The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1897-03-18
ONLY FOUR SURVIVED
Of Thirty-seven Who Abandoned
a French Steamer.
A TERRIBLE STORY OF SUFFERING.

Boat Found Adrift in the Ocean with
-Four Corp,es aud Four Nearly Dead on
Board-The Others HAD suocumbed to
Cold, starvation or Madness.
New York, March 1S.-The steamer
Vile de ST. N9zaire belonging to the
French line to the West indies. sailed
from New York on March for Port
au Prince, Mayasuez, etc, with 81
persons on board and has not since
been reported She was a bark rig
ged screw steamer Of 2,6lO tons regis
ter.
The schooner Hilda, that plies along
the coast between Perth Amboy and
Savannah, came into port last night
bearing with her a story horrible even
In the annals of the Atlantic ocean.
She carried in her cabin four passen-
gers whom she had picked up in a
boat on Monday ten miles off shore
1t was Captain Rlemes, skipper of the
Hilda, who first sighted the boat. As
the schooner drew nearer the outlines
of human figures We're made out, and
then came a cry of mortal distress
A boat was lowered, and the chief
mate and four seamen jumped in and
the prov of the boat, and apparently
in charge Of the party, was an old man
wearing the uniform of a ships off,
Ger. The mate presently recognized in
the face, hollow and sunlzen with the
cold and want Of many days, the feat
ures of Captain Jules Berri once one
Of the best known of the commanders
of the Havre branch of the French
Il.
West Indian service.
Behind him, side by side in the cen
ter seat, were two more half dressed,
coatless, hatless men, hugging them
selves with each blast of the cold wind
and gibbering at the startled faces of
the Hilda's sailors. At their feet,
stretched crosswise across the boat,
was fourth man, huddled up to the
knees. The old man at the prov open-
ed his lips as if to speak, but no sound
came from them. One by one the four
men were lifted in.
In the stern of the craft fifth man
leaned back against the rudder lines,
his hands resting against his pockets,
his head tilted slightly sideways and
a smile on his face. One Of the sail
ors touched him on the arm and began
to draw him gently forward, when he
slid quickly off the seat and settled a
sodden, lifeless heap in the bottom of
the boat. Three more corpses were in
the boat The sailors towed the dread
full freight back to the Hilda. Moth
ing could be done but consign the dead
to the sea.
Captain Berri and the three men
were carefully looked after and par
TALLY brought back to life and reason
All that they could tell was that the
Vile de st. Nazaire had somehow
been wrecked or abandoned, and that
these four men were the survivors OF
those who had taken to the boats, but
how many We're dead, how many liv-
ing, remained untold until midnight OF
Tuesday, when Captain Berri, the first
to recover, was able to gasp out some
words of his story.
"There were 81 souls on that boa
when we abandoned the st. Nazaire
OF all those men and women we foul
are the only ones left alive. The Others
starved or froze where they sat. They
died in all ways. They sank and sank
dropped off one by one, except wher,
they went mad, and then, raving anC
cursing, some jumped into the ses
ana endeu III Iudl way. Inc men WeI'
quiet enough, mostly until they saw
the women die. Then they all seemed
at once to get raving stark mad. AL
are here now. One my comrade, DR.
Marie, Stants, our engineer, and Ia
gardo, first mate. That is all 1 car
tell now"
But the old man gradually grew
stronger and able to talk with clear
ness. Dr. Marie, too, recovered hi
speech and strength enough to talk.