The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 7, 1898, Page 1

PTRRaY gy L TR—————— The e VOLUME LXXXIV.—NO. 37. SAN FRANCISCO, THURSDAY, JULY 7, 1898 PRICE FIVE CENTS MURDER RUNS RIOT ON THE DECK OF A SINKING SHIP COLLISION WRECKS LA BOURGOGNE AND SIX HUNDRED PERISH Frenzied Seamen Slay Men, Women and Children in a Fight for Possession of the Boats. NEW YORK, July 6.—The French line steamship La Bourgogne was sunk in collision with the British iron ship Cromartyshire early on the morning of July 4, sixty miles south of Sable Isl Of on board 3533 drowned, including 207 first and second All the first cabin passengers were lost, and of 300 women passengers vessel only one was saved. were class ca passengers. hat concisely tells the story of a tragedy that is stained with dishonor. Passengers and alike in the awful struggle for self that turned the deck of the liner into a shambles e the ocean a scene of deliberate murder of helpless women and men, and by the very >y had intrusted their lives. B o 2-u-88 ['he crash came at 5 o'clock in the morning, when, in a dense fog, the ocean greyhound he Cromartyshire and passed on in the gray light to plunge to the bottom, drawing down its rling surge that marked the spot where she had floated. 1e few minutes that elapsed between the shock and the disappearance the greater hor- 1e disaster was enacted. In an instant the quiet deck of the liner was transformed into an \Women who obstructed the way of strong men 'to the boats were struck down -with B re had contained many Italians, and it seemed as though in the face of death a thirst for blood came upon them. Right and left their weapons flashed and trampled bodies marked their course. The officers, who died as brave men, were powerless to control their mad passengers and madder crew. The second officer of La Bourgogne did the work of a dozen heroes. But his efforts were almost immediately set at naught by the cowardice of his frenzied crew. One raft on which forty women were placed had been made fast to the ship’s side. It was dragged down by the ship and all on it perished. Not one man would pause to cut the lines and give them life. When the ship had gone down the few boats that floated were surrounded by the perishing. Some women caught the lines of one cockleshell, not endangering the occupants and merely keeping their heads above water. In pure fiendishness the men of the crew cut the ropes and be- came murderers. In other cases men who struggled to keep themselves above water by clutching the gun- wales were beaten back to death with oars and boathooks. The British ship that had been in collision stood near by and for hours kept up the work of Then she was towed into Halifax. Marvelous was the endurance displayed by those who had been in the water for hours. The officers of the Bourgogne to a man went down with the ship. One came to the surface and was saved. rescue. The story of the fearful disaster from | day, while the Cromartyshire was on - | the few officers and members of the |her way over from Glasgow with a SHEEP IN SHAMBLES | crew who were saved is vet to be told, | crew of twenty-one men. Although —— but if the words of the passengers who | the transatlantic steamships have a | were dragged aboard the Cromarty- |definite course the Bourgogne was, by HALIFAX, N. §., July 6.—Tn one of | shire and later brought into this DOt |all accounts, forty miles or more to the the thick fogs which at this time of | by the steamer Grecian, are to be be- | north of these line the year hang like a pall over the | lieved, the last few minutes on board | The fog wag very desse snd the Cros Grand Banks and Sable Island in the | the'La Bourgogne witnessed some Of | martyshire was cailing along with re- North - Atlantic, oceurred, on the early | the most terrible scenes of horror and|guced canvas and blowing the fog horn, morning of July 4, one of the most ap- | CTuelty that have blotted the history Suddenly out of the fog rushed 4 t palling ocean disasters in the annals of | Of & civilized race. : | steamer and in a moment there was a transatlantic commerce, and, in fact,| Instead of heroic discipline Which 50| fearful crash, the iron prow of the in the history of steam sailing of the | often has been the one bright feature nf:shin plunging into the port side of the world. Without a moment's warning, | Such awful moments the crew of the |steamer jyst e S almost, the great French liner La |Steamer fought like demons for the few | Tha ¢hoo ey and. : Bourgogne, with 725 souls on board, | life boats and rafts, battering the helD- | tremendous hole in the stos ore a was run down by the iron safling ship | less passengers away fror1 their only | the apijra o el SHen while Cromartyshire and sank within a half | means of salvation, with the result |jspeq mpagon o 0 S3IP Was demol- hour, carrying with her to the ocean’s | that the strong overcame the weak, fOr | (o oz par wpicere plunged on through bottom over 500 of her passengers and | the list of 163 saved contains the Name | hor 1oikets signglt Prthz for help and crew, while the balance, who were not | of but one woman. The disaster oC-| The Cropap g_m'r‘f ler distress. drawn down by the fearful suction, | curred at § o'clock in the MOTRINE ON |ang her master Capiery airacd to. struggled and fought for life until one | Monday, - July 4, about sixty miles | was congiderably ralr?