Show THE LAKE PEPIN DISASTER on oil tile the alight of july 13 there occurred on lake pepin minn a terrible storm which caused an appalling Pall ilIg loss of life the disaster is thus recounted in a press dispatch dated lake city minn july 14 surrounded by beautiful cliffs and far earming lands lake unruffled ruffled surface gave today little evidence of the fierce struggle with the cements and of the death dealing fury of jhb lake that raged off this city last night with scarcely a boro ole of warning there burst upon this 1018 region the severest storm ever known own in its history and the loss of lue life is probably greater than any other ther single calamity that ever sixty visited any part of the northwest sight bodies had been recovered ered when the search was discon aued at dark tonight how many more were lost is a matter of uncertainty the steamer sea wing of the diamond id jo line carried a party of two dred or more excursionists from ped P g ed wink wing to the camp of the first regiment minnesota national bards Just below the city when the day was coming to a close captain prepared to return the boatload to their homes many among them feared the approaching storm and asked that he postpone departure until after the storm had passed over thinking the storm would not prove serious he would not consent but at about 8 started up up the lake towards red bed wing nearly two hundred passengers being on board the wind was wag blowing a gale A point of land runs out from the blinne minnesota sota shore just about this place across from which is what is known as maiden rock to pass around this point it was necessary for the steamer to turn slightly toward the wisconsin shore and immediately the hurricane seized hold of the already struggling and cracking vessel and twisted her out of the control of her engines and crew an attempt to beach her tailed failed and over she went with her great load of passengers the I 1 argo arge jim grant which was in tow and on which about one quarter of the excursionists had crowded was also seized her awning being crushed in and the passengers thrown into the water this happened pon d just below the point and as the helpless hulks drifted before the gale the steamer righted herself for a moment but in another moment she keeled over the barge broke loose and drifted down opposite the town and those still on board about twenty v in number were rescued the steamer drifted in back of the point i t and sank many were saved ea however 0 anever arid and the heroism of a number of res rescuers eLkers cannot be too highly praised corporal B L terry compelled the spectators to assist him and saved the lives of eighteen of 01 those who were clinging to the wreck others there were like him and over sixty were rescued from what seemed to be certain death small boats cruised 1 around rou ead for several hours and picked up some three score of still living unfortunates As soon as word reached the militia camp volunteers were called for and everyone every one volunteered adjutant general miller immediately took charge of the regiment and the work of rescue was begun and carr carried caird iod out body after body of men women and children ansome in some cases whole families were taken from the water some ali alive ve others unconscious but not dead and yet others from which the breath of life had forever fled bad experiences were those of many parents who had children missing and other people looking for friends and relatives ran up and down the beach all night and today inquiring if any more bodies had been recovered and for the names of the identified dead the anguish of the many parents whose children had been ruthlessly torn from them by the awful calamity cannot be portrayed at 2 this morning fifty bodies had been recovered identified and sent to red wing by 8 more had bad taken the same ame mournful journey and at 3 this afternoon seven others were added to the gruesome number few of the bodies had any aay bruises or other marks of injury upon them the fact that the militia ivere in easy call undoubtedly resulted in the saving of many lives general mullen and sergeants fitzgerald chark and cain were notable and commendable during the morning a systematic patrol of the water over which the boats drifted after being first struck by the gale was kept up by citizens lake city after the last bodies had bad been taken from the hulls bulls general mullen pressed into service all row boats within reach with which the soldiers began this afternoon a thorough dragging of the lake at the scene of the disaster no bodies weri were found up to dark when the search was abandoned for the day dynamite will be used in the morning there were a good many who made use of life preservers but probably none were so fortunate as robert adams the 17 year old son of dr adams of lake city anti and another boy they secured three life preservers and were in the water six hours before lein lei ng rescued young adams could swim but his companion could not they had bad the good sense to float quietly and not attempt to fight against the waves during the six hours they were buffi buffeted eted by the billows and blown hither and yon by the gale they drifted about a mile down past the town and then a change in the wind carried them up the river