DISASTERS IN 1898. 



225 



this was naturally a period of great anxiety and re- 

 sponsibility for Admiral Dewey. He, however, 

 conducted everything with great discretion and suc- 

 cess, treating the Filippinos with due consideration 

 and firmness and restraining them from excesses 

 which they might otherwise have committed. The 

 threatened approach, too, of Admiral Camera's 

 fleet was a cause of constant anxiety ; the news that 

 it had reached Suez with ships coaled and ready to 

 sail for Manila brought the crisis, as was estimated, 

 within ten or twelve days of fulfillment. Camera's 

 fleet comprised ships that were greatly superior in 

 equipment to any of Dewey's ; and with the reduced 

 supply of ammunition and the impossibility of pro- 

 curing additional stores beyond those captured from 

 the Spaniards at Cavite, the situation certainly was 

 extremely critical. But on July 17 a steamer was 

 seen coming in, which proved to be a Japanese 

 cruiser, and after communicating with her a fleet 

 signal was run up on the ' Olympia," and immedi- 

 ately on each of her gun turrets a signal boy was 

 busily at work transmitting a message to the neigh- 

 boring ships. Through a hundred glasses the little 

 signal flags were watched, and letter by letter the 

 message was spelled out : " Cervera's fleet destroyed 

 off Santiago ; Camera's fleet recalled from Suez." 

 Such was the substance of the dispatch. The en- 

 thusiasm and relief experienced by every man in the 

 squadron at this news, which practically closed the 

 war and was in fact shortly afterward succeeded by 

 a suspension of hostilities, can be readily imagined. 



Apparently only one portrait of Admiral Dewey 

 is extant. This has been reversed and touched up 

 and reproduced in various forms and in all sorts of 

 publications, but obviously it is from the same pho- 

 tograph. It is a good likeness, conveying upon the 

 whole an excellent idea of the man's personality. 

 In stature he is of medium height, not conspicu- 

 ously erect, somewhat stout, but apparently of a 

 good and still athletic physique. In manner he is 

 extremely quiet and reserved ; no one would ever 

 think of him as a resolute and determined fighter 

 of the old " sea-dog " type, although his piercing 

 black eye and a certain curtness of speech indicate 

 an active intelligence and a strong will that are 

 pretty sure to make themselves felt when an emer- 

 gency arrives. Fortunately for him the admiral's 

 sphere of duty in the recent war was so far removed 

 from the arena of politics and rivalries at home 

 and in Washington that he encountered no ene- 

 mies in the field of his fame save those whom he 

 was sent out to capture or destroy. He persist- 

 ently allows it to be understood that he does not 

 wish to return home until the duties for which he 

 was sent to Asiatic waters have been performed. 



On May 9 Senator Lodge, of Massachusetts, 



fered the following resolution, which was agreed 

 o without debate : " That the Secretary of the 

 Navy be and he is hereby authorized to present a 

 sword of honor to Commodore George Dewey, and 

 to cause to be struck bronze medals, commemorat- 

 ing the battle of Manila Bay, and to distribute 

 such medals to the officers and men of the ships of 

 the Asiatic squadron of the United States under 

 command of Commodore George Dewey on May 1, 

 1898 ; and that, to enable the Secretary to carry 

 out this resolution, the sum of $10,000' is hereby 

 appropriated." 



On March 3, 1899, Rear Admiral Dewey was pro- 

 moted to the rank of Admiral. 



See " Life of Admiral George Dewey, from Mont- 

 pelier to Manila," by Adelbert M. Dewey (New 

 York. The Woolfall Company, 1899). 



