VOLUME XXIII. NUMBER 174. SEWARD, ALASKA
THURSDAY, NOV. 15, 1928.
PRICE TEN CENTS
1
SWMP LISTED SATURDAY BUT
NOTHING DONE UNTIL MON
DAY AFTERNOON
NEW YORK. Nov., 15, (IP)—'The
S S. Vestris sank when but 80 of
the 328 passengers and crew were
Hunched in life boats and after two
boatloads of women and children
were hurled into the sea many of
~ "r—'them dying while the rest leaped
from the ship's side swimming for
their lives lest they be dragged
down bv the foundering hulk.
Survivors told that the traditions
of the cea were observed in giving
first thought to women and child
ren but their fa ^"turned gallantry
to disaster.
AN APPALLING STORY
of inadequate preparations was
to'd; the first two boats were filled j
with women and children—37 wo- ’
men and 13 children When the ]
crew started to lower the boats the j
ship lurched and the boats crashed |
9.gainst the side and women and 1
children were hurled into the boil- j
mg v/aves. The reports indicated
all children and 27 women perished.
SURVIVORS AGREED
the intentions of the officers ard ’
crew of the Vestris are beyond cri1- ;
icism but many blamed Captain j
who died with his ship.
Indecision in calling aid and low- S
erinp: of boats is believed the prln- j
-upal reason for the large loss of !
tife which is thought to be 108.
The ship began to list Saturday,
reported members of the crew b it
more seriously on Sunday. Noth
ing was done until Monday morning i
when an S O S was sent. As the j
result no rescue ships were presem |
when the Vestris sank at 1:30 Mon
day afternoon.
The tackle in the lifeboats was
found faulty and it took hours to
lower them. The majority of those
saved were the crew; these were
thought to be in better physical
shape and better able to stand the
hours of buffeting in the water.
4
l
AMERICAN SPECIALIST WANT
ED IN RUSSIAN RADIO
CIRCLES
LENINGRAD, Rusia, Nov., 15, (/P)
—Announcement is made thru
officials of the Soviet News Agen
cy that the Soviet Radio Trust
has signed a contract with the
Radio Corporation of America
for the purchase of $600,000 worth
of radio apparatus.
The contract provides for the
sending to Russia of American
specialists to help the Soviet Union
develop a radio net, while Russia
will send some of its engineers to
the United States to study the
latest achievements.
NO PLANE ACCIDENTS
MOSCOW, Nov.. 15, (/PI—'The rap
ed development of commericial fly
ing in Russia gives special import
ance to an announcement by Sovi> t
officials that the Government aer
d lines have had no accidents dur
ing 1927 and 1028.
Mrs. Hoover Will
Accompany Husband |
STANFORD, Calif., Nov., 15, (JP) [
—Mrs. Herbert Hoover will accom-:
pany her husband on the “Good i
Will” mission to South America, j
President Elect Hoover disclosed;
to Captain Victor Kimberly, Com
mander of the battleship Mary-1
land, upon which leaves San Pe-j
dro on Monday.
CUT
T
j
FOR YEARS VETERAN ALASKAN
REMONSTRATED, WIFE’S
ACTION
SEATTLE, Nov. 15, (A1)—Madden
ed by the attentions his wife Mary
had received from other men, A.!
Mendez, veteran Alaska seaman,
cut his wife’s throat with a razor
j and then slashed himself.
The couple were rushed to the j
hospital where they stand an even |
chance of recovering.
For many years, friends inform
ed the police, Mendez has remon
strated with his wife for accept
j ing attentions from other rnen.'
I Mrs. Mendez, who is 30 years of
! age, refused to heed her husband’s !
j advice telling him he tottki get a
divorce if he did not approve of
her conduct. They have a son 11
years old.
i
Pone
FORMAL INQUIRY
STEAMER VEST!
IF INQUIRY IS UNBIASED TIIE
BOARD WILL ABIEG BY
FINDINGS
NEW YORK, Nov., 15, f/P) -Set- :
ting aside questions as to juris- '
diction, Federal authorities began
a thorough investigation into the
sinking of the S. S. Vestris.
After preliminary questioning
by Assistant United States Attor
neys Mintzer and Silver, the for
mal inquiry is scheduled to open
up before United States Commis
| sioner O’Neill this afternoon.
ABOUT SIX WITNESSES
have been subpoenaed. Although
| the Vestris was of British regis
try and jurisdiction, American
authorities are uncertain as to
! the findings. It is indicated that
I British authorities might con
' sent to have the entire inquiry
conducted here.
Mintzer said he had heard un
j officialy that the British Board of
| Trade had cabled the Consul Gen
! eral here saying if the inquiry
! appeared to be unbiased and ex
| haustive the Board would abide
; by the American decision.
PLANS TO RESIGN
LONDON, Nov., 15, (/P)-General
Hertzog Prime Minister of Soutn
Africa, will in all probability tender
his resignation to the Government.
NATIVES or TtgISTAfJ Z>*> CuhNa °
World Is Tottering
Brink Of Disaster
i
BOSTON, Nov., 15, (/P)—Rogei
iBacon, Internationally known stat- ]
jistician declared that unless bank
ers, lawyers and captains of indus- ;
| try tram men and women of tne ^
'coming generation to control this!
