Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-15

at his home in Baltimore over the long
distance telephone. Meanwhile. by direc-
| ton of Rear Admiral Converse. chief Of the
navigation bureau, Capt. Potter. the as
| sistant chief. and Commander Wilson and
| Lieut. Vogelsang were busily engaged in
looking up the addresses of the relatives Of
| the victims OF the accident and fndftfng
| kilograms acauainting them with the sad
| news. Nothing more could be done In
| Washington until further details were re-
| ceiyed from Admiral Evans.
Possible Cause of the Disaster.
The first feeling Of the officers at the
Navy Department after reading the cable
gram. was one of surprise that the accident
had resulted In SO little loss of life. The
kearsarge's forward turret, where it &C.
CURED. was of the superposed type: In
other words, an elght-inch gun turret sat
upon the top of the thirteen-inch gun turret
where the accident occurred. In the lower
turret were twenty-four men and In the
upper turret sixteen. An ammunition hoist
connected the two and had the powder in
| the lower hoist exploded probably every
man in the two turrets would have been
| killed The full charge of powder for
| thireen-inch gun is too large to be handled
by any one man. it is divided into sec
| tons in canvas bags and it was three OF
| these sections. probably Just enough to FIJI
| one compartment IN the ammunition hoist.
| which ignited.
! AS the cablegram states the cause Of
| the ignition is not known, but the first be-
| lief at the Navy Department is that in
cleaning up the turret and throwing open
the breeches of the big guns after the last
round had been fired some small bit of
| smoldering canvas bagging was blown
out of one of the guns as the big breech
| block was swung around, only to fall upon
the loaded ammunition hoist where the sur
plus powder was being returned to the
magazines below Had the remainder of
| this powder exploded there might have
| been a repetition of the Missouri disaster,
| when twentysix men were killed in the
| turret and the magazines below.
| 1t may be noted. however, that the cause
of the accident In the case of the Missouri
was entirely different from that in the case
of the Kearsarge, for the Missouri turret
breech block was swung open before the
burning powder gases had escaped. result
| ing in the ignition of the powder in the tur-
| ret The ordnance officers were quick to
| guard against a repetition of an accident
of that kind by fitting out the big turret
| guns IN the battleships with automatic
| spraying devices and air blasts which made
| 1t impossible to have flare back"
The Battleship Kearsarge.
The Kearsarge, while not one Of the lat
est, Is regarded as one of the best battle
ships in our feet. She is commanded by
i Cant. Herbert Winslow. is Of 1880 tons
| in breadth and 231s feet in draft. with
| speed record of 1852 knots. and battery
! of twenty-five guns, four inches and more
/ in caliber, and thirty-fonr guns below that
| size. She was launched in 1898 and COM
| missioned in 1870.
| Naval regulations prescribe exactly what
is to be done In a case of this kind. The
| admiral in command Immediately orders
| court of inquiry to ascertain the cause oh
| the accident and place the responsipinlty
| tbarefor and a court-martial Will follow
| II any one is found at fault
| The Late Lieut.. Hudgins.
/ T;eut John NJ Hudgins. the only officer
| who lost his life by the explosion on the
| KearsaPge. was a native of Virginia and
was Amounted TO the Naval Academy from
| that state September 8, 1889. He was as
signed to the engineer corps of the service
| upon leaving the academy, in 1884, because
| Of his particular aptitude for engineering
and mechanics He took an especial inter
est in the subject of wireless teiegraphy
and became an expert in that me he
| was personally Identified with the develop
ment of the wireless system as now IN use
nv the navy having been attached TO the
bureau of equipment during the experiments
| and Inauguration of the system. After
| short service In this city he was sent TO
| London in 1895. for special course of in
struction and while in that city was at
| tached to the United States embassy. SINCE
then he served on the New Orleans, Glacier,
! Manila and Petrol, and in October, 1888 be
| gan his service on the KearSarge. He
| reached the grade of lieutenant in Septem-
ber 1901 Lieut.. Budgins wife lives with
| her parents at 1217 New Hampshire avenue,
! this city
Lieut.. Joseph w. Graeme.
Lieut. Joseph w. Graeme. who was men
toned as being in a very critical state at
the time the cablegram was sent, did not
| belong to the company of the kearsarge.
He was attached to the Maryland. and wds
| aboard the Kearsarge in the capacity of
| an umpire to check off and record the per-
Torrance of the gunEers, very necessary
function in view of the keen spirit of riy-
airy obtaining between the crews of the
| big battleshps In the matter of efficiency
at target practice. Lieut.. Graeme was ap-
| pointed to the Naval Academy from Penn
| sylvania on September q, 1888. He served
| at the Washington navy yard from Noyem-
| Der 10. 1902. until April II, 1868. when he
was assigned to the cruiser Maryland. He
is son of Thomas Graeme of 13S South
| River street Wilkesbarre. Pa. He is mar
ried and his wife. according to the depart
| ments informant is with his father
The Men Who Were Killed.
The following is an official list of men
who died as the result of the explosion of
powder on the Kearsarge:
| Peter Norberg, gunner's mate third class.
| residence. New York. N. Y. Next of kin
Margaret NOrDerg, notner, SandSVau, SWe-
den.
Theodore Naegely. seaman; residence,
| Elizabeth N. J. Next of kin-Louis Graft
guardian. S6i Elizabeth avenue. Elizabeth,
N. J.
Anton CLAUS Thorson. ordinary seaman:
| residence New York, N. Y. Next of kim
Elias Thorson. father. Wyckoff avenue, near
Broadway. New York, N. Y
| Julius Alfred Rooster turret captain, first
class: residence. Chicago. ILL., Next of kim
| John Peterson. uncle. 3i5 West Huron
street Chicago, Ill.
| Ellis Homer Athey. seaman: residence
| Parkersburg. w. Va. Next of kin-W E.
Athey. father. 1905 21st street. Parkersburg
| w. Va.
William King. ordinary seaman was dan
gerously injured; recovery doubtful. His
| home Is Appleton City. Mo. Next of kin
| Mrs. Alice Cox OF the same place.
| Following Is a copy OF the Geographic
| message sent to the next of kin OF each
| OF the victims of the disaster:
THE department regrets to inform yeu
that died from results of Injuries
| caused by explosion OF powder ON the
T. S. s. Kearsarge on the afternoon OF
April Ii. His body has been buried at Guam
| tanamo. You have the sincere sympathy of
the department"
| GUANTANAMO, Cuba. April 1.-THE
United States battleship kearsarge has ar