Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1895-06-07
A NIGHT OF TERROR
Survivors Tell How the Steamer
Went Down.
THE HEAVIEST GALE IN YEARS
toundercd i'll the Trough of the sea
With the Officers AT Their
Posts.

| San Francisco, June 1.-The Examin-
er special from Mazatlan says:
The steamer San Juan has arrived
here with 81 passengers picked up on
| Tuesday from the wreck of the Colirna.
AS all were afioat. dashed by the fierc-
est gale of years, and buffeted by angry
seas about "a hours, they are hardly
yet in a condition to tell a connected
story.
| The steamer was heavily laden and
had large deckload of lumber. When
| the storm struck her, she made bad
weather of it. The wind increased in
fury until it is said to have been the
! fiercest storm known along this coast
| in 20 years. The sea rose rapidly.
| Waves washed over the vessel and
| started the deckload. AS the waves
| rose and. the storm increased, the man
| agement of the steamer became impos-
sible. At last, about noon, her head
could no longer be kept on, and she
| preached to. Once in the trough of the
sea- mighty wave struck her and she
was thrown on her beam ends.
| The wave struck with such force that
| the steamer trembled as If she had run
upon "A reef, and most of the passen-
gers thought this was the cause of the
shocks. The gale tore part of the deck
load of lumber from its fastenings and
whirled the heavy planks about with
appalling violence. Many were struck
and MANNED.
In their terror the passengers made
few mental notes CT their surround
ngS at this juncture. The survivors
| say that the officers of the steamer
! were brave and active. Captain Tay-
| Tor stood upon the bridge, his first
officer, D. f. Grifiiths, with him. At an
| order. Grfiiths rushed aft to Superin-
tend the launching of Iifeboat number
| five. Second Officer George Langhorne
was at lifeboat number three, and sue
ceeded in getting 1t launched and filed
| with passengers
Then the ship went down, and Lang
| horne's boat capsized. All in the boat
| are supposed to have been drowned.
Captain Taylor went down with the
| ship, sticking to his post. AS the ship
| pitched forward. he blew three blasts
| on the whistle, supposedly as a signal
| of goodbye. Then he disappeared be-
meath the waves. The engineers and
iremen died at their posts. Freight
Clerk Berry was in his room at the
time of the final plunge. Third officer
| Hanson was saved.
Hanson says that as the steamer
| foundered her boilers burst. The deck
burst under his feet as he left the ship,
Ten other men We're thrown into the
sea with him. The bursting of the
| boilers tore off the deck and threw part
of it over at least dozen men who
were struggling in the water, drown
ing them all.
Two life RATS were seen to be afloat.
On one We're three men and on another
six, including ]. A. Chilberg of Seattle,
who seemed to have been "A leader in
the work of launching the raft.
SO the fight for life began. There
was no hope for the women or child
al and small ebonces for The mer in
| such Il Storm Many of the women and
children must have remained in their
cabins. Professor Harold Whiting of
California University made an heroic
effort to save his wife and four child
rem and nurse. He got them into a boat
in which were A. j. Sutherland and
others. The boat was soon swamped
Then it was righted but went over
again.
Five times she was righted after be-
ing overturned.
The women Were soon drowned, de.
spite all efforts to save them. Some
were killed or stunned by flying debris
At last only Sutherland was left. TC
avoid the swirlng wreckage he climb
ed upon the seats While the lifeboat
was overturned, and SO fioated, the bot
tom of the boat serving him as a pro
tecting shield. Air came to him through
the broken sides of the boat
The survivors drifted about "a hours
in what Captain Pitts of the San Juar
says was the hardest storm expert
enced on the coast in 20 years.