The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-10-14
Five Passengers Drowned and
Thirty Injured
On the Campania on Her Last
Trip Across.
BIG WAVE ROLLS OVER
Carrying Everything Before 1t
Last Wednesday.
Door in the Railing Smashed
and Five Went Through.

New York. Oct. 14.-Fiva lives are
known to have been lost, and more
than 90 persons injured, some of them
seriously on the Cunard line steamer
Campania last Wednesday when a gi-
gantic wave rolled over the steamer
and swept across a deck thick with
steerage passengers.
John Graham of Milwaukee was one
of the passengers washed overheard
and lost. He was travelling in the
steerage. The others who are known to
have lost their lives were two Irish
girls, a Danish boy and a man whose
nationality has not yet been ascertain
ed.
So sudden was the coming Of the dis
aster and so great the confusion which
attended and followed it that even the
officers of the steamer themselves were
unable today upon the vessels arrival
here to estimate the full extent Of the
tragedy. 1t is possible that the 1--WE
persons known to be missing from the
steerage may not constitute the full
number of dead.
When the Campania reached quaran-
antine today 10 of the injured persons
were still in the ships hospital, some
of them seriously hurt and a score of
others were nursing minor injuries.
The Campania was ploughing along
under fun headway last Wednesday af-
ternoon. A heavy quartering sea was
running but the weather conditions
We're far from unpleasant and the big
boats decks We're crowded with PAS
sengers. The steerage deck was cover
| ed with merrymakers and there was
/ nothing TO indicate the approaching
| disaster when suddenly the big steamer
/ Iurched to port and Scooped I'D an
! enormous sea The wave boarded the
/ czfe oh. 1e-7.z
side and swept clear across the steer
age deck, completely filing the space
/ between that deck and the deck above
and carrying everything with it. The
4 steamers side was buried and passen-
/ gers on the deck above the steeraEe
We're submerged to their waists as the
immense volume Of water rolled aft
/ and then surged forward All the cabin
passengers on the upper deck succeed
ed IN cling1ng to supports while the
/ waters sUrged around them and were
saved, but the unfortunates in the
steerage deck found themselves utterly
hel2less.
Swept All Before 1t.
The irresistible rush of waters, sweep
ing toward the forward part Of the ship
carried everything before it. MEETINGS,
heavy ratings and other obstructions
/ which had been arranged near the rail-
ings to prevent passengers being wash
/ ed overheard, served their purpose only
in part So great was the volume and
force OF the rushing waters that q door
! in the rail was smashed and through
this opening five Of the helpless ones,
who had been caught by the wave were
/ swept to their death. Others dashed
| against the rails and other like Obstruc-
tons and escaped death. but many Of
them received severe injuries. Ore
! young woman had both legs broken at
the thigh and several persons suffered
! broken arms and ribs while more than
a score were bruised and battered.
/ When the wave cleared the vessel the
! forward part Of the deck was straWn
/ with injured and for hours Dr. Warden,
the ships surgeon, aided by q number
of physicians among the cabin passen-
gers was busy in attending to their
hurts. In the meantime an inspection OF
the steerage was made by the ships
officers and it was learned that five OF
the passengers were missing. No fur
| ther confirmation regarding the result
of the inspection was given out
| From one of the steerage passengers
it was learned that the lives Of several
children were saved by a stewardess,
Mrs. Cotes, and a deck steward. The
little ones were playing about deck.
| when they were caught in the swirl OF
water and carried aft with the others.
On the return rush OF the wave the
children were being carried directly
toward the open door through which the
five who lost their lives had been carried
] when Mrs. Cotes and the steward rush
ed to their rescue and dragged them
back to safety.
Wednesdays disaster marks the first
time in the Cunard's lines history OF
more than so years that a passenger
has been lost from one Of its steamers
by accident.