New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-01-31

| letn board. wherein was scrawled the first SAD
message of death, while inside it was waiting.
waiting. always waiting for the catalogue OF
passengers whose lives had been ntrusted to the
Elbes iron hull.
The talk was all OF lifeboats and Of water
tight compartments. The clerks said the Elbe
had ten standing boats with airtanks. five or
six collapsbe boats. and three or four patent
liferafs and that each Of these could carry fifty or
more passengers II carefully launched and
| properly handled. Then there were the water
| tight compartments nine OF them. theoretically
| sufficient to float the vessel even II cut to the
waters edge. Was the steamer caught with the
doors TO the water-tght bulkheads open. or how
| was 1t that the elaborate lfe-saving apparatus
had all failed In the moment Of disaster? The
rules require that all compartment doors shall
be kept closed. but Mr.. Schwab said. NO sys-
tenn Of water-tght compartments will save ship
when struck square amidships"
At o'clock the list OF first and second cabin
passengers came in over the cable. and anxious
nquirers could then have definite information
to the fate OF friends and relatives. The small
number OF NewYork people In the list gave
general feeling Of relief
During the evening telephone message from
| Washington came 10 the Bowling Green Office
asking about the reported loss of the Elbe and
asking IL a Mr.. Fischer. OF that city. was pas
senger board Mrs, Anton Fischer was re-
| ported to be on board
Mr. Schwab and many OF his assistants re-
maincd all night.
| UNCERTAIN ABOUT THE PASSENGERS.
The best information which the company
| could give to the total number of passengers
| and crew lost was contained In two messages re-
| ceived about 1870 p. m. from Southampton.
ut soI
to number about $50 at this time OF the year.
| The cable dispatches also said that only five OF
| the $40 passengers had been saved.
According to these figures there were on the
ship 800 souls or these. not more than twenty
were saved. and the message giving names only
mentioned nineteen as having been saved. This
would make the loss ST.
There Is another element. however which
tends to strengthen the belief that there were
more than this number lost. The name OF the
only woman given as saved was Anna Boecker a
ca bin passenger Her name did not appear In the
list OF first second cabin passengers, and 80 II
Is believed that she did not buy ticket at the
company's Office. but vent on board and then
paid her passage after the ship sailed. At this
time Of the year. when travel Is light and there
Is no difficulty in securing berth. II Is well
known that many passengers follow THIS prac-
tee. By doing thI, there IS no chance 81 their
losing the amount which they are Obliged 10 de-
post when engaging passage.
II is believed that this done in the present
instance The belief T. founded on the fact that
there was an extremely small cabin passenger
ist numbering only fifteen ffrst-cass passengers
and thirty sccondclass: and the further fact
that one OF the three cabin passengers saved was
not on the list In the company's Office In Bremen;
There is another thing also which might tend
q swell the number lost II was said at the
Office = the company that the woman who was
saved might have been Southampton pas
sengcr The names OF passengers for that port
were not sent TO the company here. rms fact
In
passengers there were on board. The agents
here could not tell whether the $40 passengers
mentioned In the cable dispatches included an
such passengers or not. The fact only remained
that there were at least 81 persons lost ana
possibly many more. .
A well-dressed. fnc-ooking man called at the
offices about o'clock ard asked anxously II
they had passenger list. The dispatch was
shown To- him and he quickly found the name
OF Mrs Kllpfei. ~ Brandenburg.
Have YOU the names OF those saved ne
asked again. anxiOusy. , .
The compcnys agents recognized at once that
this passengers name did not appear on the list
~ those saved. They evidently dreaded telling
the inquirer that the name OF the passenger
whom he sought did no. appear on the hst OF
those saved and 80 they evaded the ques"'n anu
we have only received slight details OF the
disaster ard we expect morc"intorma'ioh very
soon" -, ...-.u.
well" he said she has engaged her passage
To sail four times before this and then waited
each time for the next steamer: mlshs IN. n't sns
her name the passenger list! -, -,
The agents replied that she might have done
So He went out without s,eins the ns. OF nose
so ved saving he would call the company up on
the telephone later when there were more par
ticuars.
STATEMENT BY GENERAL MANAGER
scHwAB.
General Manager Gustav H. Schwab. when
seen by a Tribune reporter. said: Il can AS yet
give little information beyond what You nave
already obtained When The collision occurred
three boats were put of. One foundered ana her
passengers and crew were taken on board one OF
IN. other boats Each boat carries from forty
o. 0f,v nassengers 50 that from l2O TO 100 per-
ems must have been taken from the vessel before
she went down We hope the captain Is among
those who have been saved. We VIII Keep the
Office open here al night and furnish all the
nous we receive by cable la connection with the
disaster to the press"
AT THE PIERS IN HOBOKEN.
II Baur. the American superintendent OF the
North German Lloyd Steamship Company was
seen at his Office the companys piers at Third
&, Hoboken by a reporter for The Tribune last
night.
Superintendent Baur said his first inlmation
that the Elbe had met disaster was the follow
ing dispatch which he received at 4:3O D. m
yesterday:
Elbe sunk in collision a. m. Boat No 3. with
Third Officer Stoberg. PuTser Wefer. Chief Eng-
neer Neusse and nineteen persons. landed at
Lowestoft $40 r. m
The news was so dreadful Superintendent Baur
said that IL soon become known through the
offices and about the piers. and all work was
suspended for time. II created the greatest
possible excitement. and more particularly among
the officers and crews of the company's three
steamships which now in and lying at the
piers The thought THAT so many Of their COM
rades and shpmates had gone down with the
steamship blanched the cheeks OF many OF
the bravest u them. ana for time unnerved
them for work OF any kind Those OF the officers
and crews who could gain permission to leave