‘é n Henderson, hundred and sixty-three were at length | south of Sable Tsland, which lies nearly | that she was in nq PG‘ESSF :;. ‘lr:l}:]xxnn: WOMEN SLAIN LIKE [ % rescued by the crew of the Cromarty-|a hundred miles off this port. | Off to the eastw. shire, which ship survived the colli-|* The Bourgogne had left New York | hoarse call of ‘t‘}f‘e‘"“‘"‘;‘:“\{ be heard the sion. bound' for Havre the previous Satur- | fog beg: steamer, and as the an to lift all the boats on the THE COLLlSIO'N\ BETWEEN THE CROVMARTYSHIRE AND LA BOURGOGNE. - \ | ship were launched. Half an hour after the collision the misty curtain went up giving a clear view for miles, and lher; it was that those on the Cromartyshire realized the fearfill struggle for life on board the Bourgogne. The collision had come so suddenly and at such a time in the morning that few besides her crew were on deck, but the shock aroused nearly every one, and within a few minutes the decks were crowded, At first it seemed as if there was; some attempt at discipline. A few of :!ho boats were swung off and some of he passengers allowe, i list to port the officers lost control of the crew and a panic ensued. Passengers and crew fought for the boats and life r: The strong bat- tered down the weak, the women and children being pushed far away from any hope of rescue. Fi oars and | even knives were used b* some of the | demons to keep their places. The offi. cers seemed to have been powerle s over their own men and only four were saved. . The fight for life on the decks of the steamer did not last long, for in | tle more fts a lit- Jan a half hour she gave a | long lurch to port and went down. As the ship sank beneath the surface the vortex of the waters sucked down everything on the surface within a cer- | tain radius. When the suction ceased | those still alive saw about 200 bodies come out of the water with a rush, as | having swallowed the ship. But the | struggle for life still continued after the ship went down. | floated about, grasping for rafts, boats and wreckage in frantic endeavor to keep above water. Even then many of those in the boats, if the stories told are to be believed, showed their bru- tality by beating off those who at- tempted to climb aboard. By this time the small boats of the Cromartyshire had come up and the work of rescue began. The crew of the ship worked heroically and saved every one who had managed to keep above water, but even then scores feil away from boats, rafts and wreckage, ex- hausted, and were drowned. It was all over in an hour, aithough for some time great pieces of wreckage came shooting up from the bottom, marking the spot where the great liner had gone down. But little attempt was made to recover the bodies of any of the ill- fated passengers or crew, and the bat- tered hulk at the bottom of the ocean will probably be their tomb. In the afternoon the steamer Grecian was sighted, coming from the west- ward, and a few hours afterward the Cromartyshire was in tow and arrived here this morning. Strangely enough, Mr. La Casse is the only man of the saloon and cabin passengers who survived, while his wife is the only woman of 300, not only of the first saloon cabin but of the whole’ ship, who escaped. Mrs. La Casse was roused from her berth by her husband, who was on deck at the time of the collision. When she reached the deck of the listing steam- ship she saw the captain of the steam- er on the bridge and some of the offi- cers at other points endeavoring to di- rect the efforts of the crew to launch the bodts. There was little response to the orders of the officers. The crew seemed paralyzed. Matters were quiet and there was no panic at first, though the decks were becoming more and more crowded with frightened people. The steamer was listing and settling and then a wild fear seized on the throng and the people lost their reason. Mrs. La Casse was separated from her husband in the scramble, and the steamer. listed so badly, that she slid down the declivity of the deck and Into the water. She had taken the precau- tion, at her husband’s direction, to put on a life belt before leaving her state- room, and shortly after being thrown into the sea she was seized by the arm and drawn upon the life raft. Her savior was her husband. A moment later the ill-fated steamer disappeared l if the sea were giving up the dead after | Hundreds . still | and a whirlpool encircled the spot where the noble craft had been. Everybody around the vorte drawn into it. The water rushed -und, faster and t faster, and the ortunates disap- peared with despairing Mrs. La Casse had been on the edga of the maelstrom, but something threw her outside of the whirlpool, and the next she knew she was on the-life raft. A boat containing forty women was cag and all went down in the whirlpool. There wa man in this boat, w.. t to the davi Some of the women were try- ing to cut the ropes when the steamer careened and car ed the boat. Mrs. La Ca that & moment after the engulfed men, women and children se on every side of the whirlpocl, and the sight of the faces and the arms and sound the at of shrieks was so terribl remember them to her dyir Mrs. La Ca that when the | panic fi the crew men fought for the boats like rav- ing s. Women ' were forced back from the boats and trampled on by