The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-12-01
Fate Of a Woman on the
Transport Tartar.
Startling Story from San Franc SEQ
of the Sufferings of Female
Passenger.

4 passenger on the JnIIeu StdLeS troop
! ship Tartar.
Mrs. Collins was starving when she
was brought to my house" said Mrs.
James Brett last night Mrs Brett is
the wife of Captain Brett. also of the
Twenty-third Infantry, and is living
in pretty cottage at the Presidio
while her husband, with his regiment,
is fighting the Tagals in Luzon
Mrs. Collins had been a lifelong
friend of mine Mrs. Brett went on,
and when | heard she was on board
the Tartar l went to the ship at once
upon its arrival here and had her
| brought TO my house. She died here
! ten days afterwards. | feared when
| | first saw her that death was upon
her. although she rallied little I'M
der proper care and with good nurs-
ing. But the mischief had been done
Hong before she reached this country
The story of the illness and death of
Mrs Collins is a tale that has been
told. and is being told, in various ways.
Ii depends, apparently, upon the in
terest of the narrator in suppression
or in revelation.
The friends of the dead woman do
not propose that all hands shall be
free of blame. and TO that end sister
of Mrs. Collins. a Mrs. Wood of Omaha.
has made complaint to the War De-
partment that the death was due to
neglect by those who should have
cared for the sick woman on board
the hOrrOr-Ship Tartar, and Secretary
Root has ordered that a thorough in
veStigatiOn OF the matter be made.
This Will be the third inquiry in which
the Tartar has figured. and it has al
ready been begun by the officers at the
PreSidio although they will not yet
give out any of the evidence adGuced,
nor the steps taken. Mrs. J. c. Clay,
who was the stewardeSs on the Tartar,
admitted last night to a reporter for
the Examiner that she had been called
and Intercepted by Major Gallagher,
who is conducting the investigation in
behalf of General Shafter, but said Ma
jor Gallagher had pledged her TO Sc
crecy concerning the matter
The story of the death of Mrs. Cap
tain Collins is a part of the story of
the horrOr-Ship Tartar. The attention
of the world was called to the trans
port Tartar, on which the Kansas reg
iment was brought home from Manila,
first by the action of the British au-
thoritieS at HOngkOng, who detained
the vessel there fOrxOme time, because,
having a friendly regard for the army
OF the United States, the British Off
I L I, n
brave men perilled in an attempt to
cross the stormy Pacific in winter in
an OvercrOwded ship. 1t was found
that the steamer was not only fearful
" overcrowded, but that, in the event
of disaster, there were no boats or
life RATS aboard to save one-haIf the
passengers. They would have been
drowned like rats
And at HOngkong. by the advice and
with the help Of the American Consul
General there, Rounsvell Wildman,
Mrs. Collins was put on board this ov
ercrowded transport, which was re-
leased upon the protest of this same
Consul General. 1t was her voyage to
death.
1t was upon the action of the Brit
| ish authorities in OBTAINING the trans
| port that Secretary Root ordered the
| first investigation into the Tartar
case. 1t was charged then that the of
| ficialS interested had concealed the
facts, and a second investigation was
| had, conducted like the first in secret
| The findings in both inquiries, as to
| the essential facts, have been kept
| from the public. Secrecy will not be
| so we'll served in this third inquiry,
now being conducted by Major Gallag-
| her and board of officers at the Pre-
sidio on behalf of General Shafter, for
| the reason that the friends of Mrs
Collins, numerous and influential, pro-
pose that the blame for that unfortu-
nate lady's death shall be placed where
it belongs.
Mrs. Collins had been i'll when she
| Joined her husband al Manila last July
suffering from the effects of a long So
journ at Caracas. Venezuela. where
Captain Collins served as military at
tache for one year and half before
he was ordered to rejOin his regiment
on active service, and the shock of her
husbands death at Manila so soon aft
er her arrival there, Frustrated her
completely.
Being DESTROYS of leaving the scene
of her trouble as soon as possible, she
was put on board one of the small Chi
ma sea coasters and taken to Hong
kong. She grew worse instead of bet
ter there, and when she was carried
on board the Tartar she was in con-
dition of alarming weakness. Before
| leaving Manila, Mrs. Collins. being
without ready money, cashed a check
| for $500 in gold. This money she had
| with her when she went on board the
Tartar. 1t is important to remember
this, for when the transport reached
| San Francisco the money was gone
| To her friends here Mrs Collins also
complained that her husbands gold
| watch. which had been among her eff
fects. disappeared on the ship.
The Tartar was in command of Cap
tain Pybos, for the owners. and the
| troops were commanded by Lieuten-
ant Colonel Wallace of the Twentieth
Kansas Volunteers. She had on
board, as passengers, General Freder-
L icl- ,-+r l.;