The San Francisco Call.VOLUME LXXTIII.—NO. l. SAN FRANCISCO, SATURDAY MORNING, JUNE 1, 1895. PRICE FIVE CENTS.

OVERLOADING CAUSED THE COLIMA'S WRECK.COLIMA, Ma., May 31 (via City of

Mexico aiviElPaso).— Over-loading causedthe loss of the Colima. That is the verdictreached by the Mexican officials who went

to the scene of rescue. The steamship car-

ried a very heavy cargo, and was unable toride out the storm, which was one of theheaviest which has ever visited this por-tion of the coast.

The Colima was lost in 18 deg. 38 mm.north latitude, 104 deg. 14 mm. west longi-tude during a heavy storm beginning inthe southwest and ariving the vessel shore-ward, t

Captain J. F. Taylor proved a braveman, and did everything to save the ves-sel which man could do, but during theheight of the storm he was killed by afalling spar.

Chief Officer D. E. Griffith and ChiefEngineer John P. Ebsen met death in thesame way.

No one was left to manage the Colima,«nd she went down.

The steamship had on board at the timeof the wreci 123 passengers and a crew ofSO men.

There are known to have been saved:Cabin passengers

—STRABKL.$OUTH£RLAND.<TSHING.THORNTON.ALBASO.Steerage passengers—BOTD.KOWAN.CKRDA.SOI.IS.BOM.SANGENEB.OKIEL.KAMOS.RUIZ.GUTIKRREZO-MAXUELLI.

Crew—HANSEN.AVILES.CARPENTER.RICHARDSON.FISH.A boat which was in charge of Purser

Walter is believed to have been saved, butno definite information has been receivedconcerning it.

The steamer Romero Rubio, which wentto the scene of the wreck, has returned.She brought back a sack of mail and severalemail articles. Her crew report that manybodies were found floating about, but thatno livingperson was to be seen.

A telegram has been received from thebeach at Cuyutla announcing that sevenpersons have Janded there. Their namesare unknown here and cannot now beascertained.

The steamer Mazatlan, which went to

the scene of the wreck, recovered threeBacts of mail. Her officers, like those oftheRomero Rubio, report that many bodieswere seen floatingin the sea, and that muchwreckage was to be seen on the waters andalong the beach.

An order issued by the Mexican Govern-ment required that every effort to save lifeand cargo should.be made and that thoserescued should receive every care.

The cargo ofthe steamship willbe a totalloss.

Survivors who have landed speak in thehighest terms of praise of the behavior ofthe officers and crew of the wrecked steamerduring the time of peril.

The first twenty-two saved by the steamerSan Juan received every care upon reach-ing Mazatlan.

The storm daring which the Colima sunkwas the heaviest known in this section foryears. But meager reports are obtainablefrom Manzanillo, Acapnlco, Mazatlan orother points directly on the coast.

STOJtT OF THE DISASTER.

When the Captain Tried to Put Aboutthe Colitna Capsized. •

COLIMA, Mexico, May 31.— nightthe train for Manzanillo brought JohnThornton and five other survivors of theColima disaster. Their names are:

Passengers: ... .J.E. tUILBERG OF SEATTLE.

PETERS.ID08.

Crew:GONZALES.FRED JOHNSON.These men came ashore on a life-raft

which they encountered after the shipcapsized. Originally there were eight per-sons on the raft, but three, presumablyeeamen, were washed off. Their namesare unknown.

Chilberg states that another raft wasfloating about in the vicinity of San Telmowhen they came iashore. Thornton wastaking his sister-in-law to Guatemala. Sheis among the lost. Thornton says thatamong the first-class passengers lost arethe following:

ROBERTS AND WIFE OF SANDIEGO.W. H.ABLER AND W. J. SHEA OF

SEATTLE.MR. STRUCKMAN.Thornton, Chilberg and the seamen all

agree that there was a heavy sea from thetime they left Manzanillo. The ship madeno progress, but they were in no dangeruntil the captain attempted to put about.During this maneuver the ship capsized.They deny that the machinery or steeringgear was out of order.

