Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1907-07-20

Boston, Mass.-On board the bat
tleship Georgia in Boston harbor, Capt.
McCrea told the story Of the disas-
ter in the afterturret Monday to the
Associated Press He said:
81 was on the bridge making the
run for the practice. | was taking OBJ
servations of each shot, not officially,
but because | wanted to see how well
they were shooting. AS shot after
..l-.>S-,-s.o lrtU ErVui- -Ine oiSnT-lncu
guns l saw we were beating the rec
ords Of the other ships of this feet,
and was enthusiastic. AS l saw a
Fine! Bully! Good!' Then l would
listen for the word, as on the bridge
| could hear the shout from the after
tuTret. So | knew when the next shot
was coming.
81 heard the shout, Fire but there
was no shot, and then l saw men run
ming aft, and quickly the fire hose that
is always laid out in readiness when
there is firing going on, was manned
There was no delay. There was moth
ing to do but pick up the hose and turn
on the water.
81 ran to the after bridge near the
turret, to see what was the matter
The water already was being poured
into the turret, which was intense
ly overheated and throwing out dead
ly gases. In this way the temperature
was reduced so that men could go
in.
"The boatswain and midshipman
Gravescroft led the way for the men
up to the top of the turret with the
hose. l tell you that was fine thing
to do. There was courage. No man
knew what had happened, and no man
knew into what danger he might be
rushing. But these men never thought
of self, or danger. They thought only
of getting their shipmates out to safe
ty. That's the kind of stuff That
brave act will look well ON their rec
ord. Then they began to bring out
the men.
zone of the first men brought out
was the man in whose hands the pow
der bag was when 1t flashed. 1t was
either he or the man who stood by
his side, but l believe it was the man
who held the powder. He was laid
down on top of the lower turret with
a blanket under his head. / went to
him. l could not recognize him. His
hands were burned to the bones, the
flesh was gone, they were but skele-
tons. With these hands raised above
his chest and the tops of the fingers
bent toward each other in the attitude
of prayer, l could hear him saying,
o God, o God, o God He could not
move his lips enough to utter other
words. bent closer and said to him,
My dear fellow, God has heard your
prayer He was breathing, but in short
gasps and soon died know he could
hear. o, | hope he heard me, for |
know God heard him. o. l wish /
were Tennyson to tell Alright that
dying scene. 1t was sublime. Prose
can't tell it.
"And so the men were brought out
as fast as they could be taken from the
turret. But one, / think was wholly
unconscious, and most of them felt
relief as soon as they got to the open
air. The gases from smokeless powder
are terrible, and many of those fell
lows had breathed in gases and fame
That's what kills. The external burns
were hideous enough, but to breathe
that stuff is fatal.
"One man in that turret was not
hurt, Midshipman Kimball, and l do
not understand how he could have es-
capped. He stayed in the turret and
helped take out the men. He, too,
showed grit after the shock he had
had.
Lieut.. Goodrich set an example for
his men that none but a courageous
officer could set when he plunged into
the flame and gases to lead his men to
the air and to safety. l told his faith
er, Rear Admiral Goodrich, that that
was a fine thing, and it was such Off
GERS that made great navy. His ex-
ample will not be forgotten. After he
got onto the turret he came down to
the deck and threw himself overheard.
If our launch had not been near by
Oh 1lD lClul llOul Vi
the target he would soon have drowned.
Probably one little actor rather
one great act-of one of the men pre-
vented far greater disaster. don't
know his name. He's dead. He died
saving other lives. He and one other
stood by the gun that had just been
loaded. The last powder bag that had
been put in was protruding a little
from the gun. When he saw the flash,
instead of dashing for the ladder to
save himself, he crowded home the
charge In the gun, and with the help
of the other man got the gun closed
tight before the fame reached the
bag.
IF the flame had touched that bag
there would have been an awful ex-
plosion for the powder was confined
in the gun and would not have flashed
as the other did, but would have ex-
ploded. Not a man in the turret would
have been left alive, whatever
other damage might have been done.
That man gave his life for the 9TH
ers
81 am told President Roosevelt has
inquired about the man that gave his
life in closing the shutter from the
ammunition room to save the ship from
blowing up. 1t would be very wrong
to have a story like that to- go out,
because cannot find that there is any
foundation for 1t or need for a man