The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-16
Eight Men Are Killed and Thir- teen injured While Work-
 ing the Gun TuTTet
SOME OF THE SUFFERERS
 ARE FEARFULLY BURNED
Theory as to Cause of Explosion Is That a Spark From Smokestack of Warship Set Fire to
 Powder.

Boston. July 15.-With six of her off cers and crew dead and fifteen others dying suffering from terrible injuries received in an explosion in the after su- perimposed turret the battleship Georgia steamed slowly up Boston harbor from the target practice grounds in Cape Cod Bay today and landed the dead and in- jured men at the Charlestown navy yard With the arrival of the Georgia there became known the details of the most terrible naval catastrophe that has ever taken place along the coast of New Eng land
 The accident occurred shortly before nooa today while t..e Georgias crew were at target practice off Provincetown, in Cape Cod Bay. In some manner, as yet unexplained, two bags of powder became ignited and in the terrific flash that fol- lowed the entire turret crew, consisting of three officers and eighteen men, were enveloped in fire and received horrible burns, one officer and five men dying before the ship reached port. Two men died after reaching the hospital.
 The victims of the accident are:
 The official list of the dead and injured follows;
 Dead:
 William J. Thatcher. chief turret cap- tam, Wilmington, Del.
 Faulkner Goldthwaite, mdshipman. Kentucky.
 W. ]. Burke. ordinary seaman. Quincy. Mass.
 c. c. Hamilton o-dinary seamoa, Snuth Birmingham Mass
 w Ii. Thomas, ordinary seaman. New port, R. l.
 George E. Miller, ordinary seaman Brooklyn, N I.
 Lieut. CasIui Goodrich New York.
 William $. Pair ordinary seaman, Brooklyn, N Y.
 Injured.
 Midshipman John T. Cruse, Nebraska. Frank schlap. boatswain's mate, North Adams. Mass
 Charles Hassett, gunners mate, New York
 orley Tagland, chief yeoman, Rush. ford, Minn.
 J. G. Thomas, ordinary seaman. Brook lyn, N. Y.
 S. L. Rosenberger, ordinary seaman. Philadelphia.
 Edward J. Walsh, ordinary seaman. Lynn, Mass.
 John A. Maleeck, ordinary seaman, Cleveland, O.
 John A Bush ordinary seaman, New York
 L. O. Meez, ordinary seaman, Berda. O. H. l. Gilbert. ordinary seaman South wick, Mass.
 John A. Fone ordinary seaman, Tren- Charles J. Rich, ordinary seaman, Frankfort, Ind
 -Four other men received minor injuries whose names were not given out and who were taken off the ship
 The explosion occurred in the after tur- ret, where the men under command of Lieut.. Caspar GooOrich and Midshipmen Goidthwaite and John T. Cruse were op- eIat.ns the sinch guns.
 Loader's Name Withheld.
 The guns in the forward turrets had finished eight rounds of practice and the guns of the after turret had fired one round Two cases of the big 1o0- pound bags of powder had just been sent through the ammunition hoist and were in the arms of the loader, whose name vas withheld by the ships officers The loader stood al the breach of one Of tbe S-ineh guns ready to insert the charge At this instant the turret was seen to he smoky and two men who stood near the loader saw black spot On the bag indicating that the charge had ienfted and was smouldering. The loader siiscoy- cred the spot at the same instance and ZT1ew himself forward on his face at -fe same time shouting a warning to his mates. The other men who had seen tle shot were Eych and Hansen and they also threw themselves on the floor of the turret. Before the other men in the tur- ret could understand what caused the loader's cry of warning there was a blind in flash as the burning powder ex- ploded.
 Flames, smoke and nauseous gases filled the little superstTCcture in which more than score of men were confined. As the powder was not confined there was no report nor did the vessel suffer any in- Jury. but every nook and cranny of the tarret was filled with flames
 The loader, who was of course nearest the powder was terribly burned, as was every other man in the turret with the ex- teption of Eych and Hansel, who, al though scorched, was not so badly injured as the others.
 Crazed With Pain.
 Lieutenant Goodrich and Seaman Ma Jeeck, became crazed, staggered up the iron ladder to the top of the turret and then threw themselves headlong into the sea in desperate effort to choose death by drowning in preference to death by slow fire, while piteous cries for assist ance came from those remaining in the turret.
 When the smoke of the burning powder had cleared away the shipmates of the unfortunate men rushed to their assist ance and the suffering sailors were lifted out of the fre-backened turret, and quickly conveyed to the ships hospital, where they were dressed by the surgeons. In the meantime Lieutenant Goodrich and Seaman Maleeck had been rescued hy a launch that was returning from an inspection of the target.
 The surgical staff of the Georgia were soon assisted by other surgeons from vessels of the fleet.
 An examination of the turret after the accident failed to show that any serious damage had resulted to the ship. -IrnrnediatelY on learning the details of