Survivors say that all the women andchildren were in the staterooms at thetime of the disaster and that all wentdown with the steamer. Survivors sayalso that Purser Wafer was seen ina well-manned boat pulling away from the sink-ing steamer toward the shore.

Whether this boat succeeded inreachingBhore at some unfrequented point of thecoast or was lost in the attempt is as yetconjectural. Itis hardly probable that itis still afloat at sea.

A telegram received by American Con-eul Faden at Manzanillo from a Mr.Me-

Additional Details of the Horror on the Mexican Coast,in Which Only Thirty=Four Out of Two

Hundred and Sixteen Escaped.Clellan, a rachman near Coahuayata, saysthat people are floating on timbers off SanTelmo and need help. The Pacific Mailagents immediately started steamers forRomero Rubio and Mazatlan to rescuethem.

*

Wreckage is strewn all along the coast.Ten cases of petroleum, a piano and otherwreckage came ashore at Cuyatlan. Twobodies are reported to have been picked upat Paloverde.

The storm was one of unprecedentedseverity on this coast.

The Government of the State of Colima

has established a guard along the coastjinthe vicinity of the wreck, and is doingeverything possible to assist in rescuingthe survivors and recovering bodies.

STRUCK BY A MEATY WAVE-

The Cargo Shifted and the lioomed VesselWas Lost.

MANZANILLO, Mex., May 31.—{viaGalveston, Texas.) Five more survivorsof the foundered steamship Colma cameashore to-day near Coahuayana, a townsome miles further down the coast thanCuyuela near which the disaster oc-

curred, and they report other survivors asstill afloat.

The latest reports received here to-dayof the sinking of the Pacific Mailliner lastMonday show that while her speed wasslowed down on account of a high sea, shewas struck by an unusually heavy wave,which carried away allher forward housesand threw her on her beam ends.

In that dangerous position her cargo,

which included a heavy deck load of lum-ber, live stock and petroleum, shifted sobadly that she failed to right herself.

Two Mexican scnooners, the Albina andand Josephina, and the American schoonerHayes passed the Colima on Sunday nightand weathered the same storm which over-whelmed her, and reached Manzanilloon Monday afternoon withall sails reefed,but not damaged in the least.

The crews of these vessels agree withthe rescued passengers in blaming thestevedores in San Francisco, who storedthe cargo so badly as to make the catas-trophe possible.Itnow appears that when she sank the

Colirua had 216 souls aboard. Twenty-oneof those were picked up by the !San Juanthe next morning. A lifcraft with fivemore came ashore yesterday morning atSan Telmo and another dia the same atCuyuena with three others.

To-day's addition of five who reached

Coahuayana makes the total saved thirty-four, and they bring hopes of more.

No women or children appear among thesurvivors so far, as only a strong mancould stand the buffeting of the waves andthe wreckage. Some of those who did sur-vive are so badly bruised and exhaustedthat they may die yet, and all the othersare more or less hurt, one having his armbroken and all showing bruises.

Strenuous efforts were made at once tocut away some of her rail so as to let theextra heavy deckload slip offinto the sea,and at the same time the captain tried to

puthis ship about in order to return toManzanillo if possible, but three large seasstruck her in this awkward position inrapid succession, and with the third shewent clear over and sank to the bottomvery quickly stern first.

When she firstlisted, the passengers allthought she would right herself again, asshe had been laboring and rolling heavilyfor some time before that, and so nearly allof them remained in the state rooms andsaloons, and thus were engulfed with her.

No lifeboats were launched, according tothis latest version of the story, as therewas no time for it, but those who savedthemselves did so by clinging to portions

of lumber, to spars and especially to theliferafts until the next morning, when thesteamer San Juan of the same line, boundnorth, which had been hove to in the same

storm for seven hours, discovered and res-cued them.

There were originally eight men on the

raft which came ashore at San Telmo, butthree of these lost their hold and weredrowned, as the raft was overturnedseveml times by lofty waves.

No baggage or other valuables of thepassengers or crew were saved.

Three dead bodies came ashore to-daynear San Telmo. One is that of a womansupposed to be the wife of a jeweler inPochutla.

