Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 November 1887 — AN ACCIDENT AT SEA. [ARTICLE]

AN ACCIDENT AT SEA.

•Terrible Ocean Disaster off Dover, England. One Hundred and Forty Liven Lost by a Collision—The dteamer W. A. Scholten Sunk in Twenty Minutes. The Netherlands-line steamship W. A. Scholten, which sailed from R jtterdam for New York, Saturday, came into collision, ten miles off Dover, Englaud, at 10 olclock, Saturday night, w*ith the steamer Rosa Mary, and sank almost immediately. The Scholten had on board passengers and crew to the numbet of 230, and of these only ninety are known to have been saved. Of the remaining 140, twenty-seven have been; landed at Dover, -dead, and fears are entertained that the others were also lost, though a few- of them may have been picked up by passing vessels.

As soon as the news of the disaster reached Dover vessels were sent to the rescue, but it does not as yet appear that, with the exception of the ninety persons rescued and brought in by the steamer Ebro, any lives have been saved. The steamer Rosa Mary is lying ofl Ramsgate, with her bows badly stove and her timbers strained. The heads of the Scholten’s masts are visible above the water at the Dover pier. A dense fog prevailed when the collision occurred, and the Scholten was moving at half speed. No warning of the collision was given, the sudden shock of the contact on the port bow having been the first intimation to the officers of the Dutch steamer of the proximity of another vessel. The officers of the Scholten deny that the passengers on board the steamer were in bed, but it is the fact, nevertheless, that most of them rushed upon the deck in their night clothes immediately after the collision. As soon as the extent of the damage to the vessel was ascertained the order was given to lower the boats. The ship carried five boats, but only two ol them were available, the other three being unseaworfhy. The two sound boats were lowered, and at che same time it was reported on deck that the ship was making water rapidly, and must soon go down. The scenes which followed this announcement were terrible beyond description. Shrieks, prayers, groans and curses mingled with the hoarse voices of the officers giving orders, and the cries of children clinging so their mother’s skirts, rendered still more heart-rending the terror-laden shrieks of the latter. The officers displayed admirable coolness and remained on the bridge and at other posts of duty until the last, several of them,who were provided with life-belts, remaining until the vessel settled and leaping into the sea as she went down.

Within twenty minutes after the two ships came together the flchoiten was at the bottom of the channel. All of -tbe-paßOcngcra and crow who had been-, fortunate enough to procure life belts Heated and were picked uphy the Ebro’s boats, which cruised about until 4 o’clock Sunday morning. Taera is scarcely a persons among the rescued passengers who does not mourn the loss of a wife, husband, brother, sister, or child, and in some cases only one member of a large family is found to have been saved. The survivors were supplied with clothing by the officers and crew of the Ebro as far as possible, and additional garments were furnished to the unfortunates upon their arrival at Dover. There is a considerable discrepancy betweeo the statements of the passengers and those of the officers of the Scholten, a 3 there is also between the latter and the officers of the Rosa Mary declare that their vessel was lying at anchor when struck by the Scholten, while the second mate of the latter avers that he was on deck when the collision occurred and Baw the Rosa Mary come through the fog and strike the Scholten in the fore-rigging. The captain of the Rosa Mary corroborates the statements ot his office rs, andstontly declares the counterstatements of the Scholten’s officers to be incorrect. The Ro3a Mary, he says, was anchored just southeast of South Sandhead when the Scholten struck her. Finding that his vessel wa3 considerably damaged, be made for Dover roads, where he dropped anchor and made suitable provisions for keeping the ship afloat, being still unaware of the full exof her iDjuries. It is stated that a mackerel boat, just arrived at Hastings, reports that a v steamer ran across and damaged her nets in the early part of Sunday night and that the mackerel boat give chase to the vessel in the hopes of identifying her aud claiming compensation. While the steamer the crew of the mackerel boat saw her run into the Scholten. A color of truth is given to the story by the fact that fragments of fishing nets were found on the bows of the Rosa Mary.

