The San Francisco call., 1898-03-24
The Amy w as Going to Pieces Before
 She Sailed. J. R. Armstrong Refunded Cash Because of Her
 Condition. He Ran a Lead-Pencil Four Inches Into the Planking
 of Her Hull.
SHIPPED IN A DEATH TRAP
Twelve Men Tried to Get Their Money Back, but Were Sent
 to Their Doom.

The probability of a terrible loss of life in the laundering of the bark Helen W. Amy Was lessened yesterday when it was learned that several other yes sels left this port at the same time and were probably in her immediate vicin- ity when she capsized.
 Who is to blame for the awful catas- trophe may never be known as legal certainty, but that those who shipped on the rotten hulk were culpable in their negligence or their haste to reach the gold fields of the north was evident when it was learned that all who went had been duly warned that the bark was unseaworthy and would not stand a storm. Three men who took the warning have reason now to congratu late themselves for their good fortune in losing their passage. but those other eager ones have their impatience to blame for their calamity.
 The three men who are now alive, safe and thankful, owe to J. R. Arm strong, the ticket broker at 21 Market street, the fact that they did not suffer the fate of the other forty whose names were on the ships lists, for it was his investigation into the conditions of the
 
 them to turn back. In speaking of the matter yesterday he said:
 Why, that ship was almost falling to pieces at the dock. It was a shame that she was permitted to leave here at all. She was rotten to the core. and had been lying over in Oakland Creek, a condemned hulk, for a long time. I bought twenty-five tickets on
 
 ing anything about her condition, but when I learned that she was unsea- worthy I demanded my money back, and got it.
 T sold tickets to Otto Miller, J. FL mer, John Meyers and Charles Ohde, and they came to me and told me that they had heard that the Amy was un- sound and unseaworthy. I imme- diately went with them and a friend of mine, who is a good mechanic and understands all about ships, to the dock, and made an investigation. We found that the hull was crumbling and rotten. We could take an ordinary pocket-knife and run it into the plank ing of the hull to the hilt and cut circle about the bolts holding the wood work together.
 ''K ran nay lead pencil four inches into the rotten tim- bers and could pinch off the decayed wood with my finger nails.
 ''I took the men back to my office and refunded them their deposit on the tickets and told them to warn every body on the vessel of her condition Several people have come to me since then to buy tickets, but I have refused to sell them, and destroyed all the cir culars which I had printed about the vessels sailing.
 '"The man who was down on the list of the bark as unknown was Otto Miller, one of the men to whom I re- turned the money. He said that he was in a hurry and was going on the vessel anyhow, and when I refused to sell him a ticket he got mad and bought it somewhere else. That is why his name is not known on the list. I crossed it off my list and it wasn't re- placed.
 "The men who chartered the bark had a hard time getting a crew, and they must have signed fully hundred men before they could get enough to stick to man her. Their mates all left two hours before she sailed, and the men who replaced them were picked LID about the dock and knew nothing of the Almy's condition.
 Twelve of the men who went on the Alny tried for a week or more to get their money refunded, but the man who sold the tickets to them refused to pay back the cash. These men tried in every way to get their money, but when they found they either had to go on the Amy or lose their money they decided to go with her. Had the party who sold the tickets refunded the money these twelve men would be safe here now"
 The party of twelve referred to by MT. Armstrong had been here for some weeks preparing for their trip to the Klondike. When they learned that the vessel was rotten they went to the agent from whom they secured the tickets and demanded back the deposit money. They were told that the deposit was a. business transaction, and if they did not go on the bark they would nave to lose the money. They tried Tor days to get their money, even going so Tar as to bring influence to bear on the owners or the VeSSel, put WllH ho e'F0ii' and then, rather than lose S24O, they decided to take the risk of the unsea- worthy ship. These men were headed by John Shell, and came from Colgate, Indian Territory. The party consisted of Shell, Barna, Cinotto, R. Nichols, J. T. Gotsky. John Walker, William Me Cray, William Snedden, Julius Gill, Theo Crober, James Ronald, James Saxon and Adolph Waldoo.
 According to the law regarding the inspection of sailing vessels the wreck of the Helen W. Amy was an accident.