Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-08
HELD IN DEATH TRAP
Passengers Declare Ships Of
ficerS Detained Them.
NUMBER OF DEAD UNKNOWN
Eight Passengers and -Four Of Crew
Reported Missing.
HAD CHANCE TO 60 ASHORE
Sea Calm as a Millpond When Santa
Rosa First Grounded-Suffer-
ing for Survivors.

SANTA BARBARA. Cal, July Sin
spite of assertions from company OFF,
cials and ships officers to the contrary,
the passengers of the wrecked steamer
Santa Rosa who arrived here early today
after a thrilling battle with the breakers
that smashed the stranded ship, declare
that more than four sailors lost their
lives.
One hundred and ninety-two passen-
gers are all that have been accounted for
so far. say the survivors. There were 200
on the steamer and many of the rescued
said today that the missing ones went
down to death when the surf battered
life RATS to pieces
Few Of. the shipwrecked voyagers have
recovered from the nerve-racking strain
of the battle with the breakers in the
dark night. Many of the rescued women
are still hysterical and are under the care
of physicians. Those that were able to
continue the journey south boarded reSu-
lar trains this morning.
Others will take regular trains. and
others, especially women, will not be
able to travel for several days.
Accuse Ships Officers.
Many passengers were very bitter In
their denunciation of the ships officers.
who refused to land the passengers soon
after the Santa Rosa grounded. Capt.
Faria, who was making his first trip
as commander of the vessel. declined,
they say, to listen to the pleas of the
passengers who desired to be put ashore
before the gale arose yesterday.
He replied to entreatieS, 1t Is said,
with the statement that he had received
instructions from the Pacific Coast
Steamship Company officials TO permit
no one to go ashore until 1t became
The relief train bearing the rescued
passengers from the wrecked steamship
arrived in Santa Barbara early today and
discharged a pitiful freight of hystertcal
women and half-clad shivering men. Suf-
fering and privation were written plainly
on the faces of ALL and it will be weeks
and in some cases months before some
of the victims recover. All had been
drenched to the skin and none had had
anything to eat since noon yesterday,
except a hasty lunch and a cup OF coffee
provided by farmers who thronged to
the beach when the vessel began to
break up.
Many were too weak to leave the cars
unassisted and half a dozen had to be
carried from the train on stretchers
ed. Most of them were wrapped In blan-
kets.
In Pitiable Condition.
Few of the passengers were able to talk
of the wreck, the long suspense on the
crumbling ship as she crunched to pieces
beneath them on the rocks and the ter
rifying passage In the breeches buoy
through the surf to the beach.
That no one will be able to tell accu-
rately for some time how many lives
were lost was the opinion expressed by
three survivors who insist they saw one
woman swept from a life raft and
drowned.
They say that many more have perished
in the numerous upsets that marked the
Journeys Of the life RATS to the shore.
E. NJ. Ross, with his wife and son of
San Francisco were among the rescued
who reached here today. That Mrs. Ross
reached shore alive is due to the heroism
of some unknown passenger who grasped
her as she was sinking after she had
been swept from an overturned life raft
and swan with her through the breakers
TO safety.
Grabbed by Strengthen.
Il sank three times said Mrs. Ross
1T was the life preserver which brought
me to the surface each time. but was
unable to battle with the immense break
came to the top 1 saw my little boy
just as he was going down. / grabbed
him by the hair and just then a big
strong man caught me and helped me get
ashore
Mr.. Ross said that the passengers from
the first asked to be put ashore. They
even called to a passenger train passing
from the cliff, he said. The train stop
ped, he said, but the captain would not
allow the passengers to go ashore.
ut was quiet as mill pond then" Mr..
Ross went on, and 1t would have been
ashore. But Capt Faria said he had or
ders by wireless from his company to
keep the people aboard.
Sent Life-Savers Away.
The life-saving crew from a station
near the point appeared early in the day
and offered assistance. but after keeping
them by two hours. the captain told them
they would not be needed.
When actual debarkation from the
vessel did commence they returned and
did heroic work"
There were probably eight lost in
all and it will be some time before
the exact number Is known" said o.
boats capsized. one from the Santa
Rosa, in command Of Second Mate
Heuson. and another from the steamer
Helen P. Drew, which stood by all
day. waiting for a chance to help us
get line ashore"
Among those too seriously hurt to
leave the train was Miss Jennie
Weaver of San Francisco. With an
other woman and four children she
was sent ashore In a net attached to
the surf line. Waves washed over
them continually on their passage to
the beach. and all were completely
exhausted and had to be cut from the
net
ac Anrry0 NJ, Yre1rr-