The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-08-06
MIDNIGHT COLLISION
SINKS LAKE STEAMER
Ore-Laden City of Venice Run
Down by the Seguin and
Three Lives Are Lost.
CAUSE OF ACCIDENT IN DOUBT.
Lights of Doomed Vessel All Burn
ing Brightly, With No Fog to
Obscure Them-Mate of
Other Ship Is Silent.

Cleveland. Aug. 5.-As a result of a col.
lision on Lake Erie between the steamer
City OF Venice, ore laden. and the steamer
Seguin, a steel lumber vessel. off Dondeau
Canada, last midnight. the former vessel
was sunk and three lives lost, while several
other persons were more or less seriously
injured.
The drowned:
PETER slMoNDSON. fireman. Brooklyn, y. Y.
THOMAS FLANAGAN. deckuani. BuflIo.
GEORGE WEIR. wa-clrmdn, residence I'm
known.
injured:
John Sullivan, Chicago; J. 4. McDousal. Gle
boygan. Mich; LOUIS IIubscke-. CLe5sygan,
Mich.
! The cause OF the collision is not known.
There was no fog whatever. and the night
was fairly clear. The lights of the City
of Venice were burning brightly. To this
both the passenge s and crew testify. say
Ing they cou!d see the lights on the Venice
as she was sinking.
Mate Refuses to Make Statement.
| The second mate of the SeSuin. w. A.
Lavigne. who was on watch. refused abso-
lutely to give any information in regard to
the way the accident occurred.
The less said about it the BETTER was
the only statement he would make.
The City Of Venice. laden with $500 tons
or ore. was bound to Buffalo. while the
Sesuin was going north to Parry Sound
from Ogdensburg. On board the Seguin all
were asleep save the second mate, W. A.
Lavlgne. and the Waterman, who was with
him in the pilot-housn
TIL first mate of the Venice. Sullivan.
vas on watch aboard the boat that went
down.
The first that was known that anything
had happened was a terrible crash. which
brought 10Th boats almost to a standstilI.
The Seguin had struck the Venice fairly
amidships and plowed its way half through
the boat The crew and passengers I'D
the boats heard a tearing of timbers
mingled with calls for help from those Al
ready on deck.
All those who were sleeping rushed out
on deck. and there was a frightful panic
Tor a time. The Venice. which had been
split In two, was sinking rapidly. Cap
tain BroGerick. Of the boat. ran on deck
In his sleeping robes. and Immediately
called the men to the lifeboat.
frightened Men Leap Into Water.
Inc members of the crew who had not
been hurt rushed to his assistance. and in
i've minutes they had the boat in the
water. Several of the men. fearing the
boat would sink before they had an op-
portunity to escape. threw themselves over
board. They were later picked I'D by the
hfeboats from the Seguin.
First Mate Sullivan of the City of
Venice. who is lying in a critical condition
at the Marine Hospital. rallied slightly this
afternoon. and made a statement regarding
the collision.
Il was on the night watch" he said. ut
was something after midnight when 1 first
saw another boat ahead. It was still
some distance away. but 1 blew the whistle
to signal the boat. She did not answer. I
thought that it was strange. but as she
was some distance away I made no attempt
to get out of the way.
All our light were burning. and there
was no fog. When the boat was consid-
erably closer 1 whistled again, but still
there was no answer. 1 was then fright
ened. and signaled still another time. 1
saw that we were not seen; at least. there
was no attention paid to our signals, and
the boat was bearing directly down upon
US.
II then attempted to get out of the way.
but It was too late,