The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-05-26
Report of Board of Inquest Inves-
tigating Death of Lieut.. J. NJ.
Roper of st. Louis.
FAD NO FEAR FOR HIMSELF.
Lowered Himself Into the Smoke
Filled Compartment and,
When Taken Out Was
Beyond Help.
The Republic Bureau.
Ava

18th st. and Pennsylvania ave.
Washington, May 25.-The Secretary of
the Navy has received the official report of
the Board of Inquest which investigated
the death Of Lieutenant ]. NJ Roper of
Missouri, in command of the L. S. S. Petrol.
in Cavite harbor The full report of the
board was forwarded Saturday to the widow
of Lieutenant Roper. The painful circum-
stances and the heroic manner in which
Lieutenant Roper met death in the dis
charge of duty are told fully by the officers
Of the Petrol. who were examined. Lieu
tenant j. S. Mexican testified:
About 7:1o a. m. l was awakened by the
fire alarm. On turning out / did not go to
my station directly. being on the sick list.
On inquiring found there was fire in the
forward sailroom. / went on the berth deck
and found large volume of smoke pouring
out of the hatch. and the men said the men
at work were overcome. Probably two min
utes after my arrival at the scene Of the
fire, the Captain. Lieutenant Commander J.
NJ. Roper. was helped out of the hatch,
partly overcome by the smoke, and required
the support of two men. Several enlisted
men were also passed up the hatch, until
all were up except one. Tonen. seaman.
'ln the effort to reach him. several more
We're overcome and the Captain started to
go down the hatch again. l persuaded him
not to do so. as he was not physically fit.
He started the second time and / again
succeeded In stopping him; but the third
time he would not listen to my protest and
said he appreciated fully what he was doing
and started down, accompanied by Naval
Cadet ]. +. Lewis, and followed by one en-
listed man. We could not see, but they
were all apparently overcome as soon as
they got down the ladder. We succeeded
in getting the enlisted man back before he
was entirely overcome. l then. being the
senior officer. ordered that no more men
should go below without a bow line around
them. We sent one Girandy, seaman. down.
and he succeeded in bringing up Tonen, the
man for whom the Captain and Cadet
Lewis had gone. When Girandy was hauled
up by the bow line, he was overcome.
Went to Save Roper.
II then put bowline around myself and
took another in my hand and went below.
Just at this time we had succeeded in get
ting on the electric lights: and 1 saw on
landing on the orlop deck. the Captain.
Lieutenant Commander Roper. in recltn-
ing position in the port-forward corner. his
upper body being supported by the bulk s
heads and his head dropped over on his
shoulder. completely unconscious, and.
think. dead at the time. With the assist
ance of Cohey. seaman. l placed the bow
line 1 had brought under the Captain 8
arms. and he was hoisted onto the berth
deck and then carried to the bridge"
Question: What was the condition of
the atmosphere dawn below with regard to
smoke and fumes?''
Answer: "The compartment was full of
heavy. acrid smoke OF burning canvas.
Speaking from my personal experience in
going down into It from the berth deck. II
was like inhaling ether or other drugs. and
my head was not below the level of the
berth deck before I could feel my muscles
weakening
Question: How long was Lieutenant
Commander Roper down in the compart-
ment the second time before he was brought
up to the berth deck?'
Answer: ut was not over four minutes
from the time he went down until I wen,
after him. How long 1t took us to get him
up do not know. but my Impression Is no,
more than one and a half minutes"
other officers of the Petrol gave similar
testimony. and at the close of the hearing
the board rendered the following finding:
THE board is of the opinion that the death of
the deceased in line Of duty. and occurred
while he was attemrting to, rescue partially as
phyxiated persons from the compartment, In
which no met his death.
tssred) R. C. Persons. Medical INSPECTOR. U.
s. N. President: G. A. Lung. Passed Assstan,
Surgeon. u. s. n. Member: l. w. Spratiing
Psssed Assistant Surgeon. u. S. N. Member and
Re- cGIeer