Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1913-03-14
CAPTAIN i MEETS
HEROIC |: Death | J {
Tug Rushes to Assistance Of
Burning Steamer.
DYNAMITE CARGO ExPloDEs
AZ Least Forty Men Are Killed in Bal.
timore Harbor and Over Sixty
Injured, Some Fatally.
DYNAMITE CARGO ExPLODES

Van Dyke OF Baltimore, captain OF Tue
wrecked tug Atlantic, lost his life In
heroically rushing to the aid of the
imperiled British seamen in the
doomed Alum Chine and his vain ef-
fort carried with him to death many
members of his crew. ....
When curling smoke from the bow
of the Alum Chine warned members
of her crew, the stevedores engaged
in loading her and the crew of the
Atlantic alongside, that fire was rag
ing in the coal bunkers there was in
slant realization that flames soon
would reach the 300 tons of dynamite
stored in the Alum Chimes hold and
the barge roped beside her.
Instantly there was rush to the
ships side. Fourteen members OF the
crew and four of the stevedores
leaped over the rail and tumbled pell
nell into the launch Jerome, which
had a moment before brought two fire.
men aboard the i'll fated ship. All OF
the other members of the crew and
stevedores who could reach the deck
leaped for the decks of the Atlantic.
The tug and launch, cutting hawsers.
were sped away from the scene of the
impending catastrophe, the Jerome
picking up speed first and rushing to
safety.
Piteous Appeals for Rescue.
The Atlantic had proceeded a few
hundred feet when two frantic figures
were seen clambering from the Alum
Chine hold. They were Sailors who
had been left behind. Reaching the
sides of the vessel they shouted pit
eous appeals for rescue.
Captain Van Dyke, despite the
knowledge he must have had that
hail Of death soon would be pouring
over the harbor, needed the call Of
the imperiled sailors. The engines
were stopped, the Atlantic wheeled
and rushed again to the fire doomed
vessels side She reached it in safe
ty. The two sailors jumped aboard.
p Again the Atlantic wheeled, Cap
tain Van Dyke standing in the pilot
house, gave hurried orders, which
again sent the tug toward safety. But
it was too late. ..-ss r~ass" ssss3
The Atlantic's nose had scarcely
been turned toward open water when,
with roar like the eruption of vol
cano, the death laden vitals of the
Alum Chine exploded.
Tug Human SHAMELESS.
The conclusion hurled all before 1t.
A dense pail of smoke enveloped the
waters and when it cleared away the
ship and barge had disappeared and
the Atlantic, dismantled hulk, help
less on the surface of the bay, had
become human shambles.
Death in dreadful form had de-
seconded from the sky. The Alum
Chine had been torn into shreds and
boxes Of dynamite mingled with the
flying fragments of steel and timber
filed the air. These fell on the packed
decks Of the Atlantic, the dynamite
exploding as it fell, and sweeping
them as charge of shrapnel levels
charging troops.
Mems heads and limbs were torn
from their bodies. Blood was every
where. From ships and launches
nearby were seen dismembered bodies
flung across and tumbled about the
Atlantic's decks.
The injured number more than six
ty, of whom twenty are so frightful-
ly MANNED that death appears certain.