The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1933-11-02
S.C.Boy Has
a Life Time
Experience
Kenneth Mickey Is Member of
Crew of Chicago Rammed
October "a
100 MILES OUT AT SEA
Writes Very Interesting Let.
ter to Parents Describing
Morning Tragedy

Kenneth Mickey, son of Mr.. and
Mrs. Guy w. Mickey, managers OF
the Red Owl Store, of this city
Joined Uncle Sans navy couple
of years ago, and eventually became
q member of the crew of the Cruis
er, Chicago. This boat, a member
of the Pacific feet, was rammed
by the British freighter, Silver
palm, in a dense fog early in the
morning Of Oct "a, off the Monte.
rey coast, 100 miles from San Fran
cisco.
The Chicago, scout cruiser, left
San Pedro Monday morning follow.
ed by the Pensacola, Chester and
Southampton, in dense fog and
proceeded toward San Francisco
The Chicago Is one of Uncle Sans
older vessels a 10000 ton boat
When she left San Pedro the Chi
cago was under Independent orders
to proceed directly to Oakland, Cal
ifornia to dock.
According to statement of Capt
Manley Simons, of the Chicago
they were proceeding slowly, sound
ing a long blast every minute to
warn approaching ships. Hearing
a whistle from another ship, two
long blasts were sounded and en-
gines of the Chicago were stopped
Shortly before the accident the
Chicago veered away from two 9TH
er ships. The Silverpalm rammed
the Chicago on it's port bow with
the swiftness Of torpedo in actual
battle, cutting a hole 40 feet wide
and 70 feet deep, laying bare three
lower decks. The powder maya
zines were within a very short dis
lance from where the impact took
place. The Silverpalm received on
ly nominal injuries.
The officers quarters were locat-
ed in that portion of the Chicago
rammed. Three of them were kill
ed outright; the fourth was so bad
" hurt that his left arm was ampu-
tated at the elbow.
After the accident the Chicago
was able to proceed to the Mare
Island, CAL, navy yard under her
own steam.
Under date of Oct. Is, Kenneth
wrote his parents a very interesting
first hand picture of the tragedy
which the Herald is privileged to
publish herewith:
u. S. s. Chicago,
Mare Island, Calf.
Oct. 25. 1888
Dear Mother, Father, Brother
and Sister
Well I will start this letter
tonight but it will be a rather
long one and will try and make
it as interesting as I can.
We left San Pedro last Mon
day morning in a very thick
fog and it was foggy all the
way up. At eight A. M. on
Tuesday we were about 100
miles off the coast from the
Golden Gate. We were max
ing about 10 knots and were
maneuvering by our selves, the
other three cruisers were about
two miles on our starboard
side. The fog was 50 thick
you could not see from one end
of the ship to the other.
AT about sos we heard a ship
blow her fog horn and saw her
bow coming through the fog
on our starboard side, we turn
ed sharply to the left to keep
from hitting her when another
ship was sighted coming d.
rectly at us. We then turned
35 degrees to the right but she
hit us on our starboard bow.
The ship seemed as though she
was going to turn over from
the impact. If it had not hit
number one turret it would have
cut the old Chicago in two as it
CONTINUED Oh rage Four)