The Washington times., 1906-01-26

Ser Fire to PetticoatS
When Valencia Was
About to Sink.
RESCUERSWEREH HELPLESS
Bodies Are Being Ground
to Pieces Against Cliffs
by Waves.

Dy waves.
SEATTLE. Wash. Jan. pa rescue
corps has just returned from the tele-
graph huts on the bleak Vancouver ISL
and coast. where with I'VE others at
tempting rescue. they saw the end OF
the wrecked steamship Valencia
The foretop mast went at > o'clock
in the afternoon, carrying 10 their
death twenty-five pesons, twenty men
and five women They disappeared
quickly in The surf which was running
thirty feet high. These were dashed
To death against the sheer rocks firing
ing the shore.
Captain Johnson was on the after
mast with the remainder Of the sur
ViVors aboard
Not One Survived.
Although the party reached the top
of the bluffs opposite the stricken
steamer too late TO handle a line from
the shore end, those on the after mast
saw them approach and Immediately
signaied TO them.
Twenty minutes later this mast fol-
lowed the other in its plunge into the
Ioam- -StTeaked waters. and not a single
person survived.
There remains little hope TO pick up
the bodies, as they are being ground 70
pieces against the cliffs.
only thirty-three We're saved, the lost
numbering III Nearly all the ships
otilcerg perished. For thirty hours be-
Iofe the end, rescue vessels had stood
on the stranded craf- but could not sue
cor The doomed passengers and crew.
Blew Out His Brains.
Chief Engineer Downing committed
suicide at the last moment by blowing
out his brains with revolver
Nineteen survivors at Point ReaIe
are safe and are supplied with food for
several days
The Topeka and other vessels are
securing the mouth OF the strait for
twenty persons who are believed 20
nave left the Valencia on another life
raft before the vessel finally went 10
pieces
Used Clothes as Torch.
Passengers and crew. singing Nearer.
Ny God 10 Thee shivered and cIung
together on The hurricane deck when
the steamer Queen hove in sight
The women had taken of their petit
coats and burned them as signals in
vain effOrt TO attract passing vessels
Those who did not die i'm the first
hours of the disaster were left 10 pro
lOnged and terrible suffering. clinginc
10 the rigging without food OF water.
many of them with thin. insufficient
garments. and being swept of at last,
one by one.
OF the thirty-three persons definitely
accounted fer and these do not include
three men, believed to he survivors. seen
ON shore by the whaling vessel Orion.
six have been taken on the Salvor,
4 ~. 1
others in a similar plight are still camp
ed or Daring Creek, in telegraph hut.
while the remaining eighteen were pick
ed up by the City of Topeka from a raft.
Not a woman or child is among the
saved, as ,he women refused to leave
the wreck. even when it was breaking
up.
Shocking Death of Women.
Most shocking of all is the death suf-
fered by most of the women passengers
These huddled on The hurricane deck or
We're assisted TO the rigging. and clung
there all day long. most of the time
buried under sweeping waves that
bombardcd the stern and sides and
swept clear over the huh
When the steamer Queen hove i'm
sight off the coast one Of the women
on the hurricane deck took off her
underskirt and waved It desperately as
a signal When this failed a match
was ignited and the skirt fired
The majority of the women had re-
fused TO go in the lifebOats. believing
escape by water hopeless and elected
instead 10 trust TO the rigging
Those who had the courage 10 en-
bark on the raft and were saved, say
the women displayed the finest courage
and aided I'm every way those who were
disposed To abandon themselves to
despair. Even before the raft and the
boats left the Valencia many Of the lit
tie band in the rigging had been swept
overheard and lost.
The number of those rescued was in
creased by three TO thirty-six today
when the steamer Shamrock arrived AT
Toquart, near Unluiet. with the chief
and news of a passenger lost on Turret
Island. where his three companions
were picked up.
Saved by an Indian.
Turret Island is on Barclay Sound
and is inhabited only by Indians. one
of these Charlie Ross. picked up the
three men. as they were struggling TO
reach the shore. and did what he could
to resuscitate them until a vessel ar
rived
A fourth man whom the Indian pick
ed up. delirous from sufferings. got away
and is wandering about the island. 1t
is unlikely that he Will survive
A message from Port Townsend.
Wash. says that the City of Topeka.
bringing twenty-three survivors of the
wrecked steamer arrived there early
this morning.