to fontenas Fonte nac seven miles from here where they abey were rescued by dr kain and party and today are nearly as well as ever CAPTAIN proprietor and commander of the sea wing has been Ee severely verely blamed by citizens and others for what they allege to have been criminal negligence on oil his part in pulling out into the lake with such a crowd when the sky looked so threatening the captains wife and two of his three children lost their lives under the waves and that fact together with the loss of his vessel and the great loss of life unnerved him so that lie he kept out of sight during the day and those see him got but imperfect statements from him he stated that lie he did not consider the danger very great and thought thou glit lie he saw a break in the cloude cloud tA promising a clearing away of the storm this is not well taken by the people in this neighborhood who say the sky was black with the most threatening kind of clouds and that it was clearly evident that a very heavy storm was acost to break his other excuse if such these may be called is that the manager of the excursion whose profits would be cut down by any delay in the departure of the boat was so urgent in his insistence ins istance upon immediate departure that the captain yielded and took the boat out to her destruction following is a dispatch from red wing minn dated july 14 further details of the terrible steamer disaster on lake pepin are received this morning as follows when opposite lake city the boat began to feel the effect of the storm but the officers kept on their way the gale I 1 increased ncr eased as the boat continued up the lake and in fifteen minutes was at its height when near the central point about two miles above lake city the steamer was at the mercy of the waves which were washing over the boat and all was confusion the bow was then run in and the barge cut loose but the wind again set the wamer weamer adrift in the lake A num ur of those on the barge jumped into the water and swam ashore As the barge floated again in deep water those on board saw the steamer as it was carried help helpless leks out in the be lake and being tossed about on the raging waters they were horrified a moment later to see the steamer capsize carrying with it its cargo of people those on the barge remained there until they were drifted near the shore and all were rescued or swam ashore there were only about 50 people on the ba bage ge the remainder being on the steamer the events that transpired on the steamer after it separated from the barge are most clearly related by those who were rescued from the wrecked vessel As soon as the storm began to affect the progress of the boat captain gave instructions to run her into the Wis wisconsin consiD shore but it was of no avail against the terrible force of wind and waves in live five minutes more the waves began to wash into the boat and fill the lower decks while hailstones hailston escame came down on the heads of the u unfortunate nate crew huddled on the deck suddenly a huge wave struck the craft tit nt the same moment that a terrific blast of wind more violent than ever swept down upon her the terrible force capsized the little vessel and all of the people on board or more were thrown into the water some being caught underneath and others thrown far from the craft the boat turned bottom side upward and only about twenty five people were observed to be floating on the surface these caught hold of the boat and climbed upon the upturned up turned bottom bott oin those first securing a position assisting the others in ten minutes more the who had obtained momentary safety on the boat could observe no others of the crew or passengers floating on the surface of the water afterward however as a flash of lightning lit up the surface of the lake the sight of an occasional white dress of a drowning woman or child waa observable but it was impossible for those who witnessed the sight to lend any aid those remaining began calling for help as soon as the storm began to abate and in half an hour a light was observed flitting about the dock at lake city opposite which point the upturned steamer had now been 1 riven driven before help could reach them however the poor creatures who yet remained to tell lell the horrors of the time were again submitted to another battle with the elements with no DO word of warning and as they were just beginning to hope they would be taken off by citizens of lake city the boat again turned over this time on its side and all of the twenty five remaining were hurled into the water of these several sev era were drowned before they could be brought to the boat those who succeeded in remaining afloat again secured hold on the boats side and as the men hu hung ng on to the railing they were in danger of being dashed away by the waves one man observed the forms of two women wedged in between stationary seats both pale in death as the lightning gleams lit up their upturned faces another man saw two little girls float past him as he clung with desperation to the steamers side half au an conr after the passage of the storm the people went to the dock where the steamer howard was anchored it was presumed that the steamer would at once arc eed to the rescue of the drowning but when Captain Howard was asked