The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-11-17
COMP ANY WIRED
CAPTAIN CAREY
TO DELAY S. 0. S.
Officials Are Trying to
Shift Blame for
Wreck to Crew
Intimidate the Sailors
Guilt of Government
Is Definite


While a so-called 'investiga-
ton" into the causes for the
sinking of the Vestris took the
form yesterday of seeking to
frame up members of the
heroic crew, new and startling
information which the ''investiga-
tors" could not hold back, disclosed
that the officials of the Lamport &
Holt steamship company had sent
wireless message to the captain
of the Vestris early Sunday order
ing him to delay sending out the
S. o. S. call which would have
saved those on board.
These revelations came out in the
hearing at the office of U. S. Dis
trict Attorney Tuttle in the Post
Office Building. Evidence disclosed
indicated definitely that there was
in existence the copy of a message
which the company officials wire
lessed to Capt. Carey long before he
sent out his S. o. S., instructing him
to delay his summons for aid in
order to save salvage costs. At the
same time, the Lamport & Holt Of
ficials evidently instructed Captain
Carey to get in touch with the Vol
taire, another liner owned by the
company, for assistance in order to
save the costs of rescue work.
Four members of the crew of the
sunken liner appeared in yester-
dsyIs hearing. They were intimi-
dated, browbeaten, by the same in
vestigator who the day before had
been so congenial to the stories of
the wealthy passengers who sur
vived the disaster.
The purpose of the 'investi-
gators" was obviously to frame up
the workers who manned the Yes
iris and to exonerate the Lamport
and Holt officials and both the
United States and British shipping
authorities, who by their combined
activities and criminal negligence in
allowing the rotten old hulk that
the Vestris has been proven to be,
to leave port, are chiefly responsible
for the disaster and the accompany
ing tremendous loss of life.
Start Official Frame-up.
The first steps in this frame-up
procedure were taken two days ago
when Negro members of the crew
of the ill-fated ship were impris-
oned and virtually held incommuni-
cado in the Seamen's Church Insti-
tute, 25 South St. Yesterday the
vicious legal machinery of the cap
italist class was definitely geared
for action.
The members of the crew who
were called before the investigat-
ing board yesterday upheld the
charges that were made Immediately
upon their arrival after they had
kept themselves alive in rotten life
boats until rescue came. The over
whelming mass of evidence against
the Lampert and Holt Company and
against the United States and Brit
ish shipping authorities remained
substantially and basically the
same. These facts were:
/. That the Vestris was old, rot
ten, untitled for the rigorous trip
on the Atlantic. Rust had eaten
into the plates, rendering the ves-
sci completely unseaworthy.
2. That the Lampert and Holt
officials had known this before the
ship had left England, and had de-
liberately and criminally failed to
rebuild the cOrroded parts, but had
covered the Yestris with a new coat
Of paint to hide the rOttenness of
the vessel.
3. That government shipping au-
thorities, both of the United States
and Great Britain, had inspected
this rotten hulk before the fatal
voyage, and, knowing its condition.
had allowed il to make the trip.
4. That Captain Carey, commo-
dore of the entire Lampert and Holt
fleet, had ignored the demands of
his crew and of the passengers that
he send out calls for aid immedi-
ately after the list to the starboard
was discovered after leaving port
5. That the officials of tho
United States navy had kept tho
giant dirigible, the Los Angeles
from going to the rescue of the Yes
iris after the s. o. S. calls had beer
received, because of the expense in
yolved in such a course of action
Obvious Frame-up.
These facts, although in the pos
session of U: S. Attorney TuttI
and the U. s. government, we,
completely ignored when the inve
tigation was begun yesterday, in
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