The Mexican steamer Romero Rubio,which was sent out to search for survivors,saw the body of another woman, but didnot pick itup.

The crew feels confident that more sur-vivors willbe found stillclinging tolumberor rafts.

The shore from San Telmo to Cuyutlenais strewn with lumber, petroleum, casesand general wreckage, and the Pacific Mailsteamer Barracouta has been sent up fromAcapulco to cruise about for the same pur-pose as the Rubio.

The Ban Juan left here on Wednesday

for San Francisco with seventeen surviv-ors.

Many or the Colima's passengers werebound toNew York, wher, they were dueon June 21.

The San Juan willreach San FranciscoJune 7.

The Colima left San Frc :;isco on May18, passed Mazatlan on M.v 24, San Biason the morning of May 25, a.LdleftManzan-illoin the afternoon of May 25.

She then drew 23 feet of water and metheavy head winds at once.

The sea grew veryrough, nd it was op-posite the month of the Apira River, in 18deg. 13mm. N.latitude and 27 deg.W. longi-tude, at 11 o'clock Monday morning, thatthe catastrophe occurred.

Mrs. Brewer, wifeof L.R. Brewer of SanFrancisco, was lost with her three chil-dren.

On the raft which came ashore at SanElma were J. E. Childerg of Seattle, Peters

and Vider, first-class passengers, and Rob-erto Ganzales and Fred Johnson, sailors.Domingo Albano, also drifted ashore onthe wreckage. . . •

SEVERELY CEITSUSED.

Overloading .and Bad Placing of the.V-V-T.v. Cargo. Caused the Wreck. Tj CITY OP • MEXICO, Hex., May 31.—The Pacific Mail Steamship Company isseverely censured for overloading and badplacing, of the cargo on the Colima, towhich jis attributed the!rapid sinking ofthe steamer. \u25a0

INSTRUCTIONS TO COXBULB.

Told to Do Allin Their Power to BelieveSurvivors. \u25a0

WASHINGTON, D. C, May 31.—TheState Department officials are doing all intheir power ',to relieve.the American sur-vivors of the unfortunate steamer Colima.The firstofficialnews of the disaster cameto Assistant Secretary Rockhill Wednes-day night from United

-States Consul "de

Cima at Mazatlan.

He reported 170 lives lost, and that theship

"had on;board "half a ,million in

American interests," supposedly referringto goods belonging to American shippers.

He asked whether he should proceed tothe scene of the wreck. Rockbill in-structed him to do so at once, and ifhecould render any assistance to report tothe department at once. ,

A message was also sent to United StatesConsul vBartlett :at Acapulco to learnwhether he could be of any assistance, andinstructing him to co-operate with theConsul at Mazatlan. , The coast near Man-zanillo, where the ', Colima :stranded, \u25a0; iswild,and the natives are likely to loot theship if!prompt steps are not ', taken toguard her. \u25a0; ,",\u25a0 ...'\u25a0\u25a0 :' ,

";..-,.'.\u25a0. .'-'\ .. ,

'." IDEXTIFYIXG THE VICTIMS.'

'\~ \

Residents of theiCoast. Who'Perished in' /\u25a0'' \u25a0'\u25a0''' y^~' the Disaster. -\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0'• .••\u25a0 il----.i!,

VLOS ANGELES, Cal.. \ May \u25a0 31.—Theidentity 'of the passenger C. A. E. Orme,who went down on the

'Colima, has been a

mistaken one ;in the dispatches thus far.He was a wealthy Englishman, a member

of the Junior Constitution Club of Lon-don and a great traveler. For six monthsbefore the disaster he lived in this citywith a friend, F. S. Hutchings. He pur-chased his ticket for New York in this cityand went to San Francisqo to take theColima. He has a sister, Mrs. Wilson, inLondon and friends named Blair, who arebankers in San Francisco. He had beenaround the world three times.

BERKELEY, Cal., May 31.—

Mrs.Helen (instead of Miss Ellen) Muller was anursemaid to the children of Mrs. Whit-ing. She had no mother here. Herparents, if living, are in Germany. Pro-fessor Whiting's late residence is onDwight way, so that is how Mrs. Mullerhappened to live on that street. She was34 years of age and had lived with theWhiting family since last August. Sheseparated from her husband, who is some-where in San Francisco, and has an onlychild, who is also in the City.

