Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-09-10

| fate of relatives who went away from
here as members Of the crew OF the III
fated car ferry.
Cause of Disaster L. Mystery.
| The cause of the disaster is enveloped
in mystery. F. F. Potvin, cabin watch,
said that the boat was very low at the
stern when the first alarm was given.
He said they pushed t~enty-nine rail-
road cars into the lake to ease the ves-
| sci. but without avail.
| Seymour Cochrane of Chicago. another
| survivor. said he was reading magazine
| In his berth when a cabin boy raped on
| his door about 4:30 al m. and shouted that
| the boat was sinking.
Cochrane floated on a cabin door until
picked up by No. Ii. The purser had
given him $1,000 which was due Coch-
rane's employers afteer they had delivered
the boat to the Pere Marquette Railroad
Company. they having leased her all
summer But Cochrane could not load
| himself down with the coin and tied the
money to the steamers rail as the boat
| went down.
| Many of the lifeboaas were stove in by
| wreckage tumbling in every direction on
| the tossing sea, the occupants of the
| small boats being thrown into the water
and many OF them drowned.
/ The sum total of the catastrophe is told
| in the fatal figures, twenty-nine lives lost
and financial loss exceeding half mil
| lion dollars.
| Marquette IS constitutes the most tragic
| and thrilling chapter yet written in the
| history of the Lake Michigan marine.
Leaving Ludington last night at IL 30
o'clock with a fair but stin wind, and
twenty-nine loaded cars on deck. the ferry
made good weather for five hours on its
course to Milwaukee
| At 4:3O O'clock word was sent to Capt.
1
making water aft, and that the pumps
were unable 10 keep pace with the in
/ flow.
With full confidence in the stability and
| seaworthiness Of his craft. the veteran
car-fsrry navigator headed his ship with
| all speed toward Sheboygan. on the Wis
consin shore.
The steamers pumps were worked to
their fullest capacity. and all the expedi-
ents known to the skilled and resource
| full mariner were. resorted to.
But i'm spite of every effort the terrible
| fact dawned upon the captain and all on
board that the boat was gradually but
| surely sinking.
Cars Dropped Overheard.
| An effort was made to run a number
of railroad cars overheard. and thus
| tighten the load and gain a few precious
minutes.
/ With great dif'iculty nine cars were
dropped off the stern Of No. is. but this
gave the vessel only slight and tenn
porary relief.
The ship was doomed. Yet. enotwith-
hopes of saving both crew and craft, the
captain crowded his ship to the utmost
limit, hoping to reach shoal water.
| The effort was futile.
| At I:3O this morning time came when
the boats buoyancy was no longer SUM-
cient to sustain ii. Suddenly, without
warning and before the Mortified gaze OF
| nifty men on board p NJ. car ferry No.
in response to a distress signal, the
great black bow of the flagship rose high
in the air. the stern settled swiftly toward
the bottom. and with a roar and crash
/ like an explosion the ship shot down
ward and was lost to view.
The Mortified onlookers on steamer No.
IL stood for moment speeches. and
petrifed There among the surging waves
\ Of merciless old Lake Michigan were half
hundred of their fellow beings strug-
Cling for their lives.
Agonizing cries for help rose above the
roar of the sea. All was confusion, in
| describable terror and chaos.
In twinkling twenty-seven lives were
snufed out and sixty strong men were
| preciptated into a death trap as cruel
as il was hopeless.
/ 1rresistibly draws by a tremendous sue
ton. score of men could be seen speed
| Ing toward the awful vortex of the sink
ing steamers revolving wheels, which
sealed their doom.
| Then began the rescue. Lowering one
! of her lfeboats containing four sailors.
| the crew Of No IL began a work OF HUI
i manity which marks many of the num-
| Der heroes of the highest rank. No
sooner had the tiny lifeboat touched the
angry waves than II was turned with ter
! rifle force against the side of the steel
steamer and crushed into a shapeless
| mass.
Two Rescuers Drowned.
Two of the sailors were rescued by
| those on board, while the other two, Jo-
| seph Peterson and r. Jacobson, a scrub
Der. Immediately sank and drowned.
After this incident ii is said that certain
members OF the crew were 10th to enter
| the small boats. but others of greater
courage quickly manned another lifeboat.
| which was successfully launched This
boat in charge of Duncan Milligan of
! Ludington, did heroic service. and i'm less
than an hour picked up fourteen surviv-
| ors who were floating about clinging TO
bits Of wreckage.
Then another lifeboat was manned and
| Joined in the work of rescue. 1t was a
race against time, and in the face of
great danger more than thirty were
| saved
Meanwhile the tugs A. c. Tessler of
Milwaukee. car ferry p NJ. No. 20. steam
| er P. NJ. No. and a tug from Sheboygan.
| towing the Sheboygan life-saving crew,
arrived on the scene. They Instituted a
| thorough search for survivors and bodies,
| and succeeded in picking I'D seven of the
| former and eight OF the latter.
| Chief Engineer Ross Leedham and his
i first assistant Charles ROsencranS died