Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-31
Officials Admit There May
Have Been as Many as 116
Persons Aboard.
EARLY BOOKINGS ONLY
RECORD OF PASSENGERS
Charge Crash Resulted From Fail.
ure of Tanker's Officers to
Keep Adequate Watch.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
SAN FRANCISCO, August 31.-The
possibility that the coastwise passenger
steamer San Juan carried 116 persons
instead of ITO, as previously reported,
indicated today that the loss of life in
its sinking SIS miles south of here early
yesterday may have been as high az
"A persons.
Albert E. Gillespie, manager of the
Los Angeles and San Francisco Naviga-
ton Co. owners of the San Juan. ad-
mitted that there may have been as
many as 66 passengers aboard and that
the crew may have numbered as high
as so.
Gillespie declared that the list of 65
passengers. the only one available III
the records Of the company here. was
based upon bookings made several hours
before the ship sailed and that the crew
list of As was as of last month.
Inc companyS manager said tickets
sometimes were sold aboard the ship
by the purser and that half a dozen
persons may have paid their fares after
sailing. The purser, John Cleveland,
apparently perished. so no means of
checking the new figures was available
g. Names on Death List.
The death list of the San Juan con-
tained 81 names today, indicating that
Al passengers and 26 members of her
crew perished when she went down SIS
miles south of here after colliding with
the Standard oil tanker S. c. T. Dodd.
AS the search for the bodies in the
sea off Pigeon Point, Calf. continued,
| the question arose as to the RESPONSE
bility for the collision. Eye-witnesses ac-
counts of the disaster indicated that
the ships sighted each other about the
same time about midnight Thursday
night and that the collision occurred
as each adopted the same tactics in an
effort to avoid the crash
The Los Angeles and San Francisco
| Navigation Co.. owners of the San
Juan, yesterday filed in United States
| District Court libel suits for 81 1.500. 900
and for $500 900 against the owners of
the Dodd, declaring the crash resulted
from failure of officers of the tanker
| to keep adequate watch.
Capt. H. c. Bleumchen of the Dodd,
| In newspaper statements and in testi-
mony late yesterday before a hastily
called hearing by United States steam
| boat inspectors. declared the collision
| ACouitC0 OI IIls Gan OudIl
to maneuver properly in response to
| signals from the Dodd's whistle.
o. v. Saunders. third officer Of the
Dodd, was On the bridge when the acci-
| dent occurred. The lights of the pas
senger steamer were first seen over a
| stretch of about three quarters of q
mile Of water. he declared.
Sent Call for Captain.
"At 1884 pm, the weather was
! clear" Saunders said. AT HAS the
| fog began to come in. but it was COM
paratively light, although it piled up
thicker and thicker. When the fog
began to get heavy, I sent call for
| Capt. Bleumchen.
While the captain was coming up
I started to blow the fog whistle
Then I saw the masthead lights of
! steamer coming toward us. She was
about three-quarters of point off the
starboard bow, and three-quarters of
a mile to mile away.
If the San Juan had held to her
course. she would have passed us with
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