The Saint Paul globe., 1898-07-07
ASHAMED OF THE CREW.

a
your correspondent his arms and body
His arms are black and blue and his
body is terribly bruised from the blows
he received. After this boat went off
he was in the water eight hours.
Patrick McKeown is an intelligent
| young Irishman from Wilmington, Del
/ He is indignant at the brutal crew He
was more fortunate than most of his
Fellow passengers and got on a raft
| when the Bourgogne was sinking. One
| OF the worst sights he said he ever
| saw, was the murder OF an American n
| with whom he had become acquainted
| on board the steamer. This man, whose
name he cannot recall, was from Phil
adelphia, where he has a wife and
family. The Philadelphian was tryins
| to get on raft not far distant from
the one McKeown was on. A French
| sailor grabbed half an oar and beat
him over the forehead.
SAW A WOMAN MURDERED.
Charles Duttweiler, a German. man
aged by an interpreter to tell his story
1t Is this: He got in a boat which was
tied fast to the ship and stayed in it
until he saw it was certain death to
remain longer. He jumped, but was
carried down in the whirlpool made by
the sinking steamer He was In the
water half an hour when a boat came
within reach and he attempted to en-
| ter 1t and the wretches in it showed
him off with boat hooks. His left eye
Is badly cut by the jabs he received.
He saw a woman showed away from
the boat with oars and boat hooks,
while clinging to the life lines of the
life boat. He also says the crew as
! saulted many passengers with any i'm
plement that came handy, and, If no
| instrument was to be had, punched
| the women and men helpless in the
water with their fists.
| One of the most competent witnesses
will be John Burni, who got into a
boat with his mother before the ship
sank. The sailors in the boat held him
and threw his poor old mother into
the water. The sailors threw him out,
beat him with oars and showed him
under the boat. He was in the water
nine hours before he was saved by a
boat from the Cromartyshire.
Charles Lieber, who lost his two
| children, also said that he saw. five
women who were evidently exhausted
French sailors cut the lines, and the
women sank.
SORRY SIGHT.
Gustav Crimaux,- a French passen-
ger, corroborated the other passengers
in their statements about the crew
They did not attempt to cut any boats
loose, except those which they needed
themselves. He saw women showed
away from boats with oars and not
only being showed away, but pushed
into the water. The officers of the
Grecian say the passengers and sailors
presented sorry spectacle when they
were taken on board from the Gro
martyShire. They had not eaten for
nearly twenty-four hours. Some are
still dazed and do not know where
they are or what they are doing.
This officer Of the Cromartyshire said
one man who he pulled over the side of
his ship, when he pulled out of the col
lision seized his life belt and asked
the steward for his knife. He cut a
piece off the life belt and started to
eat it, saying it was all he wanted.
ONLY WOMAN SAVED.
Strangely Mr.. La Casse is the only
man of the saloon and cabin passen-
gers who survive, while his wife is the
| only woman Of 200, not only Of the first
saloon cabin. but of the whole ship
Who escaped. Mrs. La Casse was rous-
ed from her berth by her husband, who
was on deck at the time of the col
lision. She threw about ner the first
! articles of clothing she could secure
and reached the deck of the listing
steamship to find herself one of many
frantic and fdressed people who
congregated about the boat. She saw
the captain of the steamer on the
bridge and some of the officers at other
points endeavoring to direct the efforts
Of the crew to launch the boats. There
was little response to the orders of the
officers. The crew seemed paralyZad.
Matters were quiet and there was no
panic at first. Golden moments were
slipping away and the decks were be-
coming more and more crowded with
frightened people. The steamer was
listing, and then wild fear seized on
the passengers and they lost their
minds. Mrs. La Casse was separated
from her husband. The steamer listed
SO badly that she slipped down the de-
cliVity of the deck into the water. She
had taken the precaution at her hus-
bands direction of putting on a life
belt before leaving the cabin and short
ly after striking the water she was
seized by the arm and dragged onto
the life raft. Her savior was her hus-
| band. Soon after the steamer disap-
peared, and whirlpool filled the spot
where the craft had been. Everyone
around the vessel was drawn into it.
The water rushed around faster and
faster and the unfortunates disappear
ed with despairing cries. Mrs. La Casse
had been on the edge of the maelstrom,
but something striking her had thrown
her outside of the whirlpool, and the
next she knew she was on the life raft
"A boat containing forty women was
capsized and all went down in the
whirlpool. There was not one man in
this boat and it was left fast to the
davits. Some Of the women were try
ing to cut the ropes when the steamer
careened and capsized the boat. Mrs
LIE Casse says that the moment the
ship was engulfed men, women and
children rose on all sides OF the whirl-
pool and the sights Of the faces and
the struggles Of the victims was so ter
rible that she will remember them to
her dying day.
SHIPS OFFICERS
NEW York; uly 6.-La Bourgogne
was built in 1886, at La Seyne. She
was a four -masted, ship-rigged screw
and of 5000 horse power. She was
494.5 feet long, had 522 feet beam and
| was 34.6 feet deep.
She was built of steel and iron, had
twelve water-tight compartments and
carried water ballast.
The officers Of La Bourgogne were:
| Deloncle, commander; Dupont (Fr),
second captain; Pichard. first officer:
Delnge, second officer; Rempler, third
officer; Dalido, chief engineer; Jerissac
| (Ch), second engineer; Gautier, third
| engineer; Laisne, fourth engineer; Du-
rand, purser; Scol, assistant parser;
DR.. Delpeche, surgeon.
| Capt Deloncle went down with the
! ship. He was about 40 years old.
He had been in command of the La
Bourgogne less than six months, prior