Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1907-08-01
WRECK HORRORS
As Described by Two People Who
Were on the Columbia.
DROWNED LIKE RATS.


and Perils of the Night on Raft
Graphic Description of the Sinking
Told by Chief Engineer Jackson
Screams of Doomed Were Awful.
The Pacific Coast Steamship COM
pany's passenger steamer Pomona ar
rived In San Francisco from Eureka
at 1880 Thursday, bringing from the
latter place one of the surviving pas-
sengers of the wrecked steamer Col
umoia and the thirty two members of
the Columbia's crew, who were saved
out of her total complement of SO
The passenger is Mrs o. Leidell. of
San Francisco.
The crowd was made to stand back
and keep lane open while the Pom
on'a passengers came ashore. Each
was stopped at the foot of the gang
plank and asked excitedly were you
a passenger upon the Columbian"
With one exception the answer was
No
The exception was Mrs. Leidell.
Clothed from head to foot in a dark
brown ulster and her features hidden
by a brown veil tied over her hat and
under her chin, she came falteringly
down the gang plank and made her
way uncertain through the crowd.
She held her handkerchief to her face
as she walked and when asked by
newspaper men for a recital of her
experience, she broke into tears and
turned. shaking her head.
Il don't want to say anything, |
don't want to talk" she murmured.
Later Mrs. Leidell consented to
talk and in describing her experience
said:
When the crash came | got out
of my stateroom. Every one was ex-
cited-every one except the captain
He stood on the bridge, his arms ex-
tended, begging the passengers to be
cool. The crew stood at the boats,
cutting away at the lines that held
them. There was no chance to lower
them. All who could piled into the
boats. Lots of people jumped over
the side, trying to climb onto bits of
wood which were floating In the wa
ter. l did not have time to think,
ran to the side. There under the
side was a raft. There was nobody
on it. 1 jumped and struck on the
raft. Other women got on 1t also.
jumped from the boat.
Then the Columbia went down,
bow first. The raft drifted around
and water washed over us. Two wo-
men and a little child were washed
off and / never saw them again. One
woman was left. Her hold was weak.
She begged me to help her. / tried
to hold her on, but / was too weak.
She died before my eyes. Oh! / can't
forget that. I'll never forget that.
She drowned and / could not help
her. Who she was i don't know.
Now and then l got a glimpse of an
other raft or boat. We got some
pieces of wood after awhile and used
them for oars, and finally-it must
have been hours afterward-we
climbed on the San Pedro. 1t was
terrible climb up her side.
Men helped, but I felt so odd and
weak | never thought / would get
over it. The waves kept striking Hv-
er us. We were dripping wet, and IL
was so cold. On the San Pedro we
were sitting on two little narrow
pieces of lumber. Suddenly a wave
carried away the lumber we were sit
ting on.
I'VE managed to stay on the ship.
got that far, who got no further, for
without any warning, the rear mast
of the San Pedro gave away and
swept several into the sea. One or
two were brought back alive, but of
the others we saw nothing. And the
darkness hanging over everything
made 1t terrible. We did not know if
the San Pedro would hold together,
although the officers and crew did
their best to cheer us up. The day
broke. The fog still hung low, and
the light only appeared gradually
but then we could see who was saved
and who was not. That sight
can't tell you about 1t. Everything
about ii was so desolate and dismal
And then the Elder came up. They
got us aboad, cared for us, and al
| Eureka | secured the only remaining
berth on the Pomona to come back
here"
Chief Engineer i. V. Jackson gave
the following account of the wrecked
steamer Columbia in an interview to
the Evening Post.
81 was in my stateroom when the
crash occurred, and ] scrambled into
| some clothes and came up on deck
| All was confusion and turmoil The
1
hole in the Columbia's side was deaf
| ening. Then desperately swimming
away | caught a rope thrown from
the San Pedro. From there l looked
back at the Columbia just in time
to see her plunge beneath the waves
AS she sunk / could dimly see man!
men dash across the deck toward thu
San Pedro; the next moment the fol
had hidden the dreadful scenes.
81 am sure that many steerag'
passengers did not leave the:r state
rooms as the interval was so shor
between the time she was struck AM
the time she sank that the men ha'
not time TO get to the deck, and thos
that did jumped overheard and wer
IsuckS =, by the vortex create'
by thct -
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tsWnl q the dec
it seeme kneN
that man kor tn
4 screams