The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1911-05-18

O'clock thtS morning, and at tho
offices OF the owners IL yVaS
stated that she would arrive here
Late this afternoon.
Battlesllip Leaves Farrngut
WASHINGTON, ID. C., Special
"A wireless dispatch received by
the Navy Department today from
i mo O2ttieship Iowa said that the
| iowa has parted company with
tho Admiral tarragut, which Is
proceeding to New York.
dramatic story of the sinking OF
the steamship Merida some fifty miles
OF Cape Charles by the Admiral Far
ragut early yesterday morning. is told
by Samuel Sutherland, of IO4 West
Marshall Street, who. with his wife
was passenger on board the Hamil-
ton. which arrived at the scene of dis
aSter shortly after the collision and
took all the passengers from both
ships TO Norfolk.
Mr.. SUtherland's thrilling narrative
was told exclusively to The Evening
Journal.
MIR. Sutherland not only. tells many
Incidents of heroism, but declares
that he questioned a number of mas
sengers from the Inflated Merida and
learned that previous to the collision
neither the Merida nor the Admiral
Farragut was blowing its fog-horns
nor were the proper lights burning
IL the fog-horns had been blowing.
the passengers said. the collision
would not have occurred.
When the Hamilton stopped at Old
Point yesterday morning Mr.. and
MIS- sutherland came ashore and
last night arrived in Richmond. Mr.
sutherland is Of the firm of Suther-
Iand * Cherry. furniture dealers, OF
An Exciting Awakening
At daybreak yesterday morning my
wife and were awakened" said Mr.
sutherland. by a roar Of fog horns
1 naStened on deck and was told that
a big steamer had been struck and
was sinking. The Hamilton had re-
ceived word by wireless and was hur-
ryinS TO the scene Of the disaster
sounding its fog horn almost con-
unuously. the Hamilton plowed
through the sea under full steam.
The fog was dense, but after a while
!. II cleared. We heard an answering
blaSt in the distance and turning
slightly from our course, drove down
upon the Admiral Farragut, which our
wireless operator told US was the ship
that had answered.
: suddenly the fog lifted and we
sighted the ship. She had listed so
that we feared she was going TO sink
before we could reach her All the
had gone TO the bottom. were crowded
IN the stern OF the Admiral Farragut
and sent up a wild cheer when they
caught sight OF US.
H0d the work of transferring the pas
lSruSers to the Hamilton began imme-
di-tely. There were lS6 passengers
from the Merida-mostly Mexican
| r. "SeeS. only one passenger had
Itt.~"n passage upon the Admiral Far
a, ;ut.
The first person to get aboard the
| i'@nditOn was a little foreigner. He
Ht' a heavy suit case strapped on his
4 back. and ne was so anxious to save.
. NflUaDlRS haf II 10.
boat reached the Hamilton-while it
was several feet aWay--he Sprans for
ward and caught the ladder and
scrambled aboard.
Heart Rending Scenes
Il don't think l have ever Witness
ed such heart-rending scenes. Moth
erS were taken aboard without their
babies and were frantic with grief.
Many OF the refugees were wealthy
All OF them had converted their be
longingS into gold and silver. and
everything had been lost. But few of
them were dressed. Most had sheets
ana blankets wrapped around their
shiverinS bodies.
/ The crew of the Hamilton worked
like machine. but as no time was
TO De lost in getting the passengers
from the Admiral Farragut the life
savers took them as they found them.
husband and wife We're separated.
Many Of the babies were mixed. Some
women, who should have had ONLY
one buOy each, had several. Others
could not find their children for fully
nan an hour after being transferred
aboard the Hamilton. and fearing that
Their little ones had been lost. were
nearly crazy with grief.
Gave Up His StaterOOm
All the stateroOms Of the Hamil-
ton were opened to the unfortunate
refugees our room was turned over
TO DR.. Edith Il. Pierce, an elderly wo-
man OF Wo9dclin Lake, y. J. She said
she had lost several cases OF valuable
surgical instruments, but fortunately
had little money in her pocket She
was very i'll from shock and exposure
i was told that when the collision
between the Merida and the Admiral
tarragut took place the crew of the
Merida-cOmpOSed of Spaniards-
Went crazy. The officers tried to CON
troll them, but could do nothing. The
rough sailors trampled over the wO-
men and children in their efforts to
reach the lifeboats and wanted to save
thelr own lives at the expense of every
one else. | was told that the male
, passengers also lost their heads and
; fearful disaster would have resulted
put for the daring work of the women,
who seemed TO master the situation.
! An Instance of Brutality
There was one wOman-a Mrs.
, boedtker-whO was on her way to
{ Europe with her baby. She was clad
only in her night gown and was bru-
h |
? by a sailor trying to reach the boats
She requested another woman to hold
E her baby for a minute, pulled off one
I of her high heeled slippers and knock
] ed the sailor senseless. After that l
81 was told that they treated her with
r considerable respect.
The Merida was a 6.5O0-ton ship.
r The Admiral Farragut was much
- smaller. The Merida carried / was
- told, about $500 900 in gold and sill
e yer. 1t sank in over 200 feet of water.
- one of the officers told me the ship
e could not be raised nor could any of
D the Valuables be recovered
Z when the collision occurred all
s the lights went out. the machines were
e. disabled and the wireless Instruments
y were put out of commission. For
e sometime it was feared that no sig
o nails could be sent out but after a
I while "a station was rugged up on board
the Admiral Farragut and appeals for
e help were made just as fast as the