Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1905-10-20
FIVE WASHED OFF LINER.
Lu e Sea Freaks Over Cunard
Liner Campania,
OVER THIRTY INJURED.
John Graham Of Milwaukee Was One of
the Passengers Who Perished-
Fearful Disaster on Ocean.

NEW YORK, Oct. 14.-Five lives are
known to have been lost and more than
thirty persons injured, some of them
seriously, on the Cunard line steamer
Campania, last Wednesday. when a gil
gantic wave rolled over the steamer and
swept across a deck thick with steerage
passengers.
Milwaukeean Perishes.
John Graham of Milwaukee was one
OF the passengers washed overheard and
lost. lie was travelling in the steerage.
The others who are known to have lost
their lives were two Irish girls, q Dan
1sh boy and man whose nationality has
not yet been ascertained.
More May Have Perished
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 five
persons known to be missing from the
steerage may not constitute the full
number of dead.
When the Campania reached quaran-
tine today ten of the injured passen-
gers were still in the ships hospital,
some OF them seriously hurt, and a score
OF others were nursing minor injuries
Scoops Up Enormous Sea.
The Campania was blowing along I'M
der full Roadway last Wednesday after
noon. a heavy quartering sea was run
ming, but the weather conditions were
far from unpleasant and the big boats
decks were crowded with passengers
The steerage deck was covered with
merrymakers and there was nothing to
indicate the approaching disaster, when
suddenly the big steamer lurched to port
and scOOped up an enormous sea. The
wave boarded the steamer about amid
ships on the port side and swept clear
across the steerage deck, completely fill
ing the space between that deck and
the deck above and carrying everything
with it.
Steerage Passengers Helpless.
Tho steamers side was buried so deep
that the passengers on the deck above
the steerage were submerged to their
waists as the immense volume of water
rolled aft and then surged forward. All
the cabin passengers on the upper deck
succeeded in clinging to supports while
the waters surged around them, and
We're saved, but the unfortunates on the
steerage deck found themselves utterly
helpless.
The irresistible rush of waters, sweep
ing toward the forward part of the ship,
carried everything before it. Meetings.
heavy ratings and other Instructions
which had been arranged near the rail
lngs to prevent passengers being washed
overheard, served their purpose only in
part.
Swept to Their Death.
So great was the volume of force of
the rushing waters that door in the
rail was smashed and through this open
ing 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 distractions, es
capped death, but many of them received
severe injuries. One young woman had
both legs broken at the thigh and sew
eral persons suffered broken arms and
ribs, while more than u score were
bruised and battered.
Rescue the Injured.
When the wave cleared the vessel the
inward part OF the deck was strewn
It'll injured and for hours Dr. Verden,
le ships surgeon, aided by a number
. physicians among the cabin passCn-
:cTS, was busy in a tending to their
hurts. In the meantime an inspection of
The steerage was maze by the ships Off
GERS and it was learned that five of the
passengers were missing. No further in
formation regarding the result of the in
Spectlon was given out.
Children Are Saved.
From one of the steerage passengers it
was learned that the lives of several
children were saved by a stewardess,
Miss Cotes, and deck steward. The
little ones were playing about the deck
when they were caught in the swirl of
water and carried aft with the others
On the return rush of the wave, the chill
dren were being carried directly toward
the open door through which the five
who lost their lives had been carried,
when Miss Cotes and the steward rushed
to their rescue and dragged them back
to safety.
First Disaster to Cunard Line.
Wednesdays disaster marks the first
time in the Cunard lines history of more
than sixty years, that a passenger has
been lost from one of it's steamers by
accident.