The times., 1899-10-15
PERISHED IN THE Wreck
The Sound Steamer Nutmeg State
Burns to the Waters Edge.
Four Persons Known to Be Lost and
others Mfssfng-The Fire Discover
ed Two Hours Out of POrt-Beach-
ed on Long Misunderstanding of the
Creyy-WOmen Pushed From Raft.


Crew-women Pushed From u Raft.
NEW YORK, Oct 1.-THE sound steamer
Nutmeg State, Captain Brooks, which left
Bridgeport for New York at o'clock this
morning with cargo of brassware, car
tridges, and dry goods, and about fifty
to sixty passengers and a crew of about
forty was found to be on fire when she
reached Sea Cliff, two and one-half hours
later The boat was Immediately headed
for the Long Island shore, and in half an
hour she was beached one mile east of
Sands Point, where she burned to the
waters edge. Two passengers and two
members of the crew are known to have
lost their lives, and four members of tbs
crew were reported missing tonight. Four
passengers and the boats freight clerk were
more or less injured.
The dead are:
PATRICK CAFFEY, first mate.
SAMUEL. JAYNES, baggage master.
An unidentified woman.
An unidentified child.
The Nutmeg State was steaming along
we'll toward the Long Island shore at
fourteen knot speed. when the pilot re-
ported the boat on fire forward of the
smokestack Captain Brooks rushed
deck and ordered that the passengers hs
awakened, and then had a line of hose
stretched down the forward companion
| way. A water brigade was sent to the
berth deck where the cook reported the
fire to be. 1t did not take long to convince
Captain Brooks that he could not control
Ial st,a hnot for chnr
After doing this he ordered the two life
boats which the steamer carried cleared
away.
BY this time the passengers were swarm
| ing from their staterooms TO the saloon
deck. Nearly all had been awakened from
| sound sleep, and were Scantily clad.
When they saw the clouds OF smoke they
| became panic-stricken. Women screamed
and men shouted, and little attention was
| paid TO the captains order to go as far
! forward as possible ON the upper deck and
stay there. But from all accounts it would
have made little difference how coo.headed
| the passengers were many of them would
| have been unable to reach the forward part
/ of the upper deck as a result OF the con-
| duct of the steamers twenty-fi or thirty
| freight handlers. AS soon as Captain
Brooks had ordered everybody forward the
| freight handlers made wild rush for
l
children aside and knocked down such men
as they could and who happened to be in
| the way
They were completely beyond the control
of Captain Brooks and his officers.
| Throughout all this the lifeboats were be-
| ing lowered, one forward and one aft Both
| were capsized through overcrowding. and
after a struggle in the water the people
clung on to the gunwales until rescued, As
Ii, tvnr rod
| There was a scramble for this among those
struggling in the water, and it be-
came SO heavily weighted that it seemed
about to sink. 1t was here, according TO
| the stories of several of the passengers,
| that the freight handlers misbehaved them
| selves particularly. It is asserted that
many OF them jumped into the water and
pushed women from the raft in order to
make room for themselves. Two other life
| RATS had been launched in the mean time,
! and some of those who had been crowded.
| from the boats reached these RATS.
| Meanwhile three vessels had seen the
| smoke from the Nutmeg State. They
| were the steamer City of Lawrence. I.
| Rogers MaxwelPs steam yacht Kismet, and
| the tug William F. Reed. The Reed was
the first to reach the burning vessel. The
work of rescuing was at once begun.
| While one of the Lawrence's boats was
4
heard cries coming from portfolio in the
berth deck. Axes were brought out and
| the men began chopping away at the side
of the steamer. Soon they could see four
or five men. They kept chopping away
until they were driven off by the flames
which they think must have enveloped the
| men.
! Captain Brooks, P. j. Hurlburt, Snd
Joseph Rowland, passengers, were the last
TO leave the Nutmeg State. The two pas
sengers kept their heads and stayed where
| the captain told them to stay. The result
was. they escaped without scratch. The
| three were put aboard the Lawrence
which steamed away for New York, after
! having spent about two hours upon the
work of rescue. Just as she left, reports
| like the explosion of firecrackers began to
! be heard. That's the cartridges, ex-
claimed one of the officers OF the burning
vessel. I'VE had about eighteen tons
aboard. and therell be plenty Of fireworks
| from now on
| The entire ship was ablaze before the
rescue boats left. The tide had ebbed
about two hours when she ran aground. At
low tide she stood almost entirely out of
| water and her interior was a furnace of
Goals. The tons of cartridges in the stern
| exploded continuously with big and small
reports, followed by puffs of smoke and
the plunking of bullets into the water.
| Every bit of woodwork about the vessel
seemed to be consumed by nightfall.
At noon Daniel Hendrick of Port Wash
ington. found two bodies on the beach.
| One was the body of woman about TWEEN
| ty-eight years old. She was of average
size and was apparently an Italian. The
| other body was that of a little girl about
| four years old. Her face was so much like
| that of the woman that Mr.. Allen concluded
they were mother and child.
| Captain Brooks said he could not i'm
| agine what had caused the fire. President
j. A. jenkins, of the company said the
value of the cargo could not be ascertainel
| until every shipper had presented his du-
plicate receipt.
Mr.. Jenkins added that it was also i'm
possible to furnish list of the passengers,
| as the names of passengers on the com
pany's boats were not taken when they
! went aboard. President jenkins judged
the value of the cargo by the usual cargoes
brought from Bridgeport at this season as
being about $50, 600. The steamer cost
$105 900 when built, and he considered her
worth from $50, coo to $75,0 ,000
CoGHLAN LEAVES FOR SITKA.