LaMra by Fire. Fire at Decatur, Ala./ . Thursday, caused a loss of SIOO,OOO. Fire at Bloomington, Neb., Wednesday,destroyed $60,000 Worth of property; insurance $15,000." / Tae Cincinnati Southern railway shops at Cincinnati burned, Friday, Tue village ol Soloni, in Warren county, lowa, was almost entirely desi royed by fire Monday. and wesiern portions of Kentucky state

that, owing to the protracted drought, forest fires are causing great destruction in that region. Fifteen business houses and a larg* number of residences in Granby, Mo., were burned Saturday night v • - Rothschild & Go.s dry goods bouse at Owensboro, Ky., was burned, Thursday. Loss. $60,000. Insurance $43,000. Fires were never known to be so general alohg the lower Misaiauppi. The smoke interferes with navigation. Keefer’s woolen and Patterson A Seasions’s flour mills at Canullus, N. Y., were bflrned, Thursday. Loss, 800,000. York, Neb., suffered a destructive firs Monday. Seven stores, including the Union and Masonic blocks, were burned. Loss SIOO,OOO. The shops of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad company at Ludlow, Ky., were burned, Friday morning. Los*, s2oo,o##. A number of cars were destroyed.

Fire at Tompkiusville, Ky., Wednesday, caused heavy losses. Burglars are thought to have set the fire to cover np their work. The court house was burned and all the county records are lost. The steamer Arizona, of the Lake Bnperior Transit Line, was burned to the water’s edge at Marquette, Thursday. She was a freight boat, valued at SIOO,000, and was on her last trip for th« season.

Warm Greeting Dy »n Old Contributor. C. B. Lewis, the “M. Quad” of th* Detroit Free Press, is now in the 8out& writing letters for his paper. According to all accounts he has been royally received, but, on Friday last, at Eufala, Ala., he met with an unexpected reception at the hands of a man wh* walked fourteen miles to see hint. Some years ago the caller wrote Quad a letter and the humorist held the writer up to public ridicule in the of his paper. The Southener had not forgotten it, and in the exuberance of his joy at meeting M. Quad, took off bis coat and folded the newspaper man to his breast. Then he laid On ad on the floor and tramped on him. After otherwise toying with the distinguished humorist till weary, the assailant wan arrested and later paid a fine of $4. The same evening Lewis delivered a discourse upon the signs of the times, and said it made his heart swell with joy to witness the warm-hearted greeting tendered Northern men by their Southern brothers. Quad will be “roasted” whenbe gets home.

Herr Host Again iti JaiK Johann Most, the Anarchist, was arrested at noon Thursday at the office of his newspaper, in New York, by detective Sergeants Crowley and McGuire, of Inspector Brynes’s staff. He was taken directly to police headquarters and through the aldermen’s gate and locked in one of the cells in the basement. His arrest was made by direction of Inspector Brvnes. on a,warrant issued by Justice Cowing Thursday, for having made an incendiary speech calculated to incite a riot on last Friday night in a hall in Seventh street.

Our Minister to Swedeu. W. W. Thomas, ex-United Btatea minister to Sweden, arrived at New York, Saturday. In reference to the charges against minister Magee, he said: I know Mr. Magee well. He is an aftable. honorable gentleman, respected in the Inst circles of Stockholm, at court andin official life. He is received in the society there and is everywhere a welcomed guest. I know further that he stands especially high in the estimation of the minister of foreign affkirß of Sweden. I do not believe that there is the slightest ground whatever for the reports.”

Immense I.ou bj Fire. Fire, Thursday night, destroyed Compress No. 4 and 5 of the Merchants’ Cotton Compress and Storage Company, at Memphis, and 13,200 bales of cotton with forty C. & 0. cars. Over 50,000 bales were endangered, but were finally saved. The loss is $650,000. The presses were located at the navy yard and close to the railroads reaching Memphis. Incendiarism is suspected, and one Walter Mendenhall is in jail. Will Accept. Secretary Lamar stated Tuesday evening toa reporter of the New York Herald that in case he was offered a seat on the Supreme Bench he would accept the appointment as the greatest honor of his life. A B id Collision. A collision of two freight trains occurred on the Cairo, Vincennes & Chicago railroad near Vienna, 111., Monday. The two engines and eight cprs were badly smashed. The two engineers,one of the firemen and a br&kemar. were instantly killed. -