The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-07-23
HORROR GROWS
WITH EACH HOUR
Bennington Disaster Will Cause the
Loss of Four Score Lives.
So ARE ALREADY DEAD
LATEST DETAILS FROM SCENE
OF DISASTER.

y ningtOn horror, which yesterday
shocked an entire nation by its
long roster of casualties, grew with
each passing hour of the day. Even
the widest early estimates Of the terri
BILE results of the exploding boilers
aboard the gunboat have not been eX-
aggerated, and instead of lessening the
extent of the catastrophe, later and
Completer details have added to 1t. The
death list may be swelled by the ap-
palling total of four score before the
last word shall have been written. and
one Of the darkest pages in Americas
naval history closed.
These figures, which at first glance
appear exaggerated, are made up of the
known dead. the probable victims
among the injured now I'm the various
hospitals and the total number miss
Ing, and is summarized as follows:
Dead at the morgues, So: dead in the
flooded fire room of the Inflated war
ship. Z; injured who may die. s; miss
Ing. Is; total, 81. The probable deaths
of injured men are based upon the Opin-
ion of DR.. NJ. II. Foster of the United
States marine hospital ser sice, in
charge of the medical staff and the
number Of missing upon the statement
of Commander Young. The commander
believes the missing men were drowned
and that the waters of the bay will
give up this number Of dead.
lnNeStlqatlon Probable.
The day brought other developments
and news of the most intense interest
and Importance to naval officers. From
Washington came information that
Read Admiral Goodrich, commanding
the Pacific squadron, had been or
dered to San Diego forthwith. This is
taken 10 mean a naval investigation
into the causes OF the explosion aboard
the Bennington and the fixing of blame
therefor. Captain Drake and Surgeon
Smith, both from Mare Island navy
yard. are upon the scene, the former to
direct operations on the wrecked yes
sci. and the latter to assist in caring
FOR the injured and direct the burying
OF the dead. With Surgeon Smith came
four hospital stewards whose assistance
will be welcomed by the Overworked
medical corps now in charge.
Bodies Wedged In.
The Bennington tonight lies deeper
than ever in the mud and shallow water
on the shores of the bay, and no ap-
parent progress was made in the work
of pumping out her flooded cOmpart-
meuts. Until this is accomplished the
secrets of her horror chambers will not
be discovered. This much is known,
however: Seven bodies are wedged be-
meath collapsed crown sheets and
bursted bulkheads of the fire room.
How many more may be found in the
compartments now forbidden ground is
entire conjecture.
Statement of Commander.
Commander Lucien Young was seen
in his quarters aboard the Bennington
this afternoon. He was asked to make
q statement as to the cause of the ex-
plOsion and its effect upon the machin-
cry. He said.
LAS to the cause OF the explosion I
cannot say anything because ! do not
know. What l do know is that the
IA
or boilers. The crown sheet of boiler B
collapsed and the boiler head blew out,
breaking through the steel bulkhead,
separating ii from boiler D, the other
main port boiler Immediately aft.
Boiler d was forced back. the crown
sheet collapsing and breaking down
the steel bulkhead separating it from
the fire room.
Not One Escaped.
Every one in the fire room at the
time was killed. Three bodies are now
pinioned down by the collapsed crown
sheet of boiler y and four more by the
bursted bulkhead. These bodies we
are now trying to release. In order to
do this II will be necessary TO cut the
steel bulkhead in two places. One of
the bodies is wedged in such shape that
81 may be necessary to dismember II in
order to take it out We are hindered
of course. by the water in the boiler and
fire rooms and are taking measures to
pump this out as rapidly as possible L
cannot express an opinion as to when
we will reach the bodies.
Chief Engineer Mistaken.
''The Associated Press has a dis
patch from Washington, quoting Rear
Admiral g. W. Rae. chief engineer OF.
the navy. to the effect that he can only
account for the damage to the Benning-
ton by the explosion of high explosives
as was suggested.
That is entirely wrong. There were
no high explosives i'm the part of the
ship where the explosion occurred and
! am positive that it will be found that
all damage was caused by the boilers
Boilers in Good Condition.
What was the condition OF the
boilers captain" was asked.
$50 far as ] know they were in first
class condition. They had been recently
tested 90 DIS pounds pressure. At the
time of the explosion We carried but
120 pounds"
When were the boilers last in
spected2''
Il cannot answer as to the exact
date, but it was within the past few
months"
The arrival Of Captain Drake Of
Mare Island was announced at this
point and the commander FASTENED to
the gang plank to greet him.
He then declined TO make any further
statement
Eighteen Men Missing.
Commander Young stated that eigh-
teen men are missing besides those ac-
counted for at the mOrgues. hospitals
and in the fire room These eighteen
men. he believes. were drowned and
that their bodies viii be found on the
shores Of the bay from time to time.
Il am quite satisfied he said that
more men were blown into the water
than were picked up by the rescue
boats. These men, I believe were too
seriously injured to keep afoat any
length Of time and were drowned. No
one could have been on the gun deck.
especially amidship, and escaped death
or injury
Hospital Scenes.
There was lessening Of the strain at
the various hospitals where were wit
messed such terrible scenes Of suffering
and death during the previous twenty
four hours. There was still work TO do
however. but willing hands were al
ways ready to take the burden off those
who had borne it so molly during the
hours following the disaster
Ncontinued on Page 2.