The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-08
Heartrending Story of the Two Sur
vivOrs Rescued by the Steamer
MaripOsa Saturday.
CLlNGlNG ALL DAY TO A SPAR
HALF-FROZEN VICTIMS HAD TO BE
TORN FROM THE MAST.
An UnseawOrthy Craft That Sprung a
Leak and Went Down in the
Terrific Storm.


are the names of sixteen of the nineteen
men who lost their lives on the steamer
Idaho, which sank during the gale on Sat
urday morning above Long Point on Lake
Erie:
ALEXANDER GILLIS. captain, Buffalo.
GEORGE GIBSON, first mate, Buffalo.
WILLIAM CLANCY, chief engineer, Buff
falo
JOHN d. TAYLOR. steward, Buffalo.
NELSON SKINNER, first assistant en-
gineer.
LOUIS GILMORE, watchman.
RICHARD M'LEAN wheelman.
ROBERT WILLIAMS, wheelman.
A. J. RICHARDS, lookout.
HENRY THOMSON, lookout
CONRAD BLANKER, fireman.
WILLIAM GREGORY, fireman.
JOHN HEALY, assistant steward.
FREDERICK MIFFORT, oier.
EDWARD SMITH, deck hand, Rochester,
N. Y.
M. BELL, deck hand.
The names of three of the men drowned
are unknown to the steamship company.
One was a fireman, another a deck hand,
and the third a porter. The names of the
two men saved are: Louis Leforce, jr., sec
ond mate, and William Gill, deck hand,
living at 1S7 Kent street Rochester, N. Y.
1t is not known at the office of the Western
Transit Company where the greater por-
ton of the dead men hailed from.
The Idaho went out of commission three
or four years ago, but this summer she was
thoroughly overhauled. After her overhaul
ing 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 freghter.
The captain of the Inflated steamer, Alex.
Gillis, was one of the most widely known
of lake seamen. He was forty-one years
old and knew the lake waters like a book.
His brother, Donald Gillis, is captain of
the steamer Harlem
When the steamer Mariposa arrived in
port about midnight last night with the
news of the disaster to the Idaho and hav-
ing on board the two surviving members
of the crew, Captain Root had this to say
regarding the storm the lake and the
rescue Of the two men:
1T was one. of the worst gales ever ex-
perienced in all my years on the lakes. We
started from Chicago with a load of oats.
All the way down the lakes we had fight
with the storm, and thought once or twice
of putting in somewhere until it blew over
l am glad did not, for / fear if l had these
two men who came down with me would
have had to join their mates by this time.
1T was about 1890 yesterday afternoon
when L first learned of the wreck of the
lQanO. l. was on Q6CK Wnen my urSI mate,
Myron Chamberlain, came to me and told
me that he had sighted a spar off to the
north and that he thought there was u
couple of men clinging to it, He pointed
it out to me, and when | got the glasses on
1t l could distinguish the men plainly. We
were running under a good head of steam
at the time and | put on more and headed
for the spar. When nearing 1T ] was puz-
Zled how to help the men off, for l could
not lower a boat in such storm. Finally /
circled about the spar until / ran alongside
m fellows
They had to drag them away from the spar
by force, for the men had been there so long
that their arms had become numb ana We're
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 soups. and had them feeling
pretty good physically when we reached
harbor"
TERRIBLE LAKE STORM
William Gill, the rescued deck hand, a
swarthy well-built man twenty-three years
old, has sailed the lakes since he was
youth He is more intelligent than the
average seafaring man, and his story of the
disaster, told early this morning. is thrill
ing one 1--WE left here Friday night bound
for Chicago with a cargo of general mer-
chandise" said he. Everything seemed all
right until we got outside the breakwater
and then we We're struck by the worst storm
l ever saw When the first big breaker
struck us we were tossed up in the air like
a top and a second later a big roller came
over the port bow and rolled down amid
ships a foot deep. The wind shrieked and
howled, but we did not pay much attention
to the storm. We had felt wind before. The
captain consulted with the mate and de-
cided that he could weather it, and he kept
on his course"
'As we headed up the lake dead against
the gale it appeared to be getting worse
every minute. The waves were running
high and the wind threw the tops from
the breakers like dust. We 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 COM
ing faster and faster and the bilge pumps
were put to work, but the water gained and
every minute the ship kept getting less
buoyant and the big combers continued
breaking over her. We We're near Long
Point at this time and the captain started
to put in there with the intention of beach
ing the ship. But the water gained so rap
idly that it was too late She 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. Captain Gillis started the pumps or
dered the men to the fire buckets and we
formed a line and began to bail, 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 pow
er 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 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 danger of at
tempting to do that in the face of a hurri-
cane, and when Captain Gllis decided 70
do il ne ordered the lashing of the boats
cut, and told the men they were forced to
take one last chance for their lives AT
the word the anchor dropped from the bow
and the chain began to pay out but the sea
was too heavy, and instead of the anchor
catching with a firm grip and bringing the
ships head up to the storm with Jerk il
went too slow and simply tumbled into the
trough of the seas, which broke over her
in torrents.
In an instant she was as helpless as a
log. and she was tossed here and there
and taking every wave aboard. From port
to starboard the great mountains of foam
ing water poured, rolling into the hold and
adding to the quantity already weighing
her down. The load was too much and
after moment, when we all felt that we
We're lost, the ship keeled over to the star
board and went down, stern first.
What became of my mates / don't know
/ remember that the boats had been loos-
ened, and that some of the men were ready
to take TO them if the vessel went under
but no boat could have lived for a minute
in that terrible sea, and If any of them
did get in the boats they were simply
swamped as soon as the first wave struck
them. Maybe they did not leave the shin
at all. | was near the spar, and when the
stern of the vessel began to go under /
went for the rigging and went up as fast
as / could. Another man went with me
the second mate-and thank the Lord that