The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-07-09
TRAGEDY or TllB DBER.

The sinking ~ the french Linsr In
BourEogno Reveals Some Avail Renli-
/ Ties OF the Dopravlty ofllAmaW Mature.
, BOSTON, July s.--The Plant line
steamer Halifax has arrived here, hav-
ing ON board 1872 survivors of the
French line steamer La Boursogne.
which was sunk in a collision with the
ship CromartyShire, OF Sable island,
last Monday. on the passage from
Halifax. La BOusgOgne's passenger list
was carefully revised and 1t was
shown that there were IA souls on
board the steamer, of whom $50 we're
lost and 1874 saved. OF the saved twelve
were second class, forty-seven Storage
and the remainder were members OK the
crew.
Among the remarkable escapes were
those OF three Btokers OF La BOurgogne.
Louis Julien, John Alvany and Fran
coils Emilio are the stokers. They were
IN the stoke hole when the accident oc-
Cured. Their story in substance is as
follows:
The engines were stopped after the
collision and subsequently were started
in the hope Of Bleaching the steamer on
Sable Island. About Ave minutes after
the crash the water began to come into
the boiler room and soon It rushed In In
great volumes. The pumps were tried,
but to no avail The water put the
llres out and the engines stopped. The
chief engineer gave orders to close the
water tight doors, but even when they
were closed the water came in almost as
fast as before. Then all hope was ADAM
doned and the engineer blew twice on
the whistle, the signal for all TO escape
who could do 80. There was a rush.,
but about fifteen men were drowned III
the stoke holes and engine room. Three
men who succeeded In getting out found
that all the boats had left and they at
once plunged into the sea. They were
picked up later and taken on board the
Cromartyshire.
From'the testimony Of three persons.
Otto Zelser, OF New York; Mr.. Achnrd.
OF Baltimore, and Charles Liebre, chief
cook OF the STAFFORD hotel, Philadelphia,
It appears that the fourth engineer OF
La Bourgogne, who was saved, acted In
the most brutal manner toward the
passengers. The three men agree In
the statement that after the collision
when everyone was surrounding the
boats, the fourth engineer said: Damn
the passengers. Let them save them
selves; we save ourselves first." He
also said that IL he had revolver he
would shoot the passengers.
Mr.. Liebre spoke in great praise OF
the captain OF the Bousg0Bne, although
that officer did not think the collision
was serious and informed those OF the
danger. This Is thought to be one rea-
son that none Of the aeventy-tive first
class passengers were saved.
on the voyage Liebre became &C.
uualnted with Yousouf, the wrestler,
who was a passenger. After the coils
ion Liebre said he saw Housout Btrug-
Cling in a crowd of drowning passen-
gers, beating them on with stilletto
and showing them aside, trying to reach
q boat. He failed, however. and went
down.
L. Tarlaud, Of New York, and Mona.
Lucas, from Northern France the lat
ter being a waiter on the steamer La
Bourgogne, was being driven away from
a boat containing AustrIans armed with
knives.
While the ship was entering Boston
harhor this morning eight persons gave
their names as witnesses to the fact
that the Austrians used knives to keep
people out OF their boats.
One Of the crew, steward, who spoke
English well, declined to give his name.
as he said It would be bad for him when
he got back.
He said he was in bed at the time Of
the accident. The shock Weakened him
ana he ran up to the spar deck to his
boat, There are twenty-five appointed
to each, but there were only seven or
eight at which was the second mates
The second mate was at his post and
the boat was Immediately got ready.
Therl were about fifty passengers In
this boat, including lot Of women. AS
the Bourgogne was sinking, the boat
caught and upset, throwing every one
Into the water. He came up in a min
ute. He was saved two minutes after
by a raft. There we're women and
children screaming for help, but he
turned his head dwaY, as he said he did
not like to see these things.