Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1895-02-09
Three Hundred and Seventy.
Four Are Missing,
A Nebraska Man Contradicts the
Captain of the Crathie.
Carl Hoffman OF Grand Island Says the
Crathie Could Have Easily Saved
the People on the Elbe IL
She Had Stood by n
Few Minutes.

WnlCn are OUT bll NlulStc III Wv ~
ity where the Wildfower picked up the
Elbe's boat containing the twenty sur
vivors have not yet returned 10 their
ports, so that there still remains a pos
sibility hat n or more OF them may
have rescued some Of the unfortunates
Of the lost steamer. ON the otherhand,
the weather is unfavorable to the sur
vival OF castaways for any consider
able length of time. a heavy north
east gale prevails on he North sea ana
the weather at Lowestoft and there
abouts is very cold. The gale is Ia
creasing to almost q hurricane and Is
accompanied by a binding snow storm.
Thus far no article Of woodwork or FUR
uIture belonging To IN" IOst NeSsel mas
washed ashore on the Suffolk coast. n
fact In itself regarded by experts as
proving the sudden completeness OF the
disaster and tending 10 diminish the
probabilities OF further saving Of life
being reported. a lifeboat of the Elbe,
II is true, was washed ashore at Var
mouth last evening. oars and life buoys
being found in 1t; but this is undoubt-
eddy the boa from which the Wild
flower rescued the survivors yesterday
and which was left adrift after its oc-
cupantS had been taken on.
1t is learned that the following N
addition 10 those named in the list OF
the first cabin passengers already pub
lished, were drowned. Their names did
not appear on the printed list because
they did not take through passage,
but intended to go only as far as South
hampton.
Schrifre Dornan.
Anton Fischer.
A family named Misselaerez consisting
OF two adults and two children.
Mr.. Laeker and his wife. who were
among the steerage passengers lost,
were English people who went to
Bremen to take steerage passage for
New York. a tug sent out by the
Lloyds To cruise around in search of
survivors left Lowestoft early his
morning.
Statement Of the Crathie's Captain.
The owner. at Aberdeen, of the
steamship Crathie, which ran into
the Elbe, has received "A brief telegram
from the captain at Maasluis stating
hat the Crathie's bow was terribly
crushed by the impact OF the vessel
with the Elbe and that the Crathie was
in a sinking condition when she cached
Maasluis. The captain was below at
the time Of the collision, the mate being
In charge Of the vessel. The latter has
made a statement to the captain that
he has no knowledge whatever as to
the identity of the vessel with which
the rathic collided. His own vessel
was so terribly damaged that its condi-
ton called for the undivided attention
of the officers and the entire crew. all
OF whom had to bend their energies TO
saving their ship and their own lives.
There was, the mate adds, n dense fog
at the time OF the accident and the YES
sci with which the Crathie collided vas
lost in the mist almost Immediately
after the crash.
Refuted by a Nebraska Man.
Carl Hoffman of Grand Island, Neh.
who Is among the saved. refutes this
statement by making the statement
In addition to his statement already
published, that IL the vessel which
came into collision with the Elbe had
stood by the sinking ship a majority of
her passengers might have been saved.
as the Elbe stood perfectly still for
many minutes after the impact. In
fact, size remained motionless until the
water which vas pouring into her hold
caused her to lurch violently, after
which all was confusion on board.
Prior to this, however, discipline was
maintained and there could have been
no difficulty in transferring the pas
sengers in an orderly manner
Tie Survivors.
The survivors who were brought TO
Lowestoft are all recovering from the
effects of their shock and exposure.
Miss Anna Blocker, the only woma
known to have been saved, has so far
recovered that she will be able to pro-
coed to Southampton today.
The surviving officers Of the Elbe are
very reticent in regard TO the disaster.
reserving their statements pending an
official inquiry into the circumstances.
but 1t transpires that an officer Of the
Elbe saw a green light on the port bow
belonging to an unknown vessel which.
II Is alleged, was trying to cut across
the Elbe's bows. This light evidently
belonged to the Crathie.
A dispatch to Lloyds from Rotterdam
says the Crathie left Maasluis at 10
o'clock on the night of January % for
Aberdeen and returned to Maasluis at
l:25 d. m, January 80, damaged. She
reported having been in collision with
a large unknown steamer. which her Of
fcers thought was probably an Amer
lean liner. The Crathie's stem was COM
pletely gone above the water line, hav-
ing been carried away tn the third
frame, but she was perfectly tight and
had made no water. The collision, ac-
cording to the officers OF the Crathie.
occurred between 6 and 6 o'clock on the
morning Of January 30. One of the
crew of the Crathie was injured by the
collision.
A blizzard like snow is prevailing to-
day of Lowestoft and Yarmouth, rem
dering the sea invisible from the shore,
Coasting trafic Is wholly suspended.
skipper wrIsht's Story.
Lowestoft, Jan. 31.-William Wright,
the skipper of the fishing smack WILD
Flower, says: w were a. southeast
of Lowestoft with u trawling gear
down, when, about IL o'clock yesterday
morning. ! saw a ships lifeboat a mile
away. The boats mast was naked, but
I saw something fiuttering from her
stern. The water was breaking owe
the boat. I watched the boat closely,
Her occupants seemed to think l was
going to leave them, so / waved my
hat. II took us half an hour to get w
Dur trawling gear. and In the mean
time the boat was drifting away from
us. When We got close to them ! cast
them q rope, but they were SO cold and
numb thai they could mol make 1t fast
for some time. We pulled them around
to the side Of the smack and about
half Of them jumped aboard. but the
strain caused by the heavy sea parted
the rope and the remainder once more
drifted away. Eventually we made
another line fast and four more OF the
unfortunates were dragged In. leaving
o woman and four men In the boat
The woman lay In the water In the
bottom Of the boat. She wore a Ions
coat. but had on neither boots nor
dress. Pilot Greenham helped her to
get on board the smack. Just as all
had boarded the smack the line again
parted and the lfeboat was lest l got
the woman below and asked all the
others TO 90 to the engine room while
she took on her clothes and wrapped
A.--~rD a. -. Aa-. mana AA