The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-06-06
FOUR kIE.ED;
 TENNJURED Explosy d on the. Cruiser
 dennessee. BOILER TUBE BLOWS OUT American Vessel Was Entering
 San Pedro Harbor. Terrible Accident to Flasship of Rear AdmiraI sabree of the Pacific
 Coast FIeet--casualty

San Pedro. Cal. June 5--A terrible accident occurred on board the United State armored. cruiser Tennessee at 11.0S o'clock this morning while the ship was steaming at nineteen knots on a speed trial off Point Huenefe. Cal. A steam pipe In the starboard engine room bursting under 2S5 pounds pres sure. killed four and injured ten others, all the men in the compartment at the time. Two of the injured have since died.
 The explosion, the cause of which Is unknown, occurred only few minutes after Admiral Sebree, Captain F. B. Howard and Chief Engineer Robertson had left the engine room on q tour of inspection. Four of the men were kill- ed instantly
 The dead: George Wood. water ten- der, Scranton, Pa; E. c. Boggs. second class fireman. Woodlawn. Ala. A. Rein gold, machinist's mate, second class. Germany; George W. Meek. first class fireman, Skidmore. Kas.
 Fatally injured: S s. Temattis, first class fireman, Norfolk. Va; F. s. Max field, second class fireman, Toughkena. Chester County. Penn.
 f There were fourteen men in the fire room when the tube, which is four inches in diameter and inclosed with water inside the boiler, blew out, driv- ing a torrent of scalding steam, coal dust. cinders and hot ashes through the ash pit and showered the half naked men.
 Sounds General Alarm.
 A blast of white steam from the ven- tilators told those on deck of the ac- cident and Lieutenant Commander S. s. Robinson. the navigator. instantly sounded a general alrm and dropped twenty lines of hose ready for instant s..~ s.R A~~ Ar. s1 fire room No. 3, amidships. on the star board side. which is one of the sixteen enclosed fire compartments, the surviv- ing seamen were fighting for life.
 ReiugoId and Meek were stricken dead at their posts. Boggs and Wood crawled Into the adininHng Ire room No H. and died almost immediately. The surviving seamen, all of whom suf- tered sofnes injuries acted with the greatest heroism in aiding their unfort- unate mates.
 Rear Admiral Sebree himself escaped death or serious Injury in the ill-fated fire pit by a narrow margin. He had left the room where the explosion oc- cured not fifty seconds before the fatal
 blast. The Admiral stood in the en-
 zine room adjoining the fire room with
 Chief Engineer Robertson and Captain Howard. His first intimation of the
 tragedy was as he mounted the ladder
 and half-naked fireman leaped past ! him suffering from severe scalds. When the smoke came from the fire room the fire call was sounded and all the crew went to their stations in per feet order and in a few seconds fif- teen to twenty lines of hose were ready to turn on the fire. Several of the crew behaved with herofsm. The ship was undergoing inspection py the commander of the second dl- vision and had been under way for over two hours and the engines. bofI- CTS and machinery were working per. fectly.
 The flagship Tennessee, of the second i division of the Pacific cruiser fleet. i left Santa Barbara at 10 o'clock this morning with the cruisers Pennsylva- | mia. Washington. Colorado and West Virginia in her wake, on the semi annual official speed trial provided for by naval regulations
 1 Admiral Sebree had ordered the cruis- CT to full speed and the Tennessee had just concluded a series of evoIutions
 and started straight away at a speed of between eighteen and nineteen knots. The Admiral in the engine | room had just taken a note that the dial recorded steam pressure of 295 pounds when the explosion occurred. Less than fifteen minutes earlier the tubes had endured a pressure of 265 pounds.
 investigation is Ordered. The boiler was of the standard tu- bular kind. the Babcock and Wilcox i make used on many warships. It consists of large cluster of four-inch tubes carrying water into the main boiler. Only one tube and this one of the bottom tier. exploded. The break was less than six inches in | length.
 There was no wreckage. but the ex- nlosion was described by the survivors as friShtful. So great was the blast of soot and steam that every man in the room was blackened from head to foot while the closest to the break were cooked alive. There are sixteen sini- | lar fire rooms, but each is separated by steel doors and the men in the adjoin- ing compartments did not feel the ex- | plosion. - =.
 When the first outside rescuers ent- | cred the fire room 1t was In utter darkness, the steam and soot cover