The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-01-04

! was swamped. John Wilkinson QUARTER.
master; William Martel fireman; L. Drube
passenger, and three unknown men were
drowned. Those In the boat who were
saved were Engineer Brown. Fireman JONI,
Mcclellan. Coal Passer william Shinn. Sail
or O'Leary. Chief Cook Marshall and Fas-
sengers William b. Smith and William
Moorehouse.
When the Dispatch reached Eureka this
morning with the survivors tugs were i'm
mediately sent out for missing boats The
tug Ranger picked up one containing elev-
en- passengers and three of the crew
The Walla Wala was valued at about
s250ooo. She was formerly used as collier,
and about ten years ago was converted
into passenger vessel at Il cost of sI75. 800
! The vessel was insured for about $4,000
CAPTAIN HALLS STORY
OF THE COLLISION.
| He says:
+, I'VE left San Francisco Wednesday
bound for Victoria and Puget Sound. The
| weather thickened as the night advanced,
and Thursday morning a heavy fog ac-
| companied by light rain, set in.
| About 4:l0 a. m. / was suddenly awak-
| ened by an awful crash on the port side
| wei forward. Second Officer Luke was on
| watch at the time. The housing, especially
/ in the vicinity of my cabin, badly shat
| tered, the main force of the collision strik-
ing her just forward Of my stateroom My
bunk was struck and thrown across the
room onto my table
After the crash the vessel, which think
was Trench bark. judging from the
language used by her sailors. rebounded
and CROPPED alongside. called TO her to
stand by. She driftcd away ana was lost
to view. ] could not tell how badly she
was injured, but do not imagine she was
severely hurt. as she struck US how-on, :.nd
though her toward rigging might have been
broken. it is not likely her hull suffered
ma terially.
Those of the passengers vino had not been
awakened by the crash were aroused at
once. The vessel began to fill Immediately
and she sank in thirty-five minutes. There
was no confusion on board. The officers
and crew kept the Messengers from becom-
ing panic-strcke?. The crew was immedi-
ately ordered 10 man the lifeboats and
RATS, and an effort made to save the
baggage. This was given up. however, the
vessel filling at such an alarming rate that
no thought was given but for the safety of
the passengers.
LIFE BOATS SMASHED
But OCCUPANTS ESCAPED.
Il gave orders to have the port boilers |
blown out, it being necessary to give the !:
vessel list to keep he gaping holes In her !
side out of the water. In few moments all |!
the lifeboats and RATS were out with the |
exception of two. which We're smashed. One |
of these boats contained nine or ten pas
sensers. All were thrown into the water. |
but managed to board liferaft which had
been launched a few minutes previously. |
The second boat was smashed by striking a |
heavy object in the water. but all the pas
sengers We're rescued by another liferaft
I'VE had no knowledge of the approach Of
the vessel striking us, the weather being
so thick that she was not seen until we
had struck 1t was very dark at the time
and the uncertain light interfered to a great
extent with the rescue of the passengers.
remained on board assisting them in every