Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1914-02-05
DECLARES cARELEssNEss cAUs-
ED DEATH or FORTY WHEN
SHIPS COLLIDE.
MEN DIE TO SPARE WOMEN
AS BIG LINER GOES DOWN

MEN DIE TO SPARE WOMEN
AS BIG LINER GOES DOWN.
Husbsnd Swims Holding Wife's Hair
in Teeth, But She Expires When
Aid comes-When Ship Turns on
One Side Passengers Crawl to Up
per Side Until Washed OF Into Icy
Waters-Undue Speed During Heavy
Fog Is Blamed for Accident,
Norfolk, Va.-The story of how 40
persons went down to death in the
chilly waters of the Atlantic when the
liner Nantucket rammed and sank the
steamer Monroe was brought to port
by the 80 survivors OF the sunken
ships company, who were rescued and
brought ashore by the Nantucket. It
was a story of awful, sudden death
how the stricken Monroe, with her
side gored deep by the knife-like steel
prov Of the Nantucket. filled rapidly,
rolled over on her side and In a few
minutes turned completely over and
plunged to the bottom, carrying with
her a portion of passengers and mem
bers of the crew.
The revised lists prepared by Capt.
Johnson, who survived the sunken
vessel, showed: Lost-Passengers, Is;
crew, %; total, 40. Saved-Passen-
gers, 80; crew, 60; total, 80.
Under the thick bank of fog that hid
the heavily running sea both ships
were making their way slowly and
with difficulty in the early morning.
The Monroe, with Capt. Johnson on
the bridge, and a double lookout peer
Ing into the fog ahead, was edging
under half speed to the northward,
having left Norfolk for New York
with a nerve-racking fog.bound voy-
age in prospect. The Nantucket,
heavily laden with freight and with
hut two passengers aboard, was nos
ing her way southwark, bound from
Boston to Norfolk. Urged through the
dripping fog the two vessels were
slowly drawn toward each other.
Crash Came Without Warning.
The crash came about lao without
warning. Out of the gray black fog
that shut out even the waves frcm
view the CLEAN of the Nantucket's
searchlight scarcely touched the side
Of the Monroe before the high steel
prov of the southwark bound vessel
cut into the Monroe's side, with a
ripping and crashing of plates that
threw the stricken ship aback. The
Nantucket with her bow crushed
backed out of sight into the fog as
Capt. Johnson, seeing his vessel was
fatally stricken, shouted an order for
the lifeboats.
When the crash came those aboard
the Monroe were in bed alseep, Only
Capt. Johnson and those of the crew
on deck were up and about. But the
shivering of the stricken vessel and
her listing motion as the water poured
through the cash in her side awaken
ed the sleeping passengers and sent
them ~clambering toward the deck.
Warned by the officers, they hurriedly
adjusted life p%reservers and rushed to
the deck. But the time was too brief.
Those rescued agreed that from the
time the Monroe was struck until she
settled beneath the waves not more
than ten minutes elapsed.
Baggage, clothing, valuable, were
all forgotten In the fight from the
staterooms of the sinking ship. Pa
iamas, n~ighteowns and bath robes and
blankets comprised the apparel of
those who reached the slippery up.
ended deck before the water trapped
them below. And most Of them wore
that garb when they left the limping
Nantucket at her dock here.
As the half-clad, excited passengers
reached the deck they were hurried
toward the lifeboats by the officers
and the crew. Three of the lifeboats
from n side Of the crippled vessel
were got away from the side freighted
with frightened humanity, mostly
women, shivering in the wet and COLI
in their fimsy night clothing. BY the
time these we're away the Monroe was
rolling over on her side and 1t was
impossible to launch the other boats.
Passengers Thrown Into Icy sea.
With a sudden lurch the liner, now
fast filling with the water that rushed
through her plates, rolled over on her
side, throwing up her uninjured side,
then submerging cabins and saloons.
With a chorus of shrieks, the unfor-
tunates left on the sinking vessel
turned and, crawling like rats, made
their way oyer the superstructure,
through portfolios, windows and com
~panionways, until they rested, just
out Of reach of the waves, on the
upper side OF the half-capsized vessel.
But even this slippery security was
not long available. With a rumbling
sound, the big vessel shivered and
shook, and then plunged beneath the
waves, leaving her human freight
afoat o. the icy bosom of the ocean.
Meantime the Nantucket, herself
badly damaged, had stood by, and
Capt. Berry had aroused his crew. AZ
the Intellectual a y Of the searchlight
failed to pierce the banket OF fog,
Capt. Berry ordered out his ~lifeboats,
ana one by one they slipped away into
tho fog to search for the Monroe,
They found only the struggling sur