SAN BERNARDINO, Cal., May 31.—John Alder, a brother, and T. J. Kennard,a brother-in-law of W.H. Alder, one of theColima's victims, leave Redlands to-mor-row morning for the scene of the disaster.Alder hopes to obtain a history of hisbrother's fate, and if possible to recoverthe body should it be among the dead.They go by rail to Guaymas and hope toreach Manzanillo within four days. Mr.Alder carried $21,000 insurance in favor ofhis mother and his sister, Mrs. T. J. Ken-nard.,SANTA CRUZ, Cal., May 31.—1t isthought here that C. L. Cooledge, who is

reported among the missing from | theColima, was a former resident of this city.He is a printer and was for some years em-ployed in the Sentinel office. -•

SEATTLE, Wash., May Later in-formation • respecting the Spearin casedemonstrates 'ibeyond the shadow of adoubt thatIthe man who was drowned atthe sinking ofIthe Colima was Windom T.Spearin jjof Jj this .city. jThe woman , whopassed as |his cousin was Matilda Phelps,known to some of his friends as his wife.

PROCESSOR WHITING'S WILLS.

He Took Precautions Before Starting on\u25a0

:

the Fatal Trip.''

': \u25a0\u25a0'-, :' ~-\''

1~OAKLAND,CAL.^May 31.—Fearing the

Jaegers of tlie sea and'perhaps 'Laving \u25a0&

'premonition of disaster, Professor Whitingof t the r.University of California, the in-structor who was drowned: in:the wreck ofthe Colima, left two iwills, which weremade just previous to his departure. Thefirst document provided that :in case any-thing should happen |to the family whileon the journey and all were lost the prop-erty, which consisted of lands and securi-ties in his native home of Cambridge,Mass., should be given to his

'mother and

other relatives residing there.'

.\u25a0 The other provided that in case of acci-dent and any of the family survived theseshould receive the estate.

Professor Whiting appears to have beena coldly practical man, yet witha certainsuperstition which led him to take allpos-sible precautions before leaving the landfor the perilous voyage to Panama. Hewas told by his physicians that he musttake a rest from his labors, and decided tovi&ithis childhood's home with his family.Thinking that the sea voyage would dohimgood Mrs. Whiting proposed that thejourney be made by water. The professordemurred to this, calling her attention tothe dangers to be encountered, but shelaughed fondly at his fears, and after alittle consideration he agreed to sail onthe Colima.

Then he made the wills, and as a furthermatter of precaution he sent them to hismother's lawyer at Cambridge, where theyhad doubtless arrived before the news ofthe wreck had reached the East.

Professor Whiting, whilenot expressingany definite fear of disaster, often spokeof the dangers that must necessarily begone through on such a journey andexpressed some regret that his children,to whom he wag fondly devoted, should beexposed to them. He told a number ofpeople that he had made the two wills andforwarded them to his home, so that incase anything happened, his family or rela-tives in the East would have the benefit ofhis belongings. The grief his manyfriends at the university and in Berkeleyfeel over his death makes them unwillingto talk of the matter, but a number of thewives and daughters of the other profes-sors knew of the wills and of his strangefeelings regarding the journey by sea, andmuch comment has been excited by thepeculiar circumstances.

Miss Hilgard, daughter of ProfessorHilgard, and Mrs. Wilkinson, wife of thesuperintendent of the Deaf and Dumb andBlind Asylum, heard the wills spoken of,and, whilenot imputing any motives otherthan were practical ones to the professor'saction in preparing for the journey as hedid, have a feeling that something musthave warned the professor that he was ingreat danger.

"He had a premonition of evil," said alady at a gathering at which the matterwas being discussed the day after the newsof the wreck arrived, "for he lookedworried and anxious from the time it wasdecided to go by water, thougn he tried toappear cheerful."

ARE ON THE SAN JUAN.Sixteen of the Survivors of the

Colima on the Way toThis City.

