard our
prospects were rather gloomy.
The boats had all left US and we were