Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-16
STORIES OF SURVIVORS.
Turret Of Battleship Mass of Kissing
Flames.

BOSTON. July 16.-Midshpman Lucene
Frank Kimball. the only man in the turret
to escape serious injury. tells the folio wing
story of exactly what happened:
There were just twenty-o OF us In the
turret. Lieut. Goodrich was in command
of the aft turret and wa shis su5or1i-
nate in charge of the superposed turret,
| where the accident happened.
THE projectile had Just been rammed into
the port e.g!lt-inch gun and the charge
Of powder had come UP from the magazine
in the carriage. 1t was contained in two
bags. each holding fifty-two pounds. Sea-
man Thomas had lifted one bag from the
carriage and was a.5out to put 1t under the
electric ram to the loader. The other
charge lay on the carriage. AT that mo-
ment l was facing aft close TO the wall
of the turret. There was q sudden kissing
puff and draught of air against my back.
lnstinctve.y l held my breath, ducked and
drew my cap over my face.
lhough 1 suppose 1t was but few sec
onos, 1t seemed an age that the flames
Kissed around me, and felt the heat Bills
tering my body.
1T was awful I could hear the men
screaming and gasping for breath in the
sunocatng gas released by the burning
powder. Then l turned and tried to put
out the fire in the clothes of the men piled
around in heaps. They lay around, four or
five on top of each other. My injuries
amount to nothing, just a few burns on my
hand.
"Midshipman Goldthwaite stood just ait
bly, why he was killed. Mdshpman
Cruise was by the other gun and escaped
with serious burns
Gun Pointer Schlapp was on the port
side OF the port gun. He was abe to put
his head out of the opening for the sight
Ing telescope and that saved his life. He
is pretty badly injured
Il guess 1t was sparks from the tunnels
la rOh hn t,,rv l, ~
Of the turret that caused the trouble. A
spark probably landed ON the bag of pow
der in Thomas hands"
Capt. McCrea's Story.
Capt Henry McCrea, his face sad and
haggard and his head barred in honor of
the six men who met death. related to a re-
porter pathetic incident of the accident
when the rescuers rushed In and
| brought out the dying and injured" he
said. Il saw one of them painfully and
slowly raise himself to his knees as he lay
on the top of the turret. He clasped his
hands in prayer, and oh, Cod Oh, Cod
he moaned and dropped back dead / can
never forget that sight 1t all came like q
bolt out Of the blue sky. We may never
know exactly just what occurred. OF
course, it Is to be carefully investigated.
I'VE were at target practice and an acct
dent was the last thing any one thought of.
Suddenly 1t came, and for a moment every
one was stunned III was not an explosion.
There was just a puff of flame and then
the screams and groans of the injured men
I'VE steamed for the flagship, on which
was Rear Admiral Thomas, and exchanged
signals. The hurts of the injured men Were
carefully attended, but within short time
six of them had passed away. We re-
ceived orders from the flagship to proceed
post haste for Boston and send the living to
the hospital
The turret is not much injured and
scarcely shows any signs of what occurred
Out of the twenty-five men within only
one escaped uninjured. He was an officer
and saved himself by the presence of mind
to hold himself against the rush of air and
not to breathe the flames. They were all
brave men and died bravely. 1t is a loss
to the Georgia, the navy and a blow that
will sadden all on board the rest of their
lives"