The San Francisco call., 1898-11-28
MRS FRANCES ROBNN HEROINE OF THE C. WALKER DISASTER
 CARING FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE EXPLOSION

groan escaped him after he was taken
 out of the steam.
 One of the remarkable escapes was
 that of Captain Henry Potvine, who was at the wheel of the Walker when
 the explosion occurred. The pilot-house
 was torn away. but he was not dan gerously injured. although he is some what scalded about the lower limbs. When the survivors had all left the
 Dauntless the colors were run to half mast Many business houses evinced
 the public sorrow for the calamity by doing likewise.
 At 1 o'clock the Walker was sighted, lowed by the Clara Crow Shortly afterward she was made fast at her wharf. The lower deck forward was a
 mass of wreckage; piles of bloody
 sheets, bedding and pillows showed
 how blood had flowed before Mrs. Rob- inson and her corps of volunteer nurses
 bound up the wounds. Windows were
 smashed and the space under the pilot
 house was blown out as if by dyna- mite.
 Manager Corcoran is indignant over
 the claim that the boilers could not
 carry 160 pounds of steam. He says
 they would carry 300 pounds and that
 any board would have made such an authorization.
 Ut is one of those terrible calamities
 which will happen. We do not know
 just how it happened and never will.
 The boilers of the Walker were in
 splendid condition,'' said MT. Corcoran,
 quietly Not nerve f1inched as he spoke and he watched the unloading
 of the freight as though nothing had
 happened
 Herman Shafter, the cabin watch
 man on the Walker, said:
 'I had just stepped out of the cabin
 and was walking forward when the
 boiler blew up. The electric lights were going at the time, but everything was dark in an instant. Hot steam was pouring up from below. I did not know for the moment what had happened. heard some one say, Hold this lady,
 and afterward I found that it was Mrs.
 Henry, the wife of the engineer She was blown forward to the very bow of the boat. When we went up to Henry's
 room we found that it had been wrecked. He was lying on the broken timbers of the floor His body was half way through and was hanging across
 one of the beams, which prevented him falling"
 In their once happy home the remains of Henry and his wife lay tonight. The survivors of the disaster cannot
 say too much in praise of Mrs Frances
 Robinson of San Francisco and Mrs. c.
 H Keagle, wife of c. H. Keagle of the
 Farmers and Merchants Bank of this lad a Shn | ing appearance, and their cries of an- guish were such as to unnerve some of the men who heard them. but they did not COW these brave women. Daniel w.. Webster of Vallejo and pr. Davis of | Oakland were on the Dauntless and as sisted in the removal of the wounded | and the dead from the Walker. Dr. | Davis says he never saw any person use such good, practical and efficient | measures to help the wounded as did Mrs. Robinson. The next best worker in assisting the wounded, he says, was | Mrs. Keagle. The scenes were horri- bIe. Many women tainted at the sight | and others were unable to assist from terror. Charlotte F. Ebbets of 1401 Jones | street San Francisco, helDed the engi- neer's wife, Mrs. Henry, and did not l give up her post until MrS. henry Hdu been removed to her home to die. Of | the work of Mrs. Robinson another pas senger is quoted as saying:
 1T found the forward part of the boat l below demolished, and it was some time 1 before any of us could reach the lower | deck, as the stairs were gone. After a | little a ladder was brought and we went
 down Mrs. Robinson did not wait for
 a ladder. When she knew what had happened and heard the cries of the
 scalded men she handed her two-year- old child to her husband and went down