The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-08

uLueIeeH men WHO lOSI luelT lives Oh
the steamer Idaho, which sank during
the gale on Saturday morning above
Long Point, on Lake Erie:
ALEXANDER GILLIES, caoptain. Buffalo.
GEORGE GIBSON, first mate, Buffalo.
WILLIAM CLANCY, chief engineer, Buff
falo.
JOHN D. TAYLOR. steward, Buffalo.
NELSON SKINNER, first assistant engineer.
LOUIS GILMORE, watchman.
RICHARD M'LEAN, wheelman.
ROBERT WILLIAMS. wheelman.
A. J. RICHARDS lookout. ii
HENRY THOMPSON, lookout.
CONRAD BLANKER, fireman.
WILLIAM GREGORY, fireman.
JOHN HEALY. assistant steward.
FREDERICK MIFFORT, oiler.
EDWARD SMITH, deck hand, Rochester N.
Y.
NJ. BEEL, deck hand.
RICHARDS, fireman, Ogdensburg.
The names of three of the men
drowned are unknown to the steam
ship company. One was a fireman, an
other deck hand. and the third q
porter.
The names of the men saved are:
Louis Laforce Jr., second mate, and
William Gill, a deck hand, living at
137 Kent street, Rochester. 1t is not
known at the office of the Western
Transit company where the greater
portion of the dead men hail from.
The Idaho went out of commission
three or four years ago, but this sum-
mer she was thoroughly overhauled.
After her overhauling she was placed
at the disposal of the Naval Veterans
association, and by that organization
used as a flagship during the G.. A. r.
encampment in August. AT the close
of the encampment she was put into
commission again as a freighter. The
captain Of the Inflated steamer, Alex
Gillies, was one of the most widely
known of lake seamen. He was forty
one years old, and knew the lake wat
ers like q book His brother, Donald
Gillies, is captain Of the steamer Har-
lem. When the steamer Mariposa ar
rived in port about midnight last night
with the news of the disaster to the
| Idaho, and having on hoard the two
| surviving members of the crew. Capt.
| Root had this to say regarding the
! storm on the lake and the rescue Of the
| two men: 1T was one Of the worst
| gales L ever experienced in all my
| years on the lakes. We started from
| Chicago with a load of oats. All the
way down the lake we had a fight with
| the storm, and l thought once or twice
| of putting in somewhere until it blew
over 1 am glad L did not, for ! fear
| that if 1 had these two men who came
| down with me would have gone to
| join their mates by this time.
TT was about 1890 yesterday after
noon when I first learned of the wreck
| of the Idaho | was on deck when my
| first mate, Myron Chamberlain, came
| to me and told me that he had sighted
| spar off to the north, and that he
| thought there were couple of men
| clinging to it. He pointed it out to me,
| and when l got the glass on it L could
| distinguish the men plainly. We were
| running under a good head Of steam
| at the time, and 1 put on more and
| headed for the spar.
when near 1t l was puzzled how to
| help the men off, for 1 could not lower
| boat in such storm. Finally l cir
| cled about the spar until l ran along
| side, and my men picked the poor fell
| lows off, They had to drag tn m away
from the spar by force, for the men
had been there so long that their arms
had become numbed and were twisted
about the mast and almost frozen fast
| to it.
When we got the men on board we
put them in hunks and gave them
| some warm food and soup and had
them feeling pretty good physically
when we reached harbor:'
STORY OF A SURVIVOR.
William Gill, the rescued deck hand
| q swarthy, well-built man, twenty
| three years old, has sailed the lakes
since he was a youth. He Is more in
telligent than the average sea-faring
man, and his story of the disaster as
told early this morning is a thrilling
one I'VE left here Friday night.
| bound for Chicago, with a cargo Of
| general merchandise" said he. Every
thing seemed all right until we got
outside the breakwater and then we
were struck by the worst storm that
I ever saw. When the first big break
er struck us we were tossed up in the
air like a top and a second later big
roller came over the port bow and
rolled down amidships a foot deep. The
wind shrieked and howled, but we did
not pay much attention to the storm.
We had felt winds before. The cap
| tain consulted the mate and decided
| that he could weather it, and he kept
OF his course.
"As we headed up the lake dead
against the gale, it appeared to be get
ting worse every minute. The waves
were running high and the wind
threw the tops from the breakers like
dust.
I'VE moved slowly against the heavy
wind and sea- and when we were well
up the lake we found that the boat
was making water. 1t kept coming
faster and faster, and the bilge pumps
were put to work, but the water gain
ed and every minute the ship kept get
ting less buoyant and the big combers
continued breaking over her.
1--WE were near Long Point at this
time and the captain started to put in
with the intention of beaching the
ship. But the water gained so rapidly
that it was too late. She was already
laboring and the two men at the wheel
could do nothing with her. Two more
men went to work with them, and
finally they brought her around and
headed her toward land.
Capt. Gillies started the pumps, Or
dered the men to the fire buckets, and
we formed a line and began to ball.
but it was no use. The water gained
on the pumps and the buckets, and
soon the water put the fires out.
when it was found that the power
was gone, and that the Idaho could
not be moved, we knew we could not
live in the trough of that fearful sea,
and the only hope left us was to run
out the anchor and bring her head up
to the sea and let her ride out the
gale. Every seaman realized the dan
ger of attempting to do that, in the
face of hurricane, and, when Capt.
| Gillies decided to do it, he ordered the
| lashing Of the boats cut, and told the