if he be was going out to the rescue he be replied that he was not going to run his boat from shore until the eions or of another approaching storm had disappeared he said RISO also that he did not propose to run the risk of losing his boat in order to ook look for dead people on the lake in a moment a dozen or more rowboats were manned and put out from shore and the twenty or more remaining people clinging to the hull were rescued and brought to there most of them being men who could wim swim during the night fifty five bodies were recovered this morning up to 10 seven more had been pulled out at 1030 the bodies of a woman and child to which ropes had been attached were drawn from tho the water the child wass was the daughter of john winters of red ked wing fred a blacksmith wa wais taken out a few minutes later making a total of sixty f probably ve about half of the total number of drowned prom froin n early morning a patrol of row boats was kept all over the neighborhood of the ing for bodies several were found that way last night dight and a small boy oy was found floating and yelling three miles down the lake from the scene of the disaster battery A of st paul kept up UD a cannonading canno during the day trying to trace the bodies but without success pulled out the shattered wreck of the sea wing releasing three bodies one woman and two young men alice palmer of trenton was one of these but the two men have not been identified up to 1 that makes a total of sixty eight bodies now found estimates vary as to the total number of dead there were over two hundred on the steamer and barge when they started to return to red wing a very every few remaining behind on account of the storm although mazy many protested against the proposal to steam up the lake in the face of such a gale as was then blowing of the whole number it is known positively that about fifty were saved more may have escaped but only this many are known at this time to be safe that would leave about victims but every one hopes the number may not go beyond A number are still in the wreck and a great many in the bottom of the lake where the gale first struck the steamer just how many will nd be known for some time yet possibly ossip not for several days following is a dispatch dated st paul july 14 according to the testimony of those who witnessed the storm it first gathered in the vicinity of snail lake several miles northwest of lake Gervai seand something like eight miles from st paul it proceeded in its general movement and first began its work of destruction about two miles from the Sc burmeler and good cottages by demolishing a barn and several windmills after this it seemed to bound into the air striking the earth again near the hamlet of little canada where the first serious damage was done again it skipped we the space of about a mile and once again lowered to the earth and resumed its work of destruction its fury centering near the shore of lake gervaise where five deaths were caused once again the storm seemed to rebound into the air only to regain the earth half a mile further on where the ruins of the gaetzke place and the bruised inmates were left to bear witness to its relentless power here its force seemed to be spent As it proceeded eastward it assumed the simple nature of a high wind accompanied by a thunderstorm hail as large as medium sized olives vlas aa one of the features at white bear at an early hour this morning a special train bire a correspondent of the no associated press from st paul w to the scene of the terrible cyclone no sign of the terrible havoc was visible until the hill overlooking the oe little valley wits was reached where on n the side of the b hill I 1 I 1 I 1 was seen the house belonging to mr harris with tile ine roof blown off and part of the south side blown away aud and out buildings dings scattered in the most demoralized zed condition no ko one was hurt at this point A quarter of a ralle ue north the whole scene of deduction lay spread before the eye along bog the shore at a point where tile lue storm turned and crossed the lake ate stood tho the houses of 8 and u good and another house in which each had an interest all or of these were utterly demolished all the treas in the neighborhood ivere ere torn twisted stripped of bark and id limbs and from the rd mangled angled cunhs trunks FUn hs of miny hung articles arti articles cleW of nothing P and bedding in the lake are a the bodiel of four horses floating amid heaps of boards and house ti tabers here will probably be round found the bodies of the missing as they hey could not be found in the stacks of boards and furniture As illustrating the force of the alua an iron pump and twenty ave ve feet of iron pipe was torn from tile the well in front of the good res mence Idell ce twisted and bent almost double bouble and deposited fifty yards om the well on the edge of tile the water is a pile of boards covered with turf lifted from a swamp reet feet away strewn all about are pieces of furniture books and stoves wells and cellars tilled filled to the top with building debris and in beiers lei ers cellar lie the mangled regains gains of a horse the ground about bout these houses has the appearance from a distance of having been gone over with a at lake Ger gervaise valse the |