River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-02-05
OLD DOMINION LINER, MONROE
CUT IN TWO BY STEAMER
NANTUCKET IN DENSE
FOG.
SLEEPING PASSENGERS
ARE PLUNGED TO DEATH
Darkness and Fog Delays Rescue
Work and But Eighty-five Aboard
Doomed Vessel Are Saved
Rescue Ship With surViv-
ors in Port.

Norfolk. Va, Feb. 2.-The story of
how al persons went down to death
in the still waters of the Atlantic
when the liner Nantucket rammed and
sank the steamer Monroe was brought
TO port by the survivors of the sunken
ships company, who were rescued and
brought to shore by the Nantucket.
Death Was Sudden.
It was a story of sudden death,
sweeping out of the dark and fog and
taking unaWares the doomed half hun
dred with the heaviness of sleep still
upon them. 1t told how the stricken
Monroe, with her side gored deep by
the llnifelike steel PROV of the Nan
tucket, filled rapidly, rolled over on
her side and in a few minutes turned
completely over and plunged to the
bottom, carrying with her the Inflated
passengers and members of the crew
who had failed to get clear of the
wreck.
The revised lists prepared by Cap
tain Johnson, who survived the sunk
en- vessel, showed
Lost Passengers, 10; crew, %: to-
tai, Al.
saved-Passengers, 80; crew, so; to-
tai, 80.
Lost: Passengers, %; crew, "a;
total, 40. Saved: Passengers, 80; crew,
b5; total, 81.
Ship Cut in Two.
The Monroe was rammed amid-ships,
practically cut in two, and sunk within
ten minutes, twenty miles southeast
of Hog Island, by the Nantucket at
a. m.
Captain Johnson, Of the sunken Mon
roe, and all his officers but one were
saved. The lost officer was Second
officer Gately.
Had Night Clothes On.
None of the passengers who were
saved had anything with them except
their night clothing they wore when
the steamer went down.
James O'Connell of Washington, one
of the survivors, was saved in his I'M
derclothing. AS soon as he could get
down the gangplank be rushed to a
telephone to tell his wife in Washing
ton of his safety.
Sinks Like PIummet.
The Monroe, its passengers pitched
out of berths in night clothes, sank
like a plummet.
In the swirling vortex of the sinking
ship men shouted and women scream
ed through the mist The Monroe
n ;oI-I 10
little time for launching boats and it
is believed that the only refugees were
those saved at once by the Nantucket
The lost had scarcely a chance to
realize that death was upon them be-
fore they were struggling in the sea-
The doomed passengers of the Mon
roe, fast asleep in their cabins when
the two vessels came together, went
down to death with only time for a.
shrek of despair
Only those kept awake by the snort
ing sirens, that walled their useless
warnings through the fog, knew when
ne vessels struck.
Orders Out 1ifeboats.
AS the Nantucket staggered back
after the shock Chaplain Perry swung
out his searchlight and dimly the bulk
of the settling Monroe doomed up
through the drifting fog.
Uncertain as to the fate of his own
vessel, he ordered out the lifeboats.
Lost form view in the fog they began
the work of rescue. Guided only by
the shrieks of the drowning, the boats
picked UP the survivors.
Property Loss $1,ooo,o 900.
The steamer was valued at approx
mately 100000 and its cargo as much
more, making the total loss, exclusive
of lives, about $1,OO0,O00.