men, who made self-preser- vation their first object. Among them were a large number of the lower class of Italians and foreigners, who in their fre stopped at nothing that promised safety for themselves. tuation that is knife and | So desperate” was th | an Italian passenger drew | made direc: one who, like himself, | was endeavoring to reach the boats. | Immediately his action was imitated in | every direction. Knives were flour- | ished and used with effect. Women and | children were driven back to inevitable | death at the point of weapons, the own- | ers of which were experts in their use. | According to stories of the survivors women were stabbed like s¢ many sheep. The scene on the water was even worse. Many of the unfortunates who were struggling in the water attempted to drag themselves into the boals or on . These were pushed back. too, knives w used freely. Not all’ of the dead met death by drown- Christopher Brunon saw a sailer nging to La Bourgc strike a enger over the head with a bar and kill him. The body drop: to the water. The passenger grabbed the boat in which the sailor was and attempted to get on board. Matte O. Zurich, a Norwegian, said | it did not appear to be anybody's duty | to look after the launching of-the boats. Those on the port side were not wucned by the crew. People climbed into them, waiting for the boats,to be launched, but in a short time tfe steamer so rapidly it was ini e to do so. Zurich declares that two of the life rafts upon which people were cut adrift by him. He to move them, but they tur ed over- board when' the steamer careened and proved useful. The steamer slowly settled down by the stern and star- {board side and the water advancing | gradually drove the people forward. Finally men, women and children were walking about on the port bow. The | stern was deep In the water and the bow in the air. The ship g reat plunge and hundred: f people were in , grabbing at broken oars, s of canvas, etc., and struggling. Zu- *h went over the starboard side and caught a raft, on which he climbed. He thinks that had the boats been launched as soon as the ner struck several hundred who perished would have been saved. Only one of the port boats, a small one. was launched. the boat the second purser escaped i Zurich saw one boat leave the ;L{nurgngne with only a few people on it. Fred Niffler, a Swede, lost hi heart through the boats not being away. The girl had on a life belt, but the suction of the sinking ship was too powerful, He and the young woman got into a boat with many others, waiting for the | sailors to launch it. The boat was | finally zed and the girl was 1 Nifiler climbed on a life raft, whic upset, and five were drowned, for there were many crowded on it. | climbed upon the Among the survi and g The others ft. ors are nine A Armenian; SyTi- There were 75 in the party when it left | New York. All but eight perished. One [of the eight lost his wife and two brothers and other relatives. Another st two daughters. Only one of thi teen Armenians survives. The | ans were bound to their home: Damascus, and every one had from one to two hundred dollar: aved. Th | it all, barely escaping in their tro and shirts. * On board the steamer ( clan, which towed the Cromartyshi. with the survivors to Halifax, the A syrians wept like children and could not be comforted. The one surviving Armenian tells a sorrowful tale of the ]dro\\‘ning of an Armenian priest and his family, who had got in a boat with | some thirty other people. When the end came and the boat was abandoned to its fate by the crew, who made.10 effort to launch it, the priest stood up and with uplifted hands prayed aloud. Several French priests stood on the | deck during the sinking of the steamer without making an effort to save them- selves and gave absolution to a large crowd of passengers. August Piyrgi was eager to give the correspondent an account of his ex- perience. He was in the water about half an hour and attempted to get into a boat. He was seized when he man- {aged to get half in and thrown back into the water. Again he tried to en- ter the boat, but the savages who | manned it were determined to keep | him out. He managed at last to get in and to stay in. Clinging to the life line of a boat not far away he saw his mother, and as if his trials were not enough he was forced to watch a man shove her into the ocean with an oar. She never rose. He said the man was saved and was almost sure he could recognize him. . Fred Niffler, a Swiss, was the most jovial and contented of all the unfor- tunate passengers. He lost all his money and clothes, with the exception of a pair of trousers and a shirt, but he laughed and now and then cursed the frenzied sailors with passionate earnestness. Niffler got into a lifeboat with some others and remained there until he reached the water, when he thought it was time to leave. None of the sailors ever attempted to let the boat loose. He swam for a long time before he was picked up, He saw an Englishman attempt to get into a boat, but the men in the boat, who were sailors of La Bourgogne, hit him over the head with the butt end of an oar. He fell back and sank. Christopher Brunen, a passenger, was thrown into the water and swam for two hours before he found a boat. He clung to this as his last hope. After some time a man got hold of the same