The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1908-06-11

san Pedro, Cal, June "a terrible
accident occurred on board the United
states armored cruiser Tennessee
Wnlle the ship was steaming at the
rate or nineteen knots on a speed trial
on Point Huenene, Cal. A steam pipe
In the starboard engine room burst
unoer Ego pounds pressure, killing four
nnen ana lnJuring ten others-all of the
nmeh III the compartment at the time.
Inc explosion, the cause of which Is
unknown, occurred only a few min
utes after Admiral Uriel Sebree, Can't.
f.. d. Howard and Chief Engineer Rob
ertson had left the engine room on a
tour of inspection.
The dead:
GEORGE WOOD. water tender.
E. G. BoGGs, second class fireman,
Woodlawn, Ala.
A. REINHOLD. m%achinist's mate,
c class, Germany.
GEORGE w. MEEK. first class fire.
man, Skidmore, kan.
The fatally injured:
s.. Stemattos, first class fireman,
Norfolk, Va.
F. S. Maxfield, second class fireman.
Toughkenu, Chester county, Penn.
The seriously injured:
+. J. Burns, pal passer, New York.
Walter w. Burns, coal passer, Brook
Ign.
J. P: A. Carroll, second class fire.
man, Hartford, Conn.
Slightly injured:
K: W. Watson. fireman, second class,
East st. Louis, III.
R. F. Ruttledge. coal passer, Athens,
Pa.
g. M. Corns, fireman. second class,
Ironton, o.
A: Hayes, water tender, Brooklyn,
N. Y.
H. Fitzpatrick. fireman, first class,
Brooklyn.
ScaIded by Steam.
There were fourteen men in the fire.
room when the tube, which Is four
inches in diameter and enclosed with
water inside the boiler, blew out, driy-
ing q torrent OF scalding steam, coal
gust, cinders and hot ashes through
the ash pit and showering the half
naked men.
A blast of white steam from the
ventilators told those on deck Of the
accident and Lieut.. Commander 8. s..
Robinson, the navigator, instantly
sounded q general alarm and dropped
twenty lines OF hose ready for instant
use in case Of fire. Within the doomed
hre room No. 3, amidship on the star
board side, which Is n of the six
teen enclosed fire compartments, the
surviving seamen were fighting for
life. Reinhold and Meek were strick-
en- dead at their posts. Boggs and
Wood crawled or were dragged into
the adjoining fire room. No. II, and
died almost Immediately. The sur
viving seamen, all of whom received
some injuries, acted with the greatest
heroism in aiding their unfortunate
mates.
At Full Speed.
The Tennessee, flagship Of the second
division Of the Pacific cruiser fleet. left
Santa Barbara at 10 o'clock yesterday
morning with the cruisers Pennsyl-
vania, Washington, Colorado and West
Virginia in her wake. on the semi-an-
nual official speed trial provided for by
naval regulations. Admiral Sebree had
ordered the cruisers to full speed, and
the Tennessee had just concluded a Sc
ries Of evolutions n started straight
away at q speed Of between Is and 10
knots. The admiral in the engine room
had just taken note that the diaI re-
corded a steam pressure Of 235 pounds
when the explosion occurred. Less than
Is minutes earlier the tubes had en-
dured a pressure Of 265 pounds, 80
pounds greater.
An official investigation Of the acct
lent has been ordered.
There was no other wreckage, but the
explosion was described by the surviV-
ors as frightful. So great was the blast
@oot and team that every man in
the room was blaCkened from head to
feet, while those closest to the break
were literally cooked alive.
The Tennessee is one Of the new ar
cruisers of $500 tons displace-
ment, % knots an hour, and carries q
49, - nI-..A mn