(enst THe "KODA HERALD.")
San Francisco papers received to-day contain fuller accounts of the Rio de Janeiro disaster than tave yet been ay: able—previeus detailed accounts come through Victoria (B.C.) pavers. The inquest was held on Februa-y 27th xs may be remembered. The actual verdict of the jury it seems was xs follows: We, the jmy, extend our heartiest goodwill Graham Coghlan, second officer of the wrecked Ri bervie actions and ster. We, the jury, find that the deceased came to her death in the Pacific Ocean on the 22nd day of February, 1901, through asphyxiation from submersion, caused by criminal negli-eon the part of both Captain Ward and Pilot Jordan, We most strenuously ccnsure the Pacific Mail Sreamship Company for employing inenpetent Chines crews to save human lives." From the "San Francisco Chronicle" we quote the followin sta mary of the proceed bara the grave ty the riliculons was evidenced all thrush the test many At one niment the amlienee would be wored almost to tears by the graphic destion of the terrors of the women who went down with the doomed ship, and at the next there would be " general laugh over the linguistic blunders of a for it who had not mastered the the English language. When Gabrielle lo Harean, the French girl, faced the eruwded tourn, she threw up he: bend and dranatica-Nay said: "I will nor tell a lie, i the Covoner's ad Mero was a general which continued all through the testimony of the girl who had gone through the horrors of shipwreck. Following comedy traveely, when William Brander, a youn ishman, depicted the shrieking, sob-women, As he went on with his terrible {story faces grew grave and a stillness came over the crowd as if all were hold-{ing their breath anxiety. 'The mislodramatic recital of the day, however, cxme when Chief Engineer {Herlhy' was on the stand. Dragged dunn by the sinking ship to depths whence he could scarcely ascend, he struggled to reach the surface only to find that he was retarded by a dying man's grasp on his log. As he struggled upwards he felt the human incubus crawling up his body, ineb by inch, and holding him twek from. {the much-needed air. "Finally rexchiny the atmosphere he was almist drowned by th's veiiiable Old Man of the who refused to be kicked eff end who hel on to the beck of the sim-st exhaus e) engineer until he was f-reilly pulled off by aber of Cli ese on a raft. Stories of i Pd he read between the lines many. It was found that First Assistant Engineer Macenn, just the ship was ready for her final plunge, went back to the engine-room and to almost certain death, in order to open the safety valves and prevent an explosion of the boilers. It was shown that Boatswain Pong Ming would not go into his boat even when the ship was giving her last lurch, until he received the command of his superior officer, and almost gave up his life in obeying orders." Pilot Jordan was the first witness. He told of the wreck and related how he had brought the ship from her anchorage into the bay in a heavy fog. After he got past Mile Rock he hauled up a int more in order to get an echo from his whistle from Point Diablo. He got no echo, and as he knew the'tide was running strong he headed north-northeast, to run close to Lime Point. The captain, chief officer, second officer, and himself were on the bridge when the vessel struck. He felt. perfectly safe because he could not hear Fort Point bell, and the first thing he Imew they were on the rocks. He Jaid the blame for the disaster entirely on the strong current which was setting in toward the San Francisco shore. When the vessel struck the danger signal was blown on the whistle. Jordan said that the captain ordered him to bring the vessel in. The Pilot's evidence to the effect that Capt. Ward gave the order to heave the anchor was contradicted by Graham Coghlan, second officer of the Rio, who said that. he heard Jordan give the order. Coghlan said that Ward did not reach the bridge until after the anchor was heaved and the engines were moving. No lead was heaved and no soundings of any sort were taken before the ship struck. It appears that Col. Alcott, the well-known theosophist, was not after all on board the Rio. He travelled to Honolulu by that vessel and there stood over a few days for the Coptic, arriving safely on the 25th of February—three days after the wreck of the Rio de Janeiro. A newspaper account of the disaster says that the fate of Consul-General Rounseville Wildman, his wife and their two children, makes a sad story. A boat had been launched and lay alongside. A ladder was rigged and Mrs. Wildman stood by the gangway. Pilot Jordan begged of her to get in the boat. She stood irresolute for an_ instant and asked for her children. "They'll be all right," shouted Jordan. He had one of them in his charge and Mr. Wildman had the other in his arms, At that moment the vessel plunged and listed violently. All those who were standing by the side were thrown headlong into the water. The boat was swamped and Mr. and Mrs. Wildman and the two children Were not seen again.
According to the narrative of Capt. Jordan, the pilot, given to Press representatives on the day of the disaster, the loss of the steamer could not have been foreseen. According to his story the vessel drifted half " mile broadside in the fog that enveloped the home-bound steamer like a pall, and no man.could hare judged either the direction or the. velocity of the invisible current that changed. her course and sent her on the Fort Point ledge. Pilot Jordan's story was as follows: hho loss of the Rio de Janeiro I attri bute entirely to the tide, which carried the steamer, I should estimate, half a mile out of her course to Fort Point ledge. This ledge is in a northwesterly direction from Fort Point, and the water there just off the ledge is thirty-five fathoms deep.
had gone out Monday in the pilot boat America, later going aboard the Grecio 8., from which I boarded the Rio de Janeiro at 5 o'clock on Thursday evening. The weather was thick off the bar, where the steamer anchored for the night, about four miles in a direct line from the Clif' House. The fog continued all night until 4 o'clock this morning, when Captain Ward and decided to bring the steamer into port, There is absolutely no truth in the report that there was a difference of opinion between us as to whether the Rio should fed without permission.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.