Stories That Others Have Been Res-cued Circulated Among the

Anxious.

in this City yesterday a diminishing in-terest in the foundered Colima and herhuman freight was shown. A few of theimmediate relatives of the missing called

on the accommodating general passengeagent of the Pacific Mail Company to in-quire for further tidings, A little knot ofnewspaper men pre-empted seats outsidethe railing, but otherwise the companyoffices at 425 Market street tookon an ordi-nary everyday appearance and businesswas transacted just as if over a hundredlives and a noble ship had not disappearedin the waves. There was none of the sub-dued crowd, the wan and tear-stainedfaces of twenty-four hours before. Bitteranguish had givenplace to dull heartacheand hard dry sobs to the tears of the be-reaved.

On the streets before the newspaper of-fices little knots of men and women readthe meager bulletins and turned awaywith a muttered curse for the "coffinboat." Anidea became prevalent duringthe later hours that the officials of thesteamship company had learned the par-ticulars of the disaster and were withhold-ing them inthe hope that more survivors

sprung a leak and foundered and had notas reported, run upon a hidden reef.A still later bulletin announced that the

women were in their staterooms and wentdown with the ship. The agony it causedthose whose lady friends were in thedisaster can well he Imagined. Descrip-tion is impossible from the fact that thosereading it hastened to hide their grief intheir homes.

At5 o'clock the first definite news of theday was received. Itcame in cipher fromthe Mazatlan agents of the steamship com*pany, and being translated read as follows:

The San Juan sailed May 31at 4 a. m.forSanFrancisco carrying sixteen passencers of theColima. Fernandez Mexdez &Co.

The San Juan makes no stops betweenMazatlan and this port. She willpass offSan Diego on the morning of the 3d inst.,and may stand in and show her signals—as the coast steamers frequently do

—in

order to be reported to the Merchants'Exchange here. The San Juan, if shemakes schedule time between here andMazatlan, should arrive off the headsabout daylight of the 6th inst. Who arethe passengers she carries is unknown,save only in the case of young Cushing.

Last evening the office of the PacificMail Company was kept open, as has beendone ever since the loss of the Colima wasfirst announced. Passenger Agent Averyand a telegraph operator were on duty tillmidnight, but no dispatches were receivedand there were but few callers.

Ifthere is a happy mother in San Fran-cisco to-day that mother Is Mrs. William

might be found before the truth should be-ooiiie kn>. iv. Tlir>, the officials strenu-ously denied, but tieir words bore littleweight with the anxious few.

In some way itbecame known that thesteamer San Juan was at Mazatlan, butscarcely an individual knew how it waslearned.

Across the bay Mrs. C. H. Cushing,whose two sons were passengers on theill-fated steamer, received a dispatch fromone of them. Others, friends of the res-cued, received similar messages, but theywere not made public. Mrs. Cushine'sdispatch read :

MAZATLAN,May 30, 7:22 P. m.Via Galveston.

Mrs. C. H. Cushing, San Francisco— Amhere.Returning on the San Juan.

C. H. Cothing Jr.

Not a word was said concerning hisbrother's fate, and the mother is in doubtwhether the omission was made becausehe knew nothing or because he knew toomuch.

From the dispatch the inference wasdrawn that the San Juan, having spenttwo days in the search, had abandoned itand continued her voyage with those sherescued still on board.

At 1o'clock, in the steamer office, thefollowingbulletin was posted :

DISPATCH TO MRS. PETERS.Louis is safe. Picked up by the Barracouta.

William Peters.A flutter of hope passed over the little

group that read it. "If the Barracoutasaved him it might have picked up oth- jers," was the remark, and a desultory Isearch for further information was the re- !suit.

"We have received absolutely no infor-mation," was the only satisfaction vouch- !safed by the steamer people. "We have igiven our agents carte blanche in the mat- !ter of expense and have ordered tnem toiwire every incident. We wiilspend dollar ':for dollar witn the newspapers to get in-formation, but nothing has come as yet." '

Later in the afternoon the newsps^rcr 1bulletins notified the anxifxis that theBarracouta had found a raft bearing six ,men.

The names of the men saved were an-nounced as follows:

Cabin— John N. Thornton, J. E. Chil-berg, Louis H. Peters, — Vindor.

