The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-07-08
SHIP SPLIT IN TWO.
1continued from Page one.l

Continued from Page one.l
historical women and half clad, shiv-
ering men. Suffering and privation
all and it will be weeks and in some
cases months before Some of the VIC
TINS recover. All had been drenched
to the skin in coming ashore in the
breeches buoy in the high surf and
none had anything to eat since the
noon meal yesterday except a hasty
lunch and a cup of coffee provided by
the sympathetic farmers who thronged
to the beach from their nearby homes
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.
Hardly one of the passengers was fully
clothed. The greater part OF them were
wrapped in blankets
The rescued passenger were for the
most part too wrought up to talk
connectedly of their nerve wracking
experience. A few of the cooler spirits
however, were able to give a brief word
picture of the wreck. the long sus-
pense on the crumbling ship as II
crunched to pieces beneath them on
the rocks and the terrifying passage
through the boiling surf to safety on
the beach. That no one will be able
to tell accurately for some time how
many lives were lost was the opinion
voiced this morning by three survivors
who insist that they saw one woman
swept from a raft and drowned and
say many more must have persisted in
the numerous upsets that marked the
journey of the life RATS 10 the shore
A Narrow Escape.
E. X 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 tor
the third time after she had been swept
from an overturned life raft and swan
with her through the breakers TO
safety.
II sank three tines said Mrs. Ross,
"it was the life preserver which
brought me to the surface each time
but it was unable to battle with the
immense breakers that swept over my
head.
Once as came to the top I 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 on the cliff, he said. The train
stopped, he said. but the captain would
not allow the passengers to go ashore.
1t was quiet as a mill pond them
Mr.. Ross went on, and it would have
been an easy task for the crew to have
put us ashore. But Captain Faria said
he had orders by wireless from his
company to keep the people aboard
The life saving crew from a sta
ton near the point appeared on the
scene early in the day and offered as
sistance but after keeping them by
two hours the captain told them they
would not be needed. When actual
debarkation from the ship did begin
however, they returned and did heroic
work.
Maybe Eight Are Lost.
There were probably eight lost in
all and it will be some time before
the exact number is known said O.
G. Schooner of San Luis Obispo
Two boats capsized, one from the
Santa Rosa in command of Second
Mate Heuson and another from the
steamer Helen H. Drew, which stood
by US all day, waiting for a chance to
help us get line ashore"
Among those too seriously hurt to
leave the train was Miss Jennie Weav-
er of San Francisco. With another
woman and four children she was
sent ashore in a net attached to the
surf line. Waves washed over them
continuously on their passage to the
beach and all were completely ex-
hausted when they reached the shore
and had to be cut from the net.
AnOWn as 'CupId'S Ship
Los Angeles, July S.-The wrecked
steamer Santa Rosa was one of the first
ships regularly to carry passengers be-
tween San Francisco and southern Cali
fornia ports and was known both as
"Cupid's ship" and the Good Luck
shir."
1t is said that fully 100 persons now
living in Los Angeles were married
aboard the craft and thousands have
gone with her on their honeymoon
1 trips.
Superstition that the ship was a
lucky one and would scatter good luck
and prosperity upon the sea Of 1natri-
mony Of those who sailed with her
was a strong inducement to young ecu
! pies. Many a runaway match was
mace on the old ship and n lrriages
aboard at one time were a common &C.
! currence-
THINK MORE DIED.