The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-04-09
ALL ARE LANDED
WITHOUT INJURY
Fate of Vessel, of Merchants
and Miners Line Still in Doubt,
Crew Remains on Board
Fighting Flames, but
Struggle Apparently
Is in Vain.

hungry passengers of the Merchants
and Miners steamer Ontario, which
was driven ashore burning on Mon.
tauk Point L. l.. early to-day. ar
rived 'h+rs late this afternoon from
New London. Conn. They vera land.
ed by tug from the burning steamer
earlier in the afternoon. Most OF them
were without baggage. Some mad
dressed go hurriediy in the excite
ment that they had scarcely suiicIen,
clothing.
When the ontario was run ashore
she Carried thirty-iwo passengers
twenty-five first and sucond caoin and
len Italians in the Storage With
the exception OF two. Misses N.!iie
! eheehan and Katherine L. Schwartz
Q! Washington. the passengers were
drought to boston Later tnoy lei.
Tor their destinations
| Among the nrst and second cabin
Passengers wsrs Il. 7. Windley, VIII
Inlngton. \. c.. and d. c. Cannon. Nor
folk. Mrs. ". J. Bent. wife of the
| captain OF the steamer. was also
aboard, and came TO Boston with tho
| passengers
DESPITE their trying experience and
the hardships they mad endured, thu
passengers look the situation philo.
soDhically
| 1t was an unavoidable misfortune. /"
said one. while others believed tina,
no one was to blame There was no
panic except among the storage pas
sengers. who. not understanding Eng
/ NSh. could not be Gained and d.
rec4d They were forced by the ships
! crew into tho saloon. Some of than
i N INV ,,ir
! tried to climb the masts. thinking the
snip was going 10 Sink
The women" said H ". sandborn
iof Dover, n. H, behaved better than
the men. In my opinion. and they ar.
deserving OF much praise O., course
! we all Got little excited but WIN
would not? was sleeping in the
stateroom next to that of the wire
less operator, Hubert ingalls,. of Lynn.
Mass. and right on thu other side the
fro was raging. About clock this
morning 1 awoke and looked out n,
the weather and saw people running
. out on deck crying: Tho ship Is
afre" I thought IL was n Are drill
/ but the next minute the smoke en-.
veioped US. and | realized II was no
joke. II there were anv heroes on
mat boat they were ingalls,. the plucl5v
/ little wireless operator. and Chief En-
/ Eincer T. +. Disney. Of Baltinora
Both Of them stuck TO their posts until
ihcir duty was done, and they were
/ mostly responsible for our safety"
! Seaman Discovers Fire.
/ One of the busiest men OH the boa,
! was Purser James, who was also ono
/ OF the first TO be awakened
I The fire was discovered" he sa id
/ by seaman, who notified FIRST OF.
ncer II. c. HawdinE. n Cape Cod man
in charge OF the first watch This
was about 1910 a. NJ. think the fire
) must have been going on FOR some
Tune. for there was q good. Lively blaze
ana plenty ofSsmoke. / ran around
tho ship, knocking at statsroom doors
and waking people up. Then | ran
into Operator Ingalls's room, and wa
hcth sent messages to our mothers
/ lie was sitting at his instrument In
his paJamas just as he had tumbled
out of bed on the first call
Then | went outside. and with
James Lynch, waiter from East Bos-
ton. tried to calm the Italians, who
We're bordering on the hysterical We
mad a hard time getting the III iEt1 the
| hail out of the way. half coaxins and
half forcing them along"
The fire started just before tha shin
LEFT Baltimore was the opinion cy
pressed by d. c. Cannon, one of tho
passengers. Cannon is soutberner
and claims he knows cotton las well
! as any one IN the boat" He SAYS that
the fire must have smouidered a long
time peforo il broke out at I:I0. Can
non declares that he saw stcvedorcs
VINO were slowing the cotton smoke.
and II Is his theory that a smoulderinp
match or cigarette started a blaze be-
before the setamcr left port.
Fate Is In Doubt
Montauk Point, n. Y. April S.-The
fate of the steamer Ontario. Of the
Merchants and Miners TRANSPORTATION
Company. bound from Baltimore Ia
Boston, which WIS beached here on fire
early this morning. was stlll III doubt
tonight. With her thirty one passeu-
gers safely gotten off. tis steamers
crew of iifty men stuck 10 the shin.
| and at late hour were still on hoard
fighting the flames In the hold. Tho
fire, which had ragged all day. app,ar-
cd, however. TO be slowly getting the
better OF tho men. and from the shore
Tonight flames could be s9cn bursting
occasionally through the forward
decks.
Despite tho doubt as 10 the cyapt-
nnl 1u"liing OF the flames, no fcor
was felt for the safety OF the crew
Tho revenue cutters Acushnc, nnd
Mohawk and two wrcckinE tu..s stood
Dy to take he crew off in case the
names got completely beyond contrni