Seamen— Fred Johnson, Reyserto Gon-zales.

The man Vindor is said to have boardedthe steamer at Mazatlan.Itwas also stated that the wreck was

caused by the overloading of the steamerand by an injudicious stowage of thecargo. This was taksn to mean that thesteamer, straining in a heavy swell, had

"eters, who has apartments at the Rubslouse.Her mo Louis was one of the passengers

on the ill-fated Colima, and for two daysand nights she was a prey to anguishwhich can only be understood by themothers of the community. Her belovedson had started for Guatemala to takecharge of his father's business, so that thelatter might come home for a short vaca-tion and visit with his family.

"For two days and nights," she said, "Ihardly closed my eyes. The picture ofthatawful scene burned into my brain, andturn as Iwould the crested and tali,crumbling waves in the darkness of thatterrible night rose before my mental visionand their booming sounded in myears. Icould not escape the horrible picture, andifmy suspense had lasted much longer Ifear my mind would have become un-balanced.

"But,oh1 the relief that came with thatcablegram. There were only four words,'Louie saved by Barracouta,' but the mosteloquent chapter from the pen of a Dnmascould not have filled my heart with suchcomfort and joy. Louie is but 23 years ofage and that was his first voyage. Just tothink what the poor boy must have suf-fered the two days he was afloat!

"From late advices Ilearn that he hasbeen landed at Colima. The general im-pression so far as Ican judge is that theaccident was due to the unseaworthinessof the boat. Itis not considered a danger-ous part of the coast where she foundered,and Iam told by those well versed innautical knowledge of that part of thecoast that the machinery of the boat musthave been badly out of order to render herso fatally unmanageable. But IthankGod my boy is safe, and do not forget tooffer a silent prayer for those who werelost and the ones they left behind."

Quartermaster Charles Hagerstrome.

PIEDRA BLANOA,THE PRINCIPAL LANDMARKOF MANZANILLOBAY.["We just passed a large steamer, the Colima, about a quarter of a mile off and are now

tailing on the smooth water withnothing insight but a low line ofblue hillsin the distance."—

Extract froma letter by Percy Gray of the"

Call"

art department, who was a passenger on arecent south-bound steamer for Panama, and whose sketches from nature offManzanillo werereceived inthe

"Call

"office yesterday.]

CAUSES OF SHIPWRECKVessels Often Go Down at Sea

Without a Colll-sion.

Various Theories as to the MannerIn Which the Collma

Was Sunk.

When a vessel is said to have foundereditis understood that she has gone down inthe open sea, and that her loss has beenoccasioned not by collision with a rock or

ireef or others of her kind, but to the fury!of the wind and water or to some inherent!defect or accident to herself.

Often the causes of the sinking of a yes-'sel is due to her own motive power, her

iengines and boilers, for the explosion of! the one or the breaking of the other is aptj to open a hole through the bottom platesIand admit the sea. Such was the case of| the City of Paris, one of the bigtrans-Atlan-tic liners, some years ago. She was speed-

j ing through the water at nearly twenty.-knots, when the main connecting-rod of

her engine, the rod which transforms thedirect movement of the piston-rod to the

Ireciprocating motion of the crankpin,ibroke in the middle. The rest of the en-Igine continued its motion, and the tremen-

dous casting, still attached to its crankpin,was whirled round and round until it hadtorn a hole in the bottom of the vessel

j large enough almost for a carriage gate-! way. The Paris and the 600 people whoi were on board of here were only saved be-j cause of her watertight compartments.

As it was she sank to her rail, and after, some days of fine weather reached port inj safeiy.

There are those whoadhere to the opinionjthat something of this sort hag happened

OIF THE ENTRANCE TO MANZANILLO EARBOB.[Sketched from nature by a

"Call

"artist on board the touth-bound steamship which preceded the fatal MfiM<*. tbr CoUtna

Received in this city yesterday.] -"•

SCENE NBAS MANZANILLO HARBOR.[Sketched from nature by a "Call" artist who was a passenger on the south-bound steamship which preceded the Colima on the

way to Panama.]