New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-04-23

man came to be killed, but it was generally ne
heved TINT he had fallen asleep in his chair winch
had been overturned by a sudden lurch OF Ihe
ship, throwing him directly into the heavy m"
ehinery in the front of the room. lie must nave
been instantly killed His body was pure" az
sea on the morning of April g."
Inquiries among the passengers OF tne D"n,n",N
and of such of her crew as were on ooaru 'ne
missouri resulted in intensifying the mystery
surrounding the death of the engineer, INC
passengers nearly ali asserted that at the time
of Mr. Kaas's death it was understood thaC ne
had committed suicide, because of some mistake
he had made in handling the engine. When the
members Of the crew were asked about this they
Acknowledged that there was some talk about
the engineers suicide at the time, but that nothing
definite was known IN regard to it, The purser,
Mr. Heupel acknowledged that there was such
rumor at the time, but he declared positively
that he didn't know what gave rise to il.
At any rate if it was suicide it was Of the
most horrible record. II there is any con-
nection between the miShap TO the Danmark and
the death Of her engineer, it is yet TO be brought
out.
CAPTAIN MURRELL TELLS OF THE RESCUE.
Captain Murrelrs story of the Missouri's rescue
OF the Danmarks passe myers and crew was told
to The Tribune reporter with extreme modesty
We left London he said, " on March %. bound
for our first trip TO Philadelphia, with
general cargo. The weather was bad from the
very start heavy gales blowing from the west
On April 5, at 30 p. m, with strong westerly
gale blowing and a heavy sea running, we
sighted p vessel flying signals Of distress. We
bore down to her and hailed her, discovering
that she WAS the Danmark of Christiansand Her
captain told me that the tail end of his shaft was
sl,ot eho lnolyi q
me to take off his passengers and carry them on
TO New-York but owing to tn" state of the weather.
knew it would be impossible TO transfer them
~ told him, however, that would take the
vessel in tow and tow her 10 the nearest port.
Her CAPTAIN agreed and AZ 800 in the afternoon
we took his line aboard. We then went ahead
slowly turning the vessel around 70 the south
west, and headed for st. John, Newfoundland,
At that time were in latitude
a616 north: longitude 1885, west The gale
rapidly increased in violence and the sea ran
mountains high, as they say in the newspapers
FEARS THAT THE HAwsER WOULD PART
As a matter Of fact the waves pounded on our
decks with terrible force, and we feared every
moment that the hawser between the Missouri
and the Danmark would part, leaving the latter
at the mercy of the waves. Fortunately the
line held. although during the entire night the
strain was something terrible
Toward m orning the gale had increased 70 such
an extent that were unable to make any
headvay 20 the westward and as there was a
great deal Of ice TO the windward, l decided to
steer for St. Michael, in the Azores, a
distance of $50 miles, sgnalled my
intention, to the Danmark and her
captain agreed to my proposal AT $50 a. M
we had squared away for St Michael
pry's n DIT
cat o'clock the Danmarz signalled to us: We
are leaking considerably there are now three feot
of water in the aft-hold, and it Is gaining rap. |
idly
~ asked what she wanted me to do, and the
reply came: Keep on towing
"a little over an hour later the captain of the /
Danmark signalled: The Danmark is sinking; |
we must abandon the ship. Will you take my |
passengers?
- replied: 4 will and at once cut away the |
hawser. We dropped down abreast of the Dan
mark, and her chief officer, Mr. Glen, came Oft
in one of his ships boats and boarded us. lie
told me that his ship was leaking badly and that |
it had been found impossible to repair the dam
age. There was no hope of saving the ship, he !
said, and it had been decided TO abandon her, as
she was liable to 90 down by the stern al almost
any time. Mr.. Glen then returned to the Dan
mark.
TRANSFERRING THE. PASSENGERS IN HEAVY
SEAS.
AT half-past I sent of our two boats in charge
Of the first and second officers, Forsyth |
and Lucas. The Danmark launched her seven
boats al the same time, and the work Of trans
ferring the passengers began. The sea was run
ming very high and the wind was blowing a strong |
colo III M
fraught with danger TO the passengers and crews !
in the small boats and il required the utmost |
skill 10 embark ana disembark the women and |
children without accident Meanwhile, the Dan |
mark kept drifting away, and the work OF the !
crews in the boats became harder rs the distance |
between the two ships Increased. The heavy seas |
and high winds continued oil day, but IN Just |
five and a half hours from the time we began. we |
took on board the last boatload from the aban-
doned ship.
NOT A PERSON EVEN INJURED.
AT o'clock in the afternoon. while the Of
icers of the Denmark were still on her decks l
signalled TO them TO hurry up and come aboard. |
At that hour the barometer was falling rapidly |
and the weather becoming dirtier and thicker
every moment II evident that it would soon
he impossible for small boat 10 live in the fear
ful sea th1t was running, ard which was becom-
ing more terrible every moment. Finally We
got everybody aboard, Captain knudSen beng the
last 10 leave his ship Not one person was even
then found that we had on board in addition
10 our own crew of fortyiv men and four pas:
sengerS, Coo cabin and steerage passengers and
sixty. nine officers and crow Of the Illfated
steamer After we had taken everybody from the
Danmark we pulled the plugs out of the bottoms
of that vessels boats which we had used, and left
them 10 sink to the bottom OF the Atlantic anu
/ can't understand now our sistcr-Ship, the Mime
sofa, picked up one of these boats six days later
THE DNNMARK SINKING RAPIDLY OUT'OF SIGHT.
"Our last view Of the Danmark showed that
vessel to be rapidly going down, her stern being
almost even with the sea. When we abandoned
the Danmark we were in latitude 46. 16 north;
longitude 80 west
when We got all the Danmark'S people on