DISASTERS IN 18J)8. A list of the accidents 



and disasters occurring during a calendar year can 



not be verified by comparison with official returns 



until several months have passed. Hence such a list 



VOL. xxxvin. 15 A 



as the one printed herewith should uot be taken as 

 absolutely accurate and exhaustive. It is safe to 

 assume, however, that the actual fatalities and losses 

 of the year are largely in excess of the figures here 

 given. The fire losses and the statistics regarding 

 rail way accidents may be regarded as approximately 

 correct. They are quoted from the "Journal of 

 Commerce and Financial Chronicle " and from the 

 " Railroad Gazette." Of these disasters a very large 

 proportion might have been avoided by the exercise 

 of moderate prudence and foresight. When it is 

 shown, as in the year 1898, that the fire losses in the 

 United States and Canada amounted to $119,650,000, 

 it may well cause thoughtful persons to ask whether 

 it would not be well to restrict the use of fireworks, 

 of explosive parlor matches, of inflammable draper- 

 ies, and the like, to the end that life and property 

 might be spared at least some of the perils that be- 

 set them. 



January 1. Shipwreck: French steamer St. 

 Louis lost in the Mediterranean, 15 perish. 



3. Faulty structure : a floor gives way in the 

 City Hall in London, Ontario, 25 killed. 



7. Explosion : Glasgow, Scotland, 4 killed. Ship- 

 wreck : steamer Clarissa Radcliffe, off Cape Vin- 

 cent, several lives lost. 



9. Train derailed, Shorters. Ala., 21 hurt. 



12. Earthquake in the Molucca or Spice Islands, 

 Malay Archipelago, about 50 killed, 200 hurt. 



18. Train derailed, Colfax, Cal., 3 killed, 3 hurt. 



21. Trains in collision during fog, Ashley Junc- 

 tion, S. C., 2 killed, 4 hurt. 



23. Trestle falls, New Albany, Ind., 2 killed, 2 hurt. 



24. Fire, Spokane, Wash., 8 lives lost. 



25. Trains in collision, Upton, Ky., 3 killed, 3 

 hurt. 



29. Train derailed, Orono. Me., 4 killed, 30 hurt. 



Fires in January : Stockton, Cal., granary, loss, 

 $500,000; Chicago, business houses, $450,000"; East 

 St. Louis, grain elevators and business houses, 

 $1,500,000 ; Spokane, Wash., business houses, $240,- 

 000; Chicago, business houses, $200,000; Milwau- 

 kee, tin works, $200,000 ; and 192 others ; aggregate 

 loss, $9,472,500. 



Summary of train accidents in January: 113 

 collisions. 130 derailments, 14 others ; total, 257. 

 Killed : 39 employees, 6 passengers, 3 others ; total, 

 48. Hurt : 105 employees, 72 passengers, 3 others ; 

 total, 180. 



February 1. Canada, New England, and several 

 of the Western States visited by destructive bliz- 

 zard, $1,500,000 damage in Boston alone ; other 

 heavy losses in the country at large. Shipwreck : 

 British steamer Channel Queen, off island of Guern- 

 sey, 19 perish. 



2. Fire : lighthouse burned, Crosby, England, 3 

 lives lost. 



4. Fire in Boston, 6 firemen killed. 



5. Train derailed by a stray cow, Hematite, Mo., 



2 killed, 5 hurt. 



9. Fire: Pittsburg, Pa., warehouses burned, loss. 

 $1,500,000, 18 killed. 



10. Trains in collision, Kirkland, Ala., 4 killed, 



3 hurt. Also at Benham, Texas, 3 killed. 



11. Shipwreck: British steamer Marbella sunk 

 in Hull roads by collision with H. M. S. Galatea. 

 Fires in New York cause damage to the amount of 

 $1,000,000. 



12. Shipwreck: Holland-American steamer Veen- 

 dam lost at sea; all hands saved by American liner 

 St. Louis. 



15. Explosion: United States battle ship Miiine 

 destroyed in Havana harbor, 266 killed, many in- 

 jured. 



16. Shipwreck: French steamer Flachat cast 

 away on Canary Islands, 87 perish. 



17. Explosion: fire damp in a Westphalian coal 



