The Day the Kingston Died: A Steamship Collision and the Pilot’s Tale

HE REVIVED JUST IN TIME Became Conscious While Being Prepared for Burial. JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind., April 27. Charles Bernard, who was shot through the neck at San Juan yesterday, forwarded his papers to Washington applying for a pension. No man who served in the war had a more thrilling experience than Bernard. Not only did his iron constitution save his life. Twice while he was carried from the field of battle men who were assisting him were shot down. The blood and sand clogged his throat that he could hardly breathe, but he tore this away as fast it accumulated. Finally he was carried to a place of safety and was in such an exhausted condition that he was given up for dead. Just as he was about to be placed in a box for burial he revived and was sent home in the hospital ship. He carries the bullet that hit him and takes great pride in exhibiting it.

HOW IT HAPPENED Pilot Gatter Tells of the Sinking of the Kingston. At the investigation of the Kingston disaster, held yesterday in the offices of the local inspectors of steam vessels, the testimony of the Glenogle (pilot of the ship) was heard. The evidence of the other side will occupy the attention of the inspectors Monday morning. The board was made up of Captain W. L. Bryant, inspector of hulls, and C. C. Cherry, inspector of vessels, with General James M. Albion, attorney for the defendant, H. S. Greenwood, for the Puget Sound Alaska Steamship Company, and Stewart, of the firm of Dole & Company, owners of the Glenogle. The principal feature of the investigation was the testimony of Capt. P. W. Gatter, pilot of the Oriental Line. He stated that the Glenogle left the dock at Tacoma at 10 o'clock last Sunday morning, bound for the Orient. Daylight had begun to dawn, and the ships about the harbor could be seen with partial clearness, but fog was obscuring Brown point from view. The steamer proceeded under a slow bell on a northwest by northerly course. When about seven-eighths of a mile from the dock, her headway was increased to full speed. The Glenogle had proceeded in this manner for several minutes, when a blast from the Kingston's whistle was heard on the Glenogle's port bow. Her wheel was put to port and rolled to hard-port when a second blast of the Kingston's whistle was heard. The Glenogle answered each of the Kingston's whistles by similar blasts of her siren, which meant that she would pass the sound steamer on the port, or left side. She then swung off on a course heading north by west halfwest. She had proceeded on this course for a few seconds when two blasts were heard from the Kingston's whistle giving the starboard signal. The Glenogle at once reversed her engines to full speed astern, at the same time blowing the danger signal of several short blasts. In three minutes' time the masthead light of the Kingston bore like a star through the fog. Just as the Glenogle had begun to move backward, when seen, the Kingston's head exactly northwest by the compass. The side lights of the Kingston were not visible. When seen, the Kingston heading directly for the Glenogle. She swung around so as to avoid a direct collision. The next instant, both vessels came together, the sharp bow of the Glenogle entering the port side of the Kingston like a knife. The bow of the Glenogle entered the deckhouse of the Kingston about seven fathoms deep, hanging there for about twenty minutes, and then the Kingston settled in the water, leaving the afterpart of the upper work hanging on the Glenogle's bow. A load was lowered, and the majority of the passengers were taken on board the Glenogle. She was then headed for Tacoma, where they were landed.