The San Francisco call., 1898-03-12
FOUGHT TO
 SAVE THEIR
 BELONGINGS Desperate Strife as the Whitelaw
 Burned. Shipwreeked Passengers Robbed by Skaguay
 Free boOters. Despoiled Argonauts Now Pace the Shore, Hungry and
 PennileSS. CAPTAIN NEARLY MOBBED Refused to Permit Those Aboard to Save Their Outfits From the
 Flames.
Despoiled Argonauts Now Pace the Shore, Hungry and
 PennileSS.
CAPTAIN NEARLY MOBBEI
Ref,,sed to Permit Those Aboard to Save Their Outfits From the
 Flames.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

SKAGIJAY, AlaSka, Marcn 3 tDy steamship Australia, via Seattle, March 1D-The scene at the burning of the steamship Whitelaw, the familiar old San Francisco wrecker, boarded up for the Klondike rush, in Skaguay harbor yesterday. was one of indeScribable ex- citement and confusion. Thieves turned out in small boats to loot the cargo. Freebooters, claiming the right of salv age. fought with the passengers for the outfits that f1oated ashore. Knives and reyolyers were drawn on owners of out fits in a number of instances and their property forcibly taken away from them. and they stood by helplessly watching their last mouthful of provis- ions carried away into the night. The actual burning of the ship did not oc- cur until midnight. This scene of free booting continued through the re- mainder of the night and far into the forenoon.
 I have just come from the beach. Several wrecked KlOndikers are patrol ling the sand with guns in the crooks of their arms. One of these men is Chas. Gerhardt of San Francisco. He has a large bore Winchester rifle. Another is John Housted of Sacramento. He has a long knife in scabbard at his belt. Others who have neither knives nor firearms carry clubs. Frank Kelly of San Francisco is experimenting the collection of the stuff that comes ashore through the surf. Second Mate John Roach is assisting him.
 I witnessed Gerhardt and a half dozen others, with vengeance flashing in their eyes, bounce upon an old man who was slipping away from the surf with three slabs of singed bacon on his shoulder, throw him violently down on the sand and take the bacon away. That was before Gerhardt had yet dis covered the gun somewhere. Maybe $50 worth of half-ruined supplies will be recovered in this way, out of a car | go valued at not less, it is said, than $30, ,O00.
 The 110 passengers are stranded on strange shore. Many are penniless and know not what to do. Some lost all | their clothes and money, and had to borrow from more fortunate friends enough to buy meals.
 It was d battle with the fire all of yes- terday. It Is thought it may have been aburning a day or two. When discovered in the forward hold about 10 o'clock in the morning. the hatcnes were battened down, steam turned into the hold and every effort made to smother the fire. The second mate was then sent down In a diving suit into the smoking hold to locate the fire. He turned over the coal and found it was not there. Several times during the day the volume of smoke increased and the deck got hotter. Cap tain Lockyer thought he had extinguished the fire late in the afternoon. The pas sengers lent hand whenever they could be useful. Many came ashore during the day in small boats which surrounded the stayed by the ship. Though the fire was believed to have been conquered the gen eral vigilance of the crew and passengers was not decreased.
 snow blew all day long. At about z o'clock in the evening, when all had be- gun to breathe easier flames suddenly burst with a roar into the engine room. It is now known that considerable whisky had been smuggled aboard the ship and the forward hold was nearly filled with recovered two barrels of whisky and made off with them in a wagon under the representation that he owned them.
 The engineer on watch retreated, and soon the flames burst through the sky light Then the wind got at them and famed them furiously. Three streams were turned on and Captain Lockyer the harbor came to his aid. It was a desperate fight for two hours, during which the fire gained headway.
 At o'clock arrangements were made to save the thrty-four head of livestock and as much of the cargo as possible 1t was apparent to the passengers that the ship was lost but the captain would not give up the fight until the last moment. A lighter was brought alongside. the livestock was led upon 1t, some hay and provisions were tumbled aboard and the lighter, with many of the passengers cut away. The wind was right for blowing 1t ashore.
 The remaining passengers had in the meantime been making desperate efforts | to save some of their outfits. All kinds of articles were thrown overheard into the roaring sea. The wind increased in fury The whole interior of the ship be- low was on fire.
 Suddenly flames burst through the deck in several places. The passengers ap- pealed to the captain to let them take to the ships boats, which he had been low ering, and take as much of their outfits as they could. This he refused. Captain ing which was not infrequently threat ened during the voyage, the passengers being restrained by reflection on the mu- tiny laws, as related In previous dis patches to The Call.
 When 1t was finally decided to aban- don the ship everybody aboard tumbled counts differ as to whether Captain Lock- yer was the last to leave. The captain says he was and Second Mate Roach says not. William Hartley, a longshoreman, says he was the last man aboard.
 The ship was abandoned about mid night. Fifteen minutes later the White law was a mass of roaring flames from stem to stern. Both sea and wind were rising It was with. great difficulty that these last boats made the shore.
 The fire lit up the mountain tops cov- cred with snow and illuminated the streets and buildings of Skaguay, nearly
 Many Kiondikers who had come ashore early in the evening hired small boats and made hazardous trips out to the ship to save what they could. Their property, when deposited on the beach and insuffi- ciently protected, was forcibly seized and stolen.
 During the hours that the fire gained headway there was no order on board the Whitelaw Confusion reigned. The cap tain was defied, as he had often been during the voyage north. When there was mon hope of saving ship and property The Whftelaw burned until after daylight There were some explosions aboard as