(materialistic age, the world is with- 1
i in a measurable distance of the
brink of disaster.
TAIL PIECE ON PLANE BROKE
i OFF AT ALTITUDE OF 4,000
FEET
_______
SAN ANTONIO, Texas, Nov., 15,
(/P)—Six enlisted men at Brooks
field Field were killed when an
: Army transport plane crashed
4,000 feet.
Lieut. Harvey Dyer, the pilot,
saved his life by a parachute leap;
Sergeant Frank Sieber was thrown
from the plane but saved himself
with a parachute; he sustained a
broken rib in landing.
Lieutenant Dyer said the tail
piece of the plane broke off at an 1
altitude of 4,000 feet throwing the’
plane suddenly forward, the right (
wing broke off.
The dead men had parachutes
but the plane plunged so swiftly
they had no time to jump.
1 Loneliness has always been the lot of
i peoples In Isolated communities, but
It Is doubtful whether any place In
the Western Hemisphere can com
> pare with the little Island of Tristan
! da Cunha—the “farthest outflung
sentinel of the British Empire”—for
complete Isolation and detachment
from the rest of the world. This
Island, the largest of a small group
lying almost In the middle of the
South Atlantic Ocean, on practically
a straight line from Buenos Aires, Is
off the regular route of ocean-going
vessels, and Is rarely visited except
t by an occasional cruising liner. Last
year the Empress of France on her
Fouth American-Africa Cruise touch
-rvistan and landed supplies
:s as gifts from the pas
sengers and King George and Queen
Mary ol England to the 150 Inhabi
tants and in 1929 the new Canadian
Pacific S. 8. "Duchess of Atholl,’
after having cruised among the West
Indies and down the Eastern coast of
South America, will visit Tristan for a
few hours to bring cheer, solace and
supplies to the Islanders, then steam
away to continue her South Amer
lcan-Afrlca Cruise which leaves New
York January 22nd. 1929. for a voy
age of 104 days.
Tristan da Cunha was named after
a Portuguese admiral, who discovered
It In 1506. Formal possession In the
name of Great Britain was taken by
troops from the transport "Falmouth"
on August 14, 1816. The Island may
one day occupy a prominent place In ]
&TYLJES Vo not CNNrJqe «■ j
world affairs, for It Is Ideally located | ,
as a stopping-off place for trans- j (
atlanttc airplanes should a regular
air service between South America , i
and Africa ever be established. The .
"Duchess of Atholl" will call, also, at
Rio de Janiero, Buenos Aires. Cape- ;
town, and Durban, South Africa, with f
side trips to Africa’s Interior; Dar-es
Salaam, Zanzibar. Mombasa, and end
ing with Egypt, the Mediterranean. t
Paris and London. Incld'"' ' (
“Duchess of Atholl”
ship, the larr §
Montreal. \
CREW DROWNS IN SIGHT OF
SOBBING MEN, WOMEN ON
SHORE IN HARBOR
LONDON, Nov., 15, (JP)—The
Press Association published graph
ic accounts of the drowning of all
17 members of the crew of a life
boat which set out in a tempest
uous sea when the boat overturn
ed while attempting to assist a
small steamer in distress.
Eye-witnesses are quoted as
giving the following description
of the tragedy which took place
within sight of relatives:
WHEN THE LIFEBOAT
was returning to the harbor, af
ter the crew of the wrecked steam
er had been rescued by the Ger
man steamship Smyrna this morn
ing. The group of people, includ
ing many women who were anx
iously waiting, saw the mountain
ous seas, and when, within a half
: mile from shore, a gigantic wave
swooped down capsizing the craft
| and the crew drowned within
their sight.
THE SCREAMING AND
I sobbing men and women, waiting
j at the harbor side, were power
! less to do anything and it was
not until some hours later that
I the bodies began to float ashore.
Mothers, wives and sisters of
the crew rushed along the beach
gathering bodies. There was hard
ly a person ip tfie little village
who had not lost a husband, a
father, or some relative.
HERB PROFOUNDLY
APPRECIATIVE OF
SOUTHERN YOTE
HEAVY SOUTHERN VOTE NOT
PERSONAL TRIBUTE SAYS
PRESIDENT ELECT
BALTIMORE, Nov., 15, (/Pi
President Elect Hoover regards
the large number of votes cast
for him in the South as a victory
for the Republican Party rather
than a personal tribute, in writ
ing to R. PI. Edmonds, editor of
the Manufacturers Record.
Hoover said with one-third of
the Nation’s lar>4. area, with about
three-fifths of its sea frontage
and with the vast resources in
soil, climate and minerals, no lim
it can be set upon the continued
progress and ever increasing pros
perity of the whole South.
IIE DECLARED HE WAS
profoundly appreciative of the ex
tremely heavy vote cast for him
throughout the South for him
self and Curtis. “I accept this
vote not as a persbnal tribute but
as a an expression of the devel
oping sentiment throughout the
South on behalf of the things for
which the Republican Party stood
in the campaign.”
He added the belief that the
time has come when voters thru
aut the country should cast their
aallots on their convictions and
„o not make “Things of a former
generation” the basis of their
rote.