The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-08-18
/ WAS A FIERY FURNACE
PERIL AND DEATH ON STEAMER
MORGAN CITY.
Fire Raging in Her Bunkers for
Nineteen Days-Crew in Secret Bat
tied With the Flames.

NEW YORK, August 9.-The World
advices from Manila, dated, August
4th. by steamship to Hongkong Aug
ust 9th, say: The third Philippine
expedition is here, twenty-five days
out from Honolulu. Never did an eX-
petition encounter more dangers or
endure more perils. On the voyage
six men and one officer died and fifty
more were taken sick. Typhoid and
meningitis played havoc on the trans
ports. Two firemen went insane and
leaped overheard. But fire on one
of the ships was the worst peril of all.
The dead at sea were:
Ralph Bowers, Signal Corps, of Los
Angeles, died July 20:
Ernest Bower. Wyoming Battalion.
died on July 20:
friedrich auckland, Thirteenth Min
nesota, of st. Paul;
Lieutenant Il. Kerr of the Engi-
neers, West Virginia, died July 21st;
Stephen Roddy. Twenty-third In
fantry of Dallas, Tex, died July 14th;
w. ID. Kelly. fireman, of San Fran
cisco, died July 10th;
John Stockvlle, fireman, San Fran
cisco, died July 18th;
The fleet of transports and their
convoy, the monitor Monterey, were
three days out from Hawaii, when
fire was detected aboard the trans
port Morgan City. One of the crew
reported to Captain Dillon that there
was a blaze in the coal bunkers. Get
out the hose" whispered the captain
to the first mate. At midnight, when
all hn +,,n, ,,.1. 4,,,,,
Dillon assembled the crew and told
them the news. Every man was
pledged to secrecy. To lie the sol
diers know they were over a raging
fire would be to percipitate a panic.
Silently the men coupled on the hose
and steam pipes.
Then they began battling with the
flames in the hold. The next morn
ing the fire was as fierce as ever
Night and day the heroic crew fought
the fire, but with little success. And
still the troops aboard did not know
that the fire was burning beneath
their feet.
The Morgan City fell off in speed
and the whole feet was delayed. Cap
tain Dillon did not signal the flag
ship. He kept his men at work fight
ing the flames in the bunkers, while
the troops went about on deck all un-
conscious of their peril. The bunkers
were still burning when the Morgan
City arrived here. Then for the first
time the troops learned of their dam
ger. The flames were eXtinguished
after the ship had been in port few
hours.
On board the Morgan City were 600
men of the Idaho volunteers and a
detachment of the Nebraska volun-
teers.
The next most interesting incident
of the voyage was the sight of the ac-
tive volcano Frallon de Pajaros. The
ships passed it on the night of July
23rd, when it was in full operation
The column of flame mounted far into
the air and illumined the sea. The
men crowded to the rails and enjoyed
the spectacle until it sank beneath
the horizon, leaving only a pillar of
flame mirrored in the clouds.
The symptoms of all the men who
died were the same. They began with
a raging fever and lapsed into uncon-
seriousness within few hours. In 3G
hours after the attack they were in
death. At first the surgeons were
puzzled by the symptoms, but finally
diagnosed the malady as spinal men
nights. The heat of the sun, they
said, was the chief cause of the at
tack.
StocBville and Kelly were firemen.
! They became insane from the COM
bined effects of the heat in the fire
| rooms and from the sun overhead. 1t
drove them crazy, and, running up on
the deck with screams of agony, they
| jumped overheard and were lost.
For 1000 miles the heat was intense
and singing. The ships steamed
along the twentieth parallel of lati-
tude on sea like glass, with tenn
| perature in the COS. The breeze was
easterly and did no good. The heat
moderated on July Goth, when Cape
Engano was sighted, by the cooling
| breezes from the China sea.