Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1907-08-01

C0WARDLY CAPTAIN.
Commander Hansen Is Charged
with Gross Inhumanfty.
Many More Lives Could Have Been
Saved IL He Mad Taken on More
Of Rescued.

odSeu III ne fta0 TAKEN on More
of Rescued.
A dispatch from San Francisco
says after the tales of heroism sur
rounding the Columbia wreck-the
glorious death of Captain Doran, and
the self-abnegation of the girl May
belle Watson comes the other side
Of the disaster.
A charge of gross inhumanity and
the sacrifice of many lives has for
mally been made against Captain
Hansen OF the San Pedro. by the
third officer. Robert Hawes of the
Columbia. 1t has been made to Local
Inspector Bolles.
1t is part OF the record of the Uni
ted States. If that charge be true.
the women of San Francisco would
be justified in melting out to Captain
Hansen the fate of Captain Ireson,
OF Marblehead, celebrated in song:
Old FLUID Ireson, for his hard beart,
Tarred and feathered, and carried
in a cart,
By the women of Marblehead.
Ireson sailed away from a sinking
ship.
Now comes the accusation in so
many words that Captain Hansen
was the cause of many men and wo-
men, struggling in the water by re-
fusing to take any more of the res
cued on the San Pedro--a steamer
that could not sink because she car
ried cargo of lumber.
The fearful charge is calmly made
under oath by Third Mate Hawse
He solemnly says to Captain Bolles
that he brought boat load of rescu-
ed passengers up to the San Pedro
and requested that they be taken
care Of. He declares that he was
met with a refusal to receive any
more of the Cvidmbia's passengers.
II repeatedly asked them to take
the women-one of whom was half
naked and delirious," says Hawse in
his sworn statement.
Such an appeal would ordinarily
melt the heart of bronze, but Hawse
declares that the man in command
of the San Pedro refused to shelter
any more passengers of the sinking
Columbia. Then comes the fearful
accusation:
''If the San Pedro had taken these
passengers, / could have saved many
more lives"
Hawse says his boat was so full he
feared to take any more In it, lest IT
be swamped. He saw many more
men and women struggling in the
water and all he needed was his
empty boat to go to their assistance.
That is a dreadful accusation for
Captain Hansen to face, particularly
when his steamer is safe in the harbor
of Eureka and the photographs show
that she could have taken away many
more men and women aboard with
out endangering the lives of any.
But Third Officer Hawse does not
stop with his charge against Captain
Hansen. He has a sea dogs con-
tempt for the men whom he rescued
In his boat and did not show any evil
dence of chivalry in the hour of hero
ism. One of the four women he had
picked up was out of her head. All
the women were scantily attired but
three of them were heroines, and
Hawse in his sworn statement, says:
81 desire to speak in the highest
terms of praise in regard to the three
noble women and in lowest terms of
contempt for the men passengers who
would not inconvenience themselves
to make the lot of the women more
comfortable.
And then come tribute all around
to the man who was on his bridge
when through a fog and not in bed,
as was Captain Hansen. This tribute
comes from all sides to Captain Peter
Doran who did everything that man
could do to save the people, and then
went down with his ship to his death
rather than crowd some of his pas
sengers from a life boat or a raft.