Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1901-02-27

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| Down I'm Fifteen Minutes - Captain
Ward and His Principal On,cer- Lost.
With Twenty-Five of tho Cabin Pass
enEers-Consol-G General tyiidfnan; iii.
"ife And Two children Drowned
The Pilots Story or tho Disaster:
San Francisco. GAIA pilots Mt.
tempt to bring in during thick fog
the big Pacific Mail steamer CITY of
Rio Janeiro led to the wreck of The
vessel on Fort Point Lodge. outside
the Golden Gate, and the loss of 131
persons out OF total of 2OS on board.
Inc explanation of the terrible loss of
life is that the vessel sank in fifteen
minutes after she struck. thus carry
ing down most Of the small boats
which still hung on the davits.
The officers showed cooness and rho
passengers behaved well until the bow
began to sink suddenly Then. when
IL was seen that the vessel was on the
point OF sinking. there was wild
panic Men and women ran scream
ing to the boats. only to find them moi
IL
died together below simply daZed with
terror Many jumped overheard and
We're carried down by the suction of
the steamer. All about was thick
log, whicn probably prevented many
from escaping,
The following were lost.
Choln pasSengerS--RounS Wild
man, ConSul-General at Hong Kong.
wlfe. two children and nurse; Mr.. and
Mrs. y. Hart. of San Francisco: DIR.
Dodd, oculist, OF Butte, Mon: DR. OF
havana and servant, OF japan: &. w.
Henshall, Honolulu attorney. who mar.
RED one of the Along girls: Mr.. and
MIS- Woodwork. tourists; 4. Dow
uald, barrister, of Shanghai who was
on his way TO San Diego. where his
Wltc is; II. +. Seymour proprietor of
the Manila American: fl. &. Matthe-
son, in the Imperial Chinese customs
service: w. y. Henshall Miss Jehu.
ID. a. w. Dodd, William Cespi
Ships ofiiccrs-C Captain William
Wa:d, First Officer j. G. Johnson. Pur
ser lohu Rooney. Freight Clerk G.. i
EnSlehardt, Third officer L. j. Hol-
iand. QuartermaStcrS -. \. Carvin. !
Russell and j. Brighton, First Assist
ant Engineer X. f. Maccoun, Second
Assistant L. II. Brady. Third Assist
ant w. a. Munroe. Water Tenders
William Savage. j. II. Smith and II
\. Lewis, Il. Walter Smith, Fred b.
Grecnway, Chief Steward II a. Scott.
Steerage Steward Paul Guiro. Butcher
Edward Barwick, Stewardess j. l..
Dermann, Saloon Watchman A. Nal
colin. Storage Watchman j. y. Nc.
Arthur Chinese. eighty-six
The reports of the disaster were
that they We're coming in slowly when
thick fog settled down on the water.
They were going at about six miles an
hour and the tide was racing out at
four miles an hour. II was dangerous
TO 20 any slower and the only thing
to he done was To keep on and watch
carefully. He could see the lights
near the Cliff House and ut Fort Point
and he figured they were well in the
stream when the vessel suddenly
struck. Captain Ward asked what
should be done. and Jordan, judging
from the great damage that would be
done by Jagged rocks said: Get out
all your boats at once" Captain
Ward sprang to the starboard side and
was getting boats out when the bow
suddenly dropped down. Jordan
rushed from the bridge down to the
ing. He helped Mrs. tWildman into a
boat and had one of the Wildman
children grasp him around the neck
Then the vessel sank He thought he
went down fully fifty feet. When he
came up the child was gone. He
could see nothing Of the steamer nor
of any boats, so he struck out and was
soon able to climb on a part OF the
deck house on which one Chinaman
was floating. After three hous they
were picked up.
From the story told by Mrs. Kate
West, Of San Francisco, il is plain that
Captain William Ward committed sui
eide just before his vessel went down.
Mrs. West said: "On the voyage over
TO Hong Kong I was with Captain
Ward at his table. He said one day:
If anything ever happens to my ship
by which any lives are lost I shall 90
into my cabin and blow my brains out
j could never endure the disgrace OF
IL wreck Captain Ward also made
the same statement to DR. Winter
mute. former surgeon of the Rio. When
the ship struck / rushed on deck. Cap
tain Ward was very calm. He put
me in a boat and then. after seeing
the Wildmans in another uoat. he bade
IFS good-by and went to his cabin.
saw him enter his cabin and l have
no doubt he shot himself, as he was
never seen again"
Captain Ward was from Raleigh. y.
C.. where he had two brothers and two
sisters. He was TO have been married
IN the spring TO Miss Lena Jacobs OF
san Francisco
The fate OF Consul l-General wild.
man and his family was settled hy
Mrs. West. who saw them all. except
one child. in small boat alongside /