The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1905-07-27
THE BOILERS WERE BAD
Reported Leaking Just Before the Yes
sci Was Blown Up.
SAN DIEGO HOSPITALS ARE FILLED.
The Eesd Given q Military burial Sunday
Afternoon at Point Loma-The Doctors
and NUrtes Worked all Night at Hos
pitais-Flfteen Bodies Believed to Be In
the Hold Of the Vessel

oan DiegO, Gal (Special) That the
boilers of the United States gunboat
Bennington, which was blown UP Friday
were known to be weak was stated by
surv;, ing members of the crew
The following is the gunboat Berning-
tons casually summary.
Total known dead, 90.
Bodies recovered, 30.
Bodies in ship compartment, :.
Missing (may be drowned), Is.
Severely injured, so.
Probab> fatally injured, g.
Probable ultimate total number of
dead, ST.
A number of men are still missing.
Some OF these may be dead. and prob
ably a dozen of the injured will die of
their wounds.
Fireman 4. G. Hopp made the first
definite statement regarding the cause of
the accident. A short time before the
explosion, he says, one of the boilers was
found 10 be leaking badly, and the boil
ermaker was sent for TO repair the dam
age. Before the latter came the explo-
sion occurred. Hopp saw men all about
him killed outright, and he himself was
stunned for moment
A Honolulu dispatch relates that the
Bennington's boilers were leaking when
she left that harbor Repairs were made
TO others parts of the machinery at Hon
olulu, but the boilers were not repaired.
The men who were injured say it has
been the talk of the ship for six months
that the boilers were defective. and many
of them had feared for long time that
just such an accident would happen.
One of the men said that a year ago
last February, while the ship was at
Magdalena bay, the engineer Of the
cruiser New York was sent for to in
spect the boilers, and he reported that
they were in good condition. While the
vessel was i'll San Francisco last year
the talk of defective boilers again arose.
but no steps were taken TO remedy them.
That the naval officers knew the boil
erS were not strong is indicated by the
fact that before the gunboat departed
on the trip TO Honolulu the boilers were
specially inspected, and the inspector de-
cided that the boilers were strong enough
to enable the vessel to make the voyage
TO Hawaii and return 10 the Mare Island
Navy Yard.
The upper deck amidship presents a
mass of wreckage. The smokestackS
have been blown out of place and the
SuperStructure is bent and twisted in all
sorts of shapes. The plates OH the side
are bulging out and leaks in number
OF places are letting i'll the water.
John Turpin. colored, who was on
board the Maine when she was blown
up i'll Havana, was on board the Ben
niugton and again escaped injury He
rendered valuable aid in rescuing the
/ dead and wounded
Every effort aboard the Bennington
was bent toward reaching the dead
bodies beneath the steel bul<heads in
the closed and flooded compartments. a
! fire engine from the local fire depart
ment was utilized TO pump out the water
which during the night and morning
periods of high tide rose high in the
| engine and boiler rooms
Out of the confusion that followed the
disaster and the work of rescue come
thrilling stories OF heroism and self
sacrifice. The bravery OF the crew was
phenomenal. Men who were badly in
jured and Scaded worked to rescue
those who were worse off than them
selves. The Self-Sacrifcing efforts on
the part of the physicians and scores OF
nurses also won high praise. Everyone
who could be made useful at the hos
pitalS was put TO work.