Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1907-07-18

signed to the hospital corps. They
| boarded the Georgia. whose crew was
] confined to ship, and brought ashore
the dead and injured and their be
Iongings.
/ As soon as the last of the dead ha
been removed from the ship, prepare
/ tons were made for sailing. Word
had been received from Washington
ordering the ship back to the target
| ground and today the Georgia vii! re
sumo practice with her great guns.
After the Georgia sailed at sos one
of the navy yard officers gave out a
! brief official statement from Captain
| McCrea. 1t contained no new facts.
In Command of Young Goodrich.
The explosion occurred in the after
superimposed turret where the men,
under command of Lieutenant Good
! rich, son of Rear Admiral Goodrich,
commandant of the New York navy
yard, and Midshipmen Goldthwaite
and Cruise, we're operating the eight
inch guns.
The guns in the forward turrets had
finished eight rounds of practice and
the guns in the after-turret had fired
one round. Two cases, as the big
100-pCund bags of powder are called,
had just been sent up through the am
munition hoist and were in the arms
of the loader whose name is withheld
Inv the ghiu'c OfTcarc
The loader stood at the breech of
one of the eight-inch guns, ready to
insert the charge. At this instant the
turret was seen to be smoky and two
men who stood near the loader saw
a black spot on the bag, indicating
that the charge had ignited and was
smouIdering. The loader discovered
the spot at the same instant and
threw himself forward on his face,
at the same time shouting a warming
to his turret mates. The other men
who had seen the spot were Eich and
Hansell and also threw themselves OIL
the floor of the turret Before the
other men in the turret could under
stand what caused the leaders cry of
warning there was a binding flash as
the burning powder exploded Flames,
smoke and nauseOus gases filed the
little suDerstructure in which more
than a score of men were confined. AS
the powder was not confined there
was no report nor did the vessel suf-
fer any injury, but every nook and
Granny of the turret was filled with
flame
Nearest Man Escapes Death.
The loader, who was, Of course,
nearest the powder, was terribly
burned, as was every other man in the
turret, except Eich and Hansell who
although scorched escaped with inju-
ries much less severe than the others.
Blinded by the smoke and flames,
chOked by the acrid, penetrating gas
eOus fumes and maddened with pain,
the men screamed in agony. Some
staggered bIindly up the ladder to the
hatchway i'll the top of the turret,
while others crept along the turret
lOOr begging plteOuSly for assistance.
Two Victims Crazed.
Goodrich and Mallick became
Crazed, staggered up an iron ladder
to the top of the turret and threw
themselves headlong into the sea, in
despairing effort to choose death by
drowning in preference to death by
slow fire
When the smoke of the burning
powder had cleared shipmates rushed
to assistance and tenderly the suf-
fering sailors were lifted out of the
fre-blackened turret and quickly con-
veyed to the ships hospital where
their burns were dressed by surgeons.
Meantime Goodrich and MalIick had
been rescued by a launch that was re-
turning from inspection of the target.
The surgical staff of the Georgia
was reinforced by surgeons of other
vessels in the fleet who had been in
formed of the accident and summoned
to the scene.
A wireless message telling of the
accident was sent to the government
at the wireless station at Highlands
Cape Cod, and thence overland to the
navy department at Washington An
other message was sent to the Char
lesion navy yard telling Of the dis
aster. Examination of he turret
failed to show that serious damage re-
suited to the ship.
Immediately upon learning the de
tails of the accident Captain Henry
McCrea, commander Of the Georgia,
notified Rear Admiral Thomas, COM
handing the squadron, of what had
occurred Thomas ordered an inves-
tigating board to examine into the
cause of the accident Until this
board reports the real cause of the ex-
plosion will be in doubt