The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-09-10
Fire On Board Ship
 May Be Lncendiary
(Continued from Page Il

The fire that swept through the big cruise ship Saturday morning he said he was informed, twas like burst of kerosene or gasoline"
 Warns. deeply moved by the tragedy as he recountedt he events casiens his testimony was inter- go on for several seconds.
 The two points advanced bN Warns to support his belief tha the fire might have been incen diary:
 1. The explosion of oil or gas oline in a writing room locker. Ht said the oil could have been there only if placed by some one seeking to damage the ship.
 2. The fact that a fire on tht Morro Castle on September 3. ap' peared to him to be incendiary.
 Defended the Crew Warns strongly defended the crew, said discipline was good and that life boats were regularly test ed. He said the motor boats. were in good condition and the crew knew how to handle them. "The men were absolutely com. petent," Warns said, but added that there was heavy turnover in the steward department. The deck crew was of mucf longer experience, he said.
 q heard there was a drinking party in the lounge on Frida. night" Warns said. "I didn't wor | ,Iz r llu in ] vestigate.
 "When the fire started ant spread, I shouted orders along thu decks to get passengers in the life boats and get life belts on passen gers. gave orders to lower boat! after they were loaded. No boa was lowered before that order Wa: given"
 Describes Death of Captain Warns had described the deatf | of his captain, Robert R. Willmott few hours before the fire. ant | his taking over of the command Again he broke down as he related | the tragic details of Willmott' | death and the burden of control 1 threw upon himself. 1 Questioned regarding the pos | sibility of insubordination or labo trouble, the chief officer said ther had been no indications of suc' | trouble.
 The only oil or gasoline carrie, l on board the Morro Castle was tn authorized amount for use by tn ships motor life boats, he said. l Warns told how he shouted fo | stewards to close fire doors sool after blaze was discovered. A mal was at each of four fire doors t close them but Warns was uncer tain whether they were closed. :. | All doors of the starboard sid of the decks were closed due t the storm.
 Fire Startcd Before 3 A. M.
 Fire started few minutes bc fore 3 a. m., Warns said. Tn emergency stand by call by ra dio was sent out at 3:15 a. m. l The assistant radio operator hal come to the bridge and asked 10 orders.
 "At that time, thought we coul: hold the fire," Warns said. "Tha was at 3:15 a. m"
 was there d delay in sendini the SOS?" pr N. Hoover of the de partment of commerce asked.
 He came back in a minute, an' I told him to send out a genera sos call. Later I saw him at phone. Then pretty soon he cam .back and said the sos had beel sent"
 Purposely Started
 Warns then told the inquir, board that he was led by the ex plosion in a writing room locker t believe the fire might have beei purposely started.
 He admitted he had little evi dence to support that theory, an' that it was possible dropped cig aret might have been responsible
 On the fatal trip from Havana t' New York, he said he was worried about the heavy storm of hurrican' proportions off Cape Hatteras.
 II found the captain dead sool after o'clock" (Friday mighty h, said. We went for a doctor.
 "Then I went on the bridge"
 "The steward asked what to d. with the captains body"
 "'God bless his soul l replied. Warns testified. T told them t dress him up and lay him out il his cabin"
 Warns voice broke for mo ment, but he went on in shor ierky cadence.
 T told them to seal the captain room and bring me the key"
 Warns said the captain had diet of indigestion and heart failure.
 Warns began weeping. forcing momentary interruption of testi mony.
 He Took Command
 "I took command after the can tain died" he said stoica.ly as 1 the words made the later scenes o death and disaster burn nor, brightly in his mind. In regard to the possibilities o the captains death affecting disci pline of passengers, Warns said h. "did not know"
 1T never left the bridge after tn, captain died,n he said.
 The crew felt every sad," bu there was no hint of lack of disci pline.
 | Y was very sorry" he begal tand broke down again, tear A .. aL (.