River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-01-28
LINER REPUBLIC
GOES TO BOTTOM
HER CREW SAVED BY REVENUE
CUTTER GRESHAM.
THRILLING DRAMA OF SEA
Passengers of Lost Steamer and Flor.
ida, That Rammed Her, Brought
Ashore-OWe Their Lives
to Wireless.

Az" III n, JAIL GO.- lie w Hue 0ldI
liner Republic, rammed early Saturday
morning by the Italian liner Florida,
OFF Nantucket, Mass, sank at $3.50 Sun.
day night. A few hours later the Bal
tic arrived in this port bringing the
1900 and more passengers from both
the vessels concerned in the most re-
markable drama of the sea the world
has known for many years.
From Siasconset came the following
wireless message last night:
Republic gone down. No one
aboard. All crew safe on revenue cut
ter Gresham"
An hour later another wireless mes
Gresham, with the Republics crew ON
board. was proceeding to Gay Head.
Crew Saved by Men Of Gresham.
The Republic sank off No Mans
Land, small island south of Martha's
Vineyard island, off the Massachusetts
coast. This information was received
by the United Wireless Company from
Capt. Fisher of the steamer City of
Memphis, which is bound from Savan-
nah for Boston. Capt Fisher added
that all of the Republics crew were
saved and were safely aboard the
Gresham.
The gallant work of a boats crew
from the Gresham in taking off Capt.
Sealby and a detail of the crew of the
Republic who remained on board that
vessel almost to the very last moment
that she stayed above water is spoken
of particularly in wireless dispatches
received here. The Republic had been
towed a short distance by the
Gresham, the derelict destroyer Sene-
ca, which had arrived at the scene late
in the day, also assisting in the work
of towing. Suddenly the Republic,
which was already low in the water,
was seen to be settling still more and
rapid work on the part of the boat
crew of the Gresham was necessary to
get the Republics crew away from the
vessel.
Seven Liners in the Drama.
No less than seven ocean liners-the
Baltic, New York, Furnessia, Lorraine
and Lucania, and the two crippled
ships, Florida and Republic-fgured in
the stirring story The 442 passengers
and some members of the crew of the
Republic underwent two transfers on
the open sea, first to the crippled Flor
ida on Saturday morning and again
early yesterday to the more comma
dious Baltic, which brought also the
900 and more passengers from the dis
abled Florida.
With this great human cargo of res.
cued persons, besides her own list of
$50 passengers, the Baltic arrived off
Sandy Hook about IL o'clock last
night.
The Florida, her bow rent from the
terrific impact with the Republic, is
slowly steering, under her own steam,
for this port, conveyed by the Ameri-
can liner New York.
Six Persons Are Killed.
Until an early hour yesterday it was
believed the crashing together of the
two big ships off fog-bound Nantucket
Saturday morning had not resulted in
death or injury to a single passenger
or member of the crews. Shortly after
midnight, however, the wireless tele-
graph, that mysterious force which
had appraised the world of the Repub-
lies distress and quickly brought other
ships to her aid, flashed the news that
two passengers on the Republic had
been killed and two others injured.
Late in the day another wireless mes
sage told of four deaths on board the
Florida, either of members of the crew
or steerage passengers. The identity
of these was not made clear. The
message from Capt Ransom of the Bal
tic to the White Star Company in this
city gave the names of the dead pas
setngers as Mrs. Eugene Lynch of
Boston and w. ]. Mooney, banker of
Langdon, N. D. The Injured are Mrs.
NJ M. Murphy, wife of the financial
agent of the Union Central Life Insur
ance Company of Grand Forks, N. D.,
and Eugene Lynch of Boston.
Details of the collision at sea in the
dense fog came fitfully by wireless
from many receiving stations along
the New England coast line. The story,
though in brief but potent messages,
told how the passengers Of the Repub-
lie and the Florida spent many anxious
and uncomfortable hours following the
wreck, and not until eight o'clock yes
terday morning, when all were safe
and sound on the Baltic, did they have
a feeling of security.
Mooney Langdon Banker.
Grand Forks, N. D., Jan. 25.-W. }.
Mooney, who was killed in the collision
of the steamers Republic and Florida,
was 81 years old and was engaged in
the banking and real estate business
at Langdon, N. D. He was considered
one of the wealthiest men in North
Dakota During the past six years Mr..
Mooney has travelled over the greater
portion of the world, and on the Re
public was en- route to the milder eli
mates of southern Europe. He leaves
a son, John Mooney, deputy state bank
examiner
Bubonic Plague in Caracas.
Willemstad, Island of Curacao, Jan.
25.-Four cases of bubonic plague are