Birmingham age-herald., 1895-02-02
NO TRACE OF THE ELBE, Nor of the Many Souls on Board .elt the Vessel THE CRATHIE IS SEIZED.
Her Captain Talks of the Col IiSion-CreW Condemned.
 A Fund Started.

LONDON, Feb. 1.-Six. fishing smacks returned to Lowestoft during last night. They were trawling in the vicinity of the disaster to the Elbe, but saw no boat wreckage. The wind abated somewhat this morning.. butsnow is fall- ing and the sea very high.
 STARTED FOR LONDON. s.T
 Jan Vevera, Carl Hoffman, Eugene Schlegel and Miss Anna Buecker, four of the five surviving passengers of the Elbe, started from Lowestoft for London this morning. ss.a@a {, se .5sf
 The survivors of the crew of the lost steamer visited the German consulate to- day, where their depositions were taken. They will probably return to Germany via Southampton tonight.
 THE QUEENS REGRET.
 The Lloyd 'slsgent at Lowestoft has re- ceived the following telegram: tThe queen is greatly distressed at the terrible disaster to the steamship Elbe, and will be glad to know the condition of the rescued ones and to be informed if there is any chance that there may be other survivors"
 To this message the agent replied: 'The survivors of the Elbe are sincerely grateful for her majesty's kind inquiry as to their condition. All of them are able to start for London today. fear that there Is no hope now that any more have been saved.'
 
 Bothen, started for London this afternoon. Up to 2:30 D. n. no bodies or wreckage had been found by the searchers.
 THE CREW CONDEMNED.
 The Pall.Mall Gazette, in a leading ar- ticle on the loss of the Elbe, says: 'Had the holiday makers. we should say nothing, but what shall we say of the loss. of a steamship belonging to one of the greatest trans Atlantic lines, where only twenty lives were saved, fifteen of them being of the crew, and only one woman among total number of sevep-accepting as true statements of the surviving members of the crew? Why were they scrambling to port whileIan attempt was being made to lower boats to the starboard? Why were women and children sent to the starboard wben the list of the ship to port made the use of the. starboard boats impracticable. Is it not part of a seaman's duty to be drowned, if,need be, in trying to save the lives of passelgereH'
 nr6 OFFICERS AND CREW EXAMINED.
 fTtis understood that the officers and crew of the Crathie were examined today by the British consul in Rotterdam. They will leave this afternoon and return forthwith to Aberdeen.
 b STRONG DENIAL.
 ;.Vevera, Hoffman and Schlegal denied emphhtically this evening that the Crathie remained signaling for two hours near the  done 50 she could have saved many lives. Hoffman, who was among the first to reach the Elbe's deck after the collision, did not see the Crathie answer any Of the Elbe'e signals. He noticed a small steamer, ap. parently the one that had struck the Elbe, ,steamfng away.
 As regards the behavior of the Elbe's crew Hoffman said: 'l seized @ life boat as soon as l got on deck, but sailor de- nanded it, saying that it belonged to the crew. gave 1t up with the remark, Well |, hope you will save yourself,' but he did not. The crew did their best to keep the passengers out of the boat.''
 Hoffman was greatly embittered by the loss of his wife and child. He talks con- tiuually about it and in each interview makes new charges against the crew.
 GREEN HANDS ON BOARD.
 Yevera told reporter today there were lot of green hands in charge of the life boats. There were so excited they did not one boat and then dumped all the occu- pants into the water. The crew in our boat were very reluctant to admit Miss Buecker. Hoffman and I dragged her in without any aid from the seamen.
 ATTACK TWO OFFICERS.
 Vevera and Hoffman also attack Third Officer Stollberg and First Engineer Neu- sett. They say that both acted selfishly after the rescue, and that Stollberg made no effort to command the boat, but gave the whole responsibility to the steerage passenger, Boethen, who had been cook on French steamer. They speak highly of Boethen's skill and kindness, and give him the whole credit for managing the boat.
 The company have booked Vevera and Schlegel to sail on the steamship Umbria tomorrow, and both will start tomorrow morning for Liverpool Each has received S15 from the company, as they lost every thing with the ship.
 Many more smacks arrived at Lowestoft late this afternoon and evening. They brought no news. Others due to arrive tomorrow and Sunday. The skipper of the smack Competitor, which returned to- night, reported that he Saw yesterday what he thoughtwas small bag and tried to catch it with a boat hook. He missed it and, knowing nothing of the collision, did not try for it again. Hand bills distributed in Lowestoft say that Consul Bradber will pay 250 for the body of Walter Schnell, one of the Elbe's first cabin passengers. FUNDS FOR THE WILD FLOWERS CREW. The Shipwrecked Mariners society has sent a barometer to Skipper Wright of the Wild Flower and e10 to his men, and the beneit.
 A dispatch from Vienna states that among the Elbe's passengers were the Guttmann bfother, directors of a steam mill company near Kanschan, Hungary. The Gutt- Diann ns had fled to escape arrest for forge- ries, by which they defrauded the company and the peasant shareholders of 300, ,000 fQrins. They are said to have given as- slmed names at the steamship office. z .af~ FRENCH NEWSPAPERS USE VIOLENT LANGUAGE IN CONCERNING THE ACCIDENT. PARIS, Feb. 1.-The greater part of the Paris newspaper comment on the loss of the Elbe is unfavorable to the officers and crew of the colliding ship, the Crathie. La Lanterne violently condemns those on board of the ship, saying that seamen. are prover bially brutal.
 The Figaro and La Lanterne both de- | nonpee the British captain, remarking that | his conduct was what might be expected of an English sailor.