The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-01-31
FEW WERE SAVED
From the Passenger List of
the Elbe.
4 Number of Americans Are
Missing.
TERRIBLE SCENES.
Story of the Disaster as Told by
Eye Witnesses
TERRIBLE SCENES.


gers on the Inflated Elbe from America
that are missing, are:
Frau M. G. Connors, South Dakota.
DR.. J. c. DIETRICH, America.
Fraulein Frank and Jacob Frank
America.
Anton Fischer, Washington, D. c
J. F. Gerlicher, Winona, MINI.
Theodore Geisenhermer. New York.
Ernest Herren, New York.
Anna Hoffman, and Henry Hof-
man, Grand Island, Neb.
The Collision.
The Elbe was proceeding along at
her usual rate OF speed and keeping
the ordinary 1ookouts. The night
was dark, but there was no gale.
Suddenly the forward lookout on the
E1be reported to the officer on deck
that the lights rof steamer were
close aboard over the port bow. Be-
fore the course of the Elbe could be
changed so as to sheer her off from
the approaching steamer, the latter
struck her ust about the engine
room, going through her plate as
though they were pasteboard and
sticking her nose almost completely
through the hull of the Elbe. For
time she held the Elbe on her nose,
but then her engines were reversed
and she backed out of the aperture
she had made. As she did so the
water rushed into the Elbe in a tor
rent and she began Immediately to
settle.
The officer in charge of the ship at
once saw she was doomed and gave
hurried orders to clear away the life
boats for launching. Three of the
boats were cleared and lowered but
one of them shortly after it got clear
of the steamer, capsized and it is
thought that all occupants were
drowned. The first boats contained
the third officer, chief engineer,
purser, and about twenty of the pas
sengers. They were picked up by
fishing smack and taken to Lowestoft.
Following is list of the survivors:
Karl Hoffman, Eugene Schlegel, John
Vevera, Anna Blocker, Between Pas
senger Bothen. Chief Engineer Neus-
fell, Third officer Stollberg, Purser
| Wester, Herr Dehart, Brelnerhaven
| pilot; Robert Greenham, an English
| pilot, and ten of the crew.
Story of the Survivors.
FROM the Survivors IL IS learned
that as soon as the Crathie backed
away from the Elbe. the in-rushing
water flooded the aft of the engine
room so quickly that nobody below
| decks in that part of the ship had an
! opportunity to escape. The shock of
the collision was comparatively slight
in view of the damage done, but this
! is explained by the fact that it was a
! direct cutting blow. Nearly all the
! passengers were asleep at the time,
but many of them were awakened by
| the shock, slight as it was. They
could hear the rush of the rapid in
flowing water and with cries of ter
ror, sought to make their way to the
upper deck. The steamer being
loaded by the stern, water naturally
rushed aft, and this allowed many of
| the passengers forward to reach the
deck.
In the case of the saloon passeng-
ers, however, the result was fatal
| AS they rushed from their state rooms
| into the saloon they were met by the
torrent, against which it was impossi-
BILE for them to make Roadway. They
| were caught up and swept aft toward
the cock pit, where they were prob
ably drowned before the ship foun-
| dered. Altogether, about fifty of the
the widest confusion existed. Wild
rushes were made for the boats, but
the terrible excitement prevailing
impeded the efforts of those who were
trying to clear them away. Many
heart rending scenes were witnessed
between parents and children in the
| few moments preceding the sinking
of the vessel.
There is some disagreement among
the survivors as to the number of
boats that were launched. One sur
vivor, Karl A. Hoffman, declares that
only two boats were launched. One
of these was swamped instantly, and
only one of its occupants girl named
Anna Blocker, who was bound for
Southampton, was rescued. She chung
| to a piece of wreckage which she
grasped so tightly that it was only
with difficulty that she was dragged
| into the second boat She was just
returning from the death bed of hel
father and mother.
The Doomed Women and Children,
Meanwhile the cry was raised OF
the doomed vessel for the women anc
children to go over to the other side
of the steamer away from the port
side, in which was the great gaping
hole caused by the Crathie. Tbs
half-fainting women and terror
stricken children hurried to the star
board side, but they had scarcely
reached the boats when the huge
vessel lifted her bows high in the all
and then slowly and silently sank
stern foremost, beneath the waves
taking with her her human freight
} Barely twenty minutes elapsed be
tween the collision and the sinking
J | of the steamer. A heavy sea was
running and the wind, which was
from the east southeast, was bitterly
cold.
The small boat containing the sur
| r;uors 4ossad a honA until IL O'Clock ir