Morning journal and courier., 1891-03-19
|NEHs BY IELEGRlPh.
 From All Quarters. THE UTOPIA DISASTER. Awful Scenes on the Dark Ocean Waves. REVIVINe INFAMOUS MURDER CASE. Party Precipitated Over a
 Mountain Side. DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT ELIZABETH. Train Blocked for a Week
 In England.
DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT ELIzABETh.

lId1u DlOCkeU lOF d Ve6k In England.
 OVER FIVE HUNDRED DROWNED
 Awful Result of the Collision Near
 GibraItar-How the Accident Oc-
 eurred-Distressing Scenes in the
 Bay-The Work of Rescue.
 GIBRALTAR, March 1S.-It is now be- lieved that the loss of life by the sinking of the Anchor line steamer Utopia, which colhded yesterday with the British iron clad Rodney, is much larger than at first stated. It is estimated that of the TOO Italian emigrants and the crew on board 570 persons were drowned. Several bodies have been washed ashore on the Spanish coast.
 Another account of the disaster attrib- utes it to the fact that the British war ship Anson was drifting before the gale and that in doing so she rammed the Utopia abaft the funnel. After the col lision the Anson is said. to have reversed her engines, causing her to back away from the Utopia, which was impaled on the spur of the ram. Almost immediately afterwards the Utopia sank beneath the waves.
 Everything possible was done by the | officers and seamen of the British war ships in their efforts to save the lives of the unfortunate people on the Utopia, and in consequence four seamen were washed overheard and drowned from one of the l war ships steam launches while taking part in the work of rescue.
 Among the Utopia's officers and petty l officers who were saved by the boats of the war ships were Captain McKeague, the ships doctor, the boatswain, the chief steward and the carpenter.
 Tho scene after the collision has prob ably never before been witnessed in the history of maritime disasters. On one | side was the sinking passenger steamship crowded with about 700 emigrants, who l filled the air with wild appeals for help and shrieks of terror. Right and left of the sinking vessel were the two big battle | ships, the Rodney and the Anson, pour l ing the light of their electric refectors ] upon the disabled steamship, and showing too clearly the position in which the pas l sengers were placed Here and there were the warships' small boats striving to be first to reach the drowning people. QUARTERMAsTER's STORY.
 Petersen, Swedish quartermaster, who had been steering the Utopia a short time before the collision, says, just before the vessels came together be went below. While there he felt the shock of the colli- sion and rushed from below, but before he reached the main deck the Utopia had gone broadside on the shore of Anson's ram. The commander of the Utopia, Cap | tain HcKeag, according to Petersen, was l on the steamers bridge until the last mo l ment. Petersen adds that as the Utopia was crushed by the Anson's ram he clam l bored upon the davits of boat and cut the ropes. He had no time, however, to lower the boat away as the bows of the Utopia had passed beneath tho warshipsand l it was evident that the passenger steamer was rapidly sinking. Soon after the boats | of the Anson having been promptly low cred one of the man-of-war's cutters came l alongside the Utopia, and Petersen man. aged to jump into her. He says that while on board the Utopia after the collision he was surrounded by terrible mass of hu- man beings fighting their way desperately | towards tho boats. Men, women and | children tumbled and climbed over each | other in that horrible fight for chance of | escape from drowning. One poor woman | who was rescued by the Anson's blue jack | cts went raving mad when she was con- | vinced that her children were drowned. DRAWN INTO THE VORTEX.
 There were similar distressing incidents l by the score, the most awful of all occur | ing when the Utopia with final desperate lurch sank with her human freight cling ing about her, and drew hundreds of iv- 1 ing persons down with her in tho vortex caused by her last plunge. Many of those 1 who had sprung into the sea as they saw that the steamship could not float many moments longer, were then also drawn down in the whirlpool caused by the Uto- pias disappearance. Some came to the | surface again for a few moments before sinking finally into their watery tomb. Others, more lucky, were able to cling to pieces of wreckage, floating spars, oars, gratings, hatchways, boats life-belts, etc, and thus kept the war-ship's boats. But, as is usual in such cases, the weaker succumbed more rapidly. Shrieking, praying women sank to rise no moro, with their terrified of- spring clasped to their breasts. Children clung to their parents so desperately in several cases as to cause the death of both,
 where each might have escaped had better judgment been used Husbands and wives
 sank while grasping each other in frantic
 efforts to keep each other afoat, and many
 good swimmer went down with some
 mortified, fear-maddened person clinging
 to him with the tenacity and desperation
 of death.
 The official report of the number of per
 sons aboard the Utopia shows that when
 she left Naples the steamer had SS0 souls
 on board, including passengers and crew.
 Of this number only 311 have been saved.
 Thus 569 of her passengers and crew are
 either drowned or missing.
 Divers from the war ships are at work
 over and about the spot where the Utopia
 sank. If possible efforts will be made to
 raise her. The principal work of the
 divers this afternoon has been the recovery of dead bodies.
 l DESCRIPTION OF THE CATASTROPHE.
 It has not been possible until now to
 give full and authentic account of the appalling catastrophe, the failing light
 making it difficult last night to see from the shore what was going on at the scene
 of the disaster and the terrible gale mak D ing it almost impossible to communicate ] with the vessels until late hour to-day. Early last evening the Utopia was seer ! ! steaming into the bay in the direction ol
 the Anchorage. When abreast of the iron
 clad Anson the Utopia staggered as though
 unable to make headway against the terri
 ble current. Suddenly the strong gale , combined with the current, swept thu = ill-fated vessel across the bows o 1 the Anson, and in moment he
 hull was pierced and cut by the ram O
 the iron-clad. The Utopia, after pulling
 clear of the iron-clad, drifted about befor
 wind and seae The rapid thrush of tn ! water through the rent in her side causet
 her to settle down in five minutes from tn I time of the first impact. Tho Anson' ! boats were lowered immediately, as wer F also boats from tho other vessels of tn
 British channel squadron, the Swedish l man-of-war Freya, and tho cable-ship Am |. ber. and the iron-clads turned their pow