The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-07-09
LaB0URG0GNE
TRAGEDY.
P. MCKeOwn Tells of II In
the New York Morn
ing Journal.

| Patrick McKoown, the young Whining
French liner La Bourgogne, arrived IL
New York yesterday from Boston and i
now In charge Of the Conpagnle Trans att.
antique Company. He will return to tn
city this afternoon. A Journal mar
obtained the following interview with him
regarding the collision and great loss Of
life:
II took passage on the LIN Bourgogone
with the intention of going co Moey. near
Paris, on business. l was in room No
Ell, on the starboard side Of the ship, neal
| the midsbip section. There wers four
| other passengers In the room. One was
( an Italian, and the others were Fgenchmen
One had little girl in another part Of the
steamship. Irelired at about $50 o'clocl;
Oh sunday night, Went directly to sleep
| and did not awake until was aroused by
the terrible shock at 43O o'clock In the
| morning.
| "Tho steamship had slight list to star.
board and there was great coinmot ton
everywhere. I had no idea that the vessel
was In danger, so took 1t cody, dressed
myself and then started for the deck. I
mat one of the crew aud asked him II there
was any danger He said no thought not
Men. women and children were run
ming In every direction, screaming. shout
lug, crying and begging for help Every
body seemed to be panic stricken, und
went on deck to see what the trouble was.
The fog was SO thick that nothing could
be seen, and no one seemed TO know what
had happened. Some Thought the ship
had run into an iceberg. and, at any rate,
fast -
Il went down to my berth to get lifo
belt. 1t was above the berth, and SO tight-
ly wedged In TINT II took me about five
minutes to get 1t out. My rooinmates were
IN the room. and they left ahead Of me
with life belts In their hands.
II spoke to several OF the sailors and
asked them how TO- put on the lilo belt.
and they did not tell me and said that they
had not time to fool with these things
When reached the deck some OF the lifo
b cais In the daaits were filled with men,
Ono boat was filled with women and Chi.
dren aud two with men and boys and u
few women.
Il tried to get into tho boat with the
men. and was pulled off by the sailors,
who said that here were too many people
In the boats then.
1.-The teamship was at this time listed at
such steep angle that l could not keep
my feet. and slipped ard rolled by the
starbOard rail, which was then covered
with water. There was raft at this time
which had just been cut away by one OF
the sailors, and l was the third one to get
on tho raft. About fifteen men and boys
tried to reach the raft. Some got there and
Others failed Several men who had left
the ship and were struggling In the water
grabbed the life limo Of the raft. saw one
woman on the raft She was Mrs. La
cosse. Idon't know how she got on the
rift. She was cool and brave. although
she was crying.
The people in the water kept trying to
nj i1S,I, ft,nn r.,fk Az
nbout twenty people on the craft, and
hundreds of people in tho water all around
crying for help, and thero was no hope or
help for them.
1T was terrible sight and It will be
vivid in my mind to my dying day.
There was sailor with IN our padding
and trying to get the raft away from this
steamer-which was going down storm first
so that the raft would not DO drawn
down with the vessel. We got about sew
eniy-tive yards away from the ship and
th,n saw Pelor Barrett, Of philadel phia,
with whom l became acquainted on tho
steamer. He was II third cabin passenger.
Ho had life belt on and was about ten
feet from the raft and was swimming to-
ward IT, He did not say anything,
but kept coming until he was near enough
TO take hold Of ono of tho life lines on the
side of raft. The sailor who had boon row.
Ing with the oar was near the middle of |
the raft, standing up. The rest OF the pas.
sengers we're lying down and holding on. |
THE sailor, who looked like French
man. shouted something to my fric nd in |
q language which l did not understand,
but think 1t was French Barret. al. |
TO get away, sill chung to the life line Tho
sailor seemed to become enruged, and
shouted something In d very loud and in.
sulting manner. Then he picked I'D
heavy p iece Of wood. which looked to mo |
like piece of II broken oar about four feet
long, He was standing directly over my
friond.
struck him three violent blows on tho
head. The sailor held the stick In both
hands. and struck as II he wore left hand
I'D. The force Of the blow was so great that
1t opened n large section OF Barret's SCALP
and the blood flowed down bis face In a
stream. Barrett did not speak, and was
stunned by the blows. He held Oh tho
life lines seemingly with the grip, OF denth
and tho Infatuated sailor struck him q
terrible blow on tho hands His grip was
oroken and his head fell backward into
he water.
at seemed to me then that the man was
lead. The life belt kept his body aloat.
was so overcome by what l bad seen
hat turned my head away. and that was
ZIG lhSV saw OF my friend.
Everybody on the raft seemed to be
frightened and dazed by the terrible sight,
md no one dared to make any protest for
ear hat their fate might be the same as
BarrclLs.
IA moment later there was piteous ap.
zeal for help from boy about sixteen
,ears DID, who was in the water about ten
oct from the raft. Then there come an.
'ther cry for help from another boy nenr-
'y. Wepicked up these two boys. Our
aft was overloaded then. There was an.
other raft about one hundred and fifty
ards away containing a sailor He pulled
o us and took ono half of the people from
'ur
''The fog had cleared away, and we
lighted the ship which had run into US
bout five miles away Then saw ono of
he La Bourgoane life boats bearing
md 1t was picked up by the crew. Tho
aft that was on was picked up next. We
'ot aboard the ship exhausted and we
we're taken on board tho steamer Grccian
nter and reached Halifax about o o'clock
Wednesday, morning"
The Philadelphia Record adds:
AS Mr.. Mckeown walked down tho
lntform and met Mr.. Fuguet, agent of
he French Line. he asked him for Is, say
lg ho was penniless and wanted to get
0 his homo IN Wilmington. Mr.. Faguet
ave him tho money.
A little life may be sacrificed to an hours
clay. Cholera infantum dysentery,
larrhoea come suddenly. Only safe plan