Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-01-31

The First Reports Did Not Paint the
Horror Too DRriT.

Ihe first reports Dtd Not Paint the !
Horror Too DARK.
London, Jan. SO.-rhe North German
Lloyd steamer Elbe, Captain Won Cos
set, from Bremen yesterday for New
York, via Southampton, has been sunk !
in collision with the British steamer
Crathie, bound from Rotterdam for
Aberdeen At the time of sending this
dispatch the exact loss of life Is un-
known, but report has 1t that II was
enormous. The disaster occurred be-
fore daylight this morning at a point
some thirty miles from the Hook of
Holland.
The first intirhation OF the disaster
came from Lowestoft Suffolk. one of
the chief English fishing ports. Later
this afternoon a dispatch was received
from that place saying that 1t was re-
ported there that a transatlantic line
steamer had been sunk in the North
sea and that the loss of life was very
great. The first dispatch stated that
there had been $50 persons on the Elbe
and that only nineteen had been saved
the rescued having been landed at
Lowestoft by fishing vessels. Later
dispatches TO the Exchange Telegraph
company and 10 Lloyd's confirmed the
report of the loss OF the steamer. and
still later II was learned that the
Crathie, the steamer that sunk the
Elbe, had put into Mas Luis, Hol-
land, in damaged sondltlon. She
reported that she had been in collision
with an unknown ocean steamer.
Towards evening, over two hours
after the news reached the London
office Of the Associated Press and had
been cabled to America, the agents in
this city of the North German Lloyd
Steamship company received the fol-
lowing cable message:
Most deplorable news from Lowe
stoft. 1t states Elbe sunk through
collision, 6 this morning. Goat 40. g.
with Third officer Stallburgh, Fuser
weser, Engineer Neussel and nineteen
persons, landed at Lowestoft. No
further news so far"
When the news OF the disaster be-
came genrally known, through the
medium of the tlcliers Of the Ex-
change Telegraph company, in the
clubs and places Of public resort the
excitement was intense. Gable dis
patches were at once forwarded to all
| the principal European cities and soon
n flood of return dispatches were re-
1 ccived, asking for further information.
| which at that time it was Impossible
to obtain.
The agents here of the company did
everything possible to learn all the
| facts. and as soon MS any new infor-
nation was received II was at once
| cabled to the various European capl-
tails
The dispatches from Germany show
that the news caused the greatest eN-
element and sorrow, most OF the ofii-
GERS and crIw Of the lost steamer and
majority OF the passengers, being
Germans,
1t was at first hoped that the reports
OF the disaster had been exaggerated,
and that most If not all, Of NE pas
senrers and crew had escaped, either
by means Of the ships boats or by be-
ing picked up by passing vessels
But as time wore on 1t was apparent
that the lrst reports of the sinking
of the steamer had minimized the hor-
rors of the disaster. Many dispatches
were forwarded to Mas luis, % the
commander of the Crathe, asking him
II he had rescued any of the Elbe5
nassenrers. I'm TO late hour, how
ever no answers We're receiver 10
these dispatches, and the belief grew
that the Crathle. after the accident
had rather Sought her own safety man
to rescue the people on the doomed
Elbe. -, I, L.,
learned that the Elbe was proceed
Inc along at her usual rate OF speed
and keeping the ordinary ouilooks'
The night was dark, but there was no
gale, Suddenly the forward lookout
on the Illbe reported to the otllcer on
deck that the lights of a steamer were
close aboard, over the port DOW. BE
go the course of the Elbe could be
changed. so as to sheer her off from
the approaching steamer, the later
struck her just about the engine room,
going through her plates as II they
were pasteboard and sticking her nose
almost completely through the nun OF
, 44...a
the Flbe on her nose, but then her en-
rInas were reversed and she backed
ont Of the aperture she had made
As she did so the water rushed INTO
the Elbe in torrent. and she began
, Immediately to settle. ,
The officer in charge of the snip a,
o,,ca saw that she was doomed, ana
80 hurried orders TO clear away the
, ,ISshoats for launching. Three OF the
ioots wore cleared and lowered, but
ono Of them shortly after 1t got clear
} ~ tho steamer, capsized. and II is
tbonrht all its occupants were
J drowned. The first contained the thlra
, officer. chief engineer purser ana
obnut twenty OF the passengers. Ihese
80 the nersons who were picked up
| h,, tbe fshing smack and taken 70
, Iou,es+oft From the survivors II Is
iearned that as soon as the Crathie
hacked away from the Elhe the IN
rushing water Hooded the ar o. 'h'
Z engine room so quickly that nobodS
, 49,, ,be decks in that part OF tbs
ship had an opportunity to escape. The
Shock of the collision was compare a,
49, 49, hnf This is explained by the fac
tbat II was direct cutting blow
Nearly ali the passengers were we're, as ,erI
a at the time, but many OF mem wer,
r awakened by the shooA' snsn' "a
I
I was. -
e They could hear the rush ,,,, Of t II,
rapid inhowlng water and T ,ti. erie erie,
Of terror sought to mn, make Insrr hs gni
, 70 5ps bY the stern. water natural!
Of The passengers forward az the TO s r1ecl
: ~ however the result wa
I, a pfs,al, As they rushed In from thei
= staterooms into the saloon they wsr