Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-06-06
KILLED ON CRUISER,
Four of Tennessee's Men Die In
 Steam Pipe Explosion.
ALL IN ENGINE ROOM INJURED

Two Firenen Fatally Hurt-Rear Ad.
 n,iraI sebrss Has Marrow Escape. Two of the Victims May Have Been
 Martyrs to Duty.
 San Pedro, Cal, June GA terrible accident occurred on board the United States armored cruiser Tennessee while the ship was steaming at 19 knots on speed trial off Point Hue meme, California, a steam pipe Tn the starboard engine room bursting under 235 pounds pressure, killing foun men and injuring ten others, all the men ln the compartment at the time. The explosion, the cause of which IS unknown, occurred only few minutes after Admiral Uriel Sebree, Captain F. B. Howard and Chief Engineer Robertson had left the engine room on tour of inspection.
 The dead are George Wood, water tender, Scranton, Pa.: F. c. Boggs, second class fireman. Woodlawn, Ala; A. Reinhold, machinist's mate, second class, Germany, and George W. Meek, first class fireman. Skidmore, Kan.
 S. S. Stematis, first class fireman, Norfolk, Va, and F. S. Maxfeld, sec ond class fireman. Toughkenamon, Pa, are, it is believed, fatally injured.
 The seriously injured are F. J. Burns, coal passer, New York; Walter S. Burns. coal passer. Brooklyn, and UP. A. Carroll, second class fireman, Hartford, Conn.
 Steam and Ashes Shower Men.
 The slightly injured are R. W. Wat son, fireman, second class, East St. Louis; R. E. Rutlege, coal passer, Athens. Pa: G. M Corns, fireman, sec ond class, Ironton, O.; A. Hayes, water tender, Brooklyn, and H. Fitzpatrick, fireman, first class, Brooklyn.
 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.
 A blast of white steam from the ven tilators told those on deck of the acci- dent. and Lieutenant Commander $. s. Robinson, the navigator, instantly sounded a general alarm and dropped | twenty lines of hose ready for instant use in case of fire. Within the doomed | flreroom, No. 3, amidships on the star board side, which is one of the sixteen | inclosed fire compartments, the surviv- ing seamen were fighting for life. Reinhold and Meek were stricken dead at their posts. Boggs and Wood crawl | ed into the adjoining fireroom, No. II, and died almost immediately. The sur -viving seamen, al of whom suffered some injuries. acted with the greatest heroism in aiding their unfortunate mates.
 Adn,iral's Narrow Escape.
 Rear Admiral Sebree himself escaped death or serious injury in the fated fire pit by narrow margin. He had left the room where the explosion oc- cured not fifty seconds before the ia. tal blast. The admiral stood in the engine room, adjoining the freroon with Chief Engineer Robertson and | Captain Howard. His first intimation of the tragedy was as he mounted the ladder and half naked fireman leap ed past him suffering from severe l scalds.
 When the smoke came from the fire room. the fire call was sounded, and all the crew went to their stations ir perfect order, and in few seconds fifteen to twenty lines of hose were ready to turn on the fire. Several oi the crew behaved with heroism and will be reported to the department later.
 Official Investigation Ordered.
 An ff1ciahinvestigation of the acci dent has been ordered. The boiler wa: of the standard tubular kind, the Bab cock & Wilcox 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 ir length. There was no wreckage, bu' the explosion was discovered by thu survivors as frightful. So great wal the blast of soot and steam that every man in the room was blackened from head to foot, while those closest to th' break were cooked alive. There arr sixteen similar firerooms. but eacl separated by steel doors. and the mer in adjoining compartments did not fee the explosion. When the first outsld' rescuers entered the freroom it wal in utter darkness. the steam and 500 covering the electric lights and ceilinl and walls with a thick coat The mer in this fire pit work naked except fol short trousers and slippers. and th' dead and injured were blackened al most beyond recognition.
 "It was a hell hole said one of tn surviving seamen. "Everything seem cd all night. when without any warn ing the shower of hot einders. stean and ashes burst out of the firehole The boys dropped all over the room and none of us knew what had hap pened. Those of us who were able ti scramble to our feet opened the doc when the compartment cleared. an' we began dragging the boys out"
 The impression among the officer and crew Is that Reinhold and Meel were martyrs to duty. for they wer found lead where others escaped an