The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-01-04
THINKS DEATH LIST
Is AT LEAST TWENTY.

I'VE floated about nearly all day. and
| early in the evening were picked up a few
! miles 10 the north of the wreck by the
| steamer Dispatch. which was proceeding tc
| Seattle. When the Walla Walla went dowr
! l was struck by a heavy spar and badly
| bruised. This. with the exposure, left me
, in very weakened condition. In fact. we
| were all more or less played out when Cap
/ tain Johnson took us aboard the Dispatch.
| From the information have concerning
| the rescue of the passengers and crew,
! am not able to state how large the death
I list will he, but in my opinion It will not
be less than twenty. and possibly may
: reach forty or fifty. a number were in
/ Iured by the falling timbers. 1t is almost
| certain that a number of the steerage pas
seEgers perished in this manner. The
! housing to the forward was split into
| matchwood
Among the survivors the seriously in
jured are few. and while 1t may be posi-
BILE that some were shockingly mangled,
few cuts and bruises came under my OBJ
servation, and these. for the most part,
were received by the occupants Of the life
RATS. While not very rough. the sea was
nasty and chOppy, and the continual wash
over the RATS was 4 hardship. especially to
the ladies, many Of whom We're in the last
stages of exhaustion when picked up by
the Dispatch"
CAPTAIN OF DISPATCH
PRAISES THE WOMEN
Captain Victor johnson. of the steamer
Dispatch. which rescued a majority of tho
shipwrecked passengers, says:
About o'clock Thursday morning my
attention was called to a small boat, which
was manned by three men and coming
toward us. The party proved to be three
fishermen from the wrecked vessel. We
lay TO the remainder of the day. Several
boats and RATS were picked up at inter-
wales; the last about 4 o'clock Thursday
afternoon. Some of them were quite badly
played out, especially those on the life
RATS"
Captain Johnson was loud in his praise
of the bravery displayed by women rescued
by him. To two In particular he gives
much credit for the calmness displayed. Ac-
ccrding TO Captain Johnson, the women
were far more nervy than the men, and
gave valuable assistance in caring for the
survivors as each succeeding raft was
picked up.
FAMILY OF SEVEN
DIED TOGETHER.
s. Williamson. a bartender on the Walla
Walla. was one of the last to leave the
wreck. He states that the collding bark
was so near that he could have jumped on
board her at that time. The passengers
were hastily getting into lfeboats until the
deck was pretty well cleared.
One family. consisting Of five supposed to
be foreigners. remained in the bow of the
boat. Different members of the family were
asked to get into the boats, but as there
was not room for the entire family they
clung together, wishing to die together
ra her than be separated. They were in the
which was shut off from the
where the bark pierced her.
The timbers of the boat were so crushed
by the bark that people in the other end of
he steerage were shut off from the exits
and were thus closed in with no hope for
escape or chance to free themselves. Two /.
If these people were gotten out, but more ,
were supposed to have been held and to |
have gone down with the ship. /
MAY HAVE BEEN THE EUROPE.
Portland. Ore, Jan. S.-Shipping men here !
believe that the vessel which was in colli- |
sion with the steamer Waila Walia near ,
Iendocino is the four-masted French bark |
Europe. The Europe left here December IL !
.or Queenstown with cargo Of wheat. I'm |
Ter ordinary weather conditions the Europe |
would have been further on her journey.
)ut for several weeks the weather has been
ough. and it is very probable, shipping |
men say, that the Europe was the vessel in
,oiilsion- She carried a crew of thirty men.