KinSource - Tale of the Week - A Lady From St. Paul

KinSource

Minnesota Tales

The St. Paul Daily Globe, November 28, 1889, p. 8

A LADY FROM ST. PAUL

Was a Passenger, with Her Baby, on the Burned Santiago.

The Thrilling Experience and Rescue of Mrs. Archie E. Knight.

The steamer Santiago, bound from New York to Hull, was burned at sea on the 19th inst.

So ran a two-line "par" which appeared in Tuesday's Globe. To the ordinary newspaper reader, residing in the Northwest, the item was probably almost forgotten as soon as read; but it was one which struck terror to the heart of a prominent citizen of St. Paul. To Archie E. Knight, of the firm of Messrs. Mowbray & Knight, express agents of Western avenue, the burning of the Santiago was a question of life and death, for, as passengers on the doomed vessel, were those whom he held nearest and dearest on earth. Mrs. Knight and baby -- fifteen months old -- boarded the Santiago at New York in the 16th inst., as, owing to poor health, she had been medically advised to visit her old home in England. Mr. Knight received a letter from his wife on Tuesday. It was one written on board ship, and had been brought back to port by the pilot. Mrs. Knight gave a very glowing description of their first day at sea, expressing her gratitude for the kindness shown her by Capt. Potter, an old personal friend of Mrs. Knight. "We are out of sight of land", wrote Mrs. Knight. "Baby was between captain and I at supper, and stood up and said, "Ta, ta!" But this happy picture was fated to be short-lived. Two days afterwards the ship was found to be on fire, and none but those who have experienced the awful sensation can adequately understand what a ship on fire at sea is. Strong men pale with terror at the cry: "Ship on fire!" What must the experience have been to a weak, frail woman, with a baby! According to advices, the few passengers and ship's crew -- fifty-nine, all told -- took to the boats, the dark mantle of night had already covered the mighty deep, and there was a heavy swell on. Brave hearts were not lacking in cheering the woman passenger, who, though at first seized with a fainting fit, rallied and conducted herself in the most heroic style. The night was spent on the ocean, but, with the gladdening beams of morn, succor came, and the unfortunate people were timely rescued by the schooner Fuller. Mr. Knight says that he crossed the Atlantic two years ago in the Santiago, which was one of the best freight steamers afloat on the Atlantic. The owners are Messrs. Wilson & Co., of Hull, England. He is satisfied from later dispatches, now that the reassuring intelligence has been received of the rescue, that his wife will be properly cared for, and, in all probability, passage taken for her on another homegoing vessel.