The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1905-07-28
The Kaiser Meets the Gar on
Shipboar and Talks to him
Like 1 Dutch Uncle
Advises him to Make Peace and
Hasten to do the Decent "
Thing BY his Subjects


boat Bennington Hes beached on the
shores Of San Diego harbor Nearly
sixty Of her crew lie dead at city
;mergues, one Is missing and three score
are stretched upon beds. Of pain In
various hospitals. This 10 the result
Of the explosion which wrecked the
trim little naval craft and wrought
such terrible havoc among her crew
at 10: 80 o'clock Friday morning.
The Bennington at the time Of the
accident was lying in the stream on
the Commercial wharf 1t the foot Of
a street. The warship had received
orders from the navy department ~
Washington to sail Friday morning
for Port Hartford. whore she was to-
meet the monitor wyoming and con-
Iyoy that vessel to the Mare Island
nayyyard. Steam was up and eYery-s
thing was In readiness for sailing
when suddenly and without any
warning whatever, the starboard for
ward boiler exploded With : deafening
roar.
s It was Immediately apparent chat 81
terrible disaster had. happened on the
Bennington. The ferryboat Romona
was coming across the bay at the time
and her captain Immediately gave or
sders to change the course OF the boat
and hurried to the assistance OF the
stricken warship. The tug Santa Fe,
which was tied up ct the CommerciaI5
.nassrf the launch NICK Kiniey. the f,,Fq;;.
.ernment launch Derussey, and sa 1alsr7
number OF launches and water craft
which were near the scene at the time
Rushed 70 the Assistance
Of the ship. BY the time the Ramona
had arrived. many Of the sailors OF the
Bennington who had jumped into the
bay to escape the scalding steam had
been rescued and the removal OF the
wounded, which had already begun,
was being conducted In perfect order.
CrswsS Of the Santa re, fDerussey. Nc!
Kinley and the other boats lent yeo-
man aid In picking up the wounded
sailors and transferring them to the
shore.
On board the Bennington were pre-
scented terrible sights. The force Of
the explosion had blown great hole
In the starboard side Of the ship and
the vessel was already commencing
to list. A section Of the upper deck
was carried away from stem to stern.
Debris and wreckage were distributed
and deck In the vicinity Of the boiler
resembled q oharnel house. Over IL
MI hung the cloud OF white steam,
which drifted slowly toward the Coro-
nado shore. 55ss
Most Of the dead and injured were
taken ashore, where the undertakers
and physicians were summoned to-
take charge OF the dead and minister
to the needs Of the living. The bodies
sof, the men killed Id the interior OF
the ship were mutilated almost be-
yond recognition. The faces OF many
were covered with blood and gashes.
Al fast as possible the wounded
were hurried In ambulances, auto
mobiles, carriages, etc. to the hos
pitfalls. It was not until late in the
afternoon that the last Of the bodies
was removed from the boilerroom.
Some of the bodies wsrs tightly
wedged - BY . bulkhead. The wood
work had to be hewn away TO free
them.
The boiler which exploded, Il a.
raid, was regarded as unsafe. Com-s
mander Young stated that during q
recent rsturn trip from Honolulu the
pressure was kept reduced during the
entire passage.