The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-07-08


were on life RATS without oars and I
called for volunteers from among my
crew and the surviving French sea-
men to bring those RATS alongside
the ship. Some of the passengers and
seamen from the sunken steamer as
sisted us and we jettisoned some thir-
ty-six tons of cargo from our forehOld
in order to tighten the ship. At about
3 O'Clock p. N. another steamer hove
in sight bound westward. We put up
our signal IN. c." (want assistance)
Shortly after a steamer bore down
toWord us. She proved to be the
Grecian bound from GLASGOW to New
York. The captain of the Grecian
agreed to take the passengers
on board and also agreed to tow my
ship to Halifax. Owing to the condi-
ton of my ship l accepted the offer
and proceeded at once to tranship the
passengers and get ready our tow line.
"At o'clock p. m. we had made
connection and proceeded in tow of
the Grecian toward Halifax, having
put a sail over the broken bow to take
part of the strain off the collision
bulkhead. There was at that time
peak"
Some Of the scenes enacted on board
the LaBourgogne just after the colli-
sion were terrible to witness. Men
fought for positions in the boats like
raving maniacs, women were forced
back from the boats and trampled by
men who made self preservation their
first object. On board were a large
number of the lower class of Italians
and other foreigners, who in their
frenzy stopped at nothing that prom
ised safety for themselves. In boat
was a party of forty women, but so
great was the panic that not a hand
was raised to assist in it's launching.
The occupants, so near saved, were
| drowned like rats when the ship, with
an awful kissing sound, went down.
| So desperate was the situation that an
! Italian passenger drew his knife and
made direct at one who like himself
was endeavOring to reach the boats.
Immediately his action was initiated
in every direction. Knives were
=, fiourished and used with effect.
Women and children were driven
! back to inevitable death at the point
| of weapons, the owners of which were
experts in their use. According to
| stories of survivors, women were
| stabbed like so many sheep.
| The scene on the waters was even
worse Many of the unfortunate who
| were struggling in the water attempt
| ed to drag themselves into the boats
or on RATS These were pushed back
into a watery grave. Here, too, knives
were used freely. Not all of the
dead met death by drowning. Chris
topher Brunon saw sailor belonging
to the La Bourgogne strike a passen-
| ger over the head with bar and kill
him The body dropped into the
water. The passengers grabbed the
boat in which the sailor was and at
tempted to get on board. With the
exception of two passengers, Professor
LaCosse and his wife, all the passen-
| gers of the Bourgogne are aboard the
steamer Grecian at the Cunard wharf.
The crew are also on board that
| steamer All the crew are collected
by themselves in the forward part of
the deck, and are anything but pleas
| ant looking. The officer of the gang
way looked at them with scowl apd
said if he had his way they would all
| nave Detu HdHStu 10 Iue y1Llu dl LII loh .
ago.
The correspondent interviewed near
| ly all the passengers who could speak
( English. One passenger said the Off
Geys and crew of La Bourgogne ne
elected the passengers entirely.
| ONE BRAVE OFFICER.
The second officer was the only man
of the crew who did anything to help
the terrified ana helpless passengers.
He cut loose all the boats he could
and in fact all the boats that were
launc he'd were launched by the
brave second officer. He was last
seen standing on the deck with his
hand or the rigging going resigne6ly
to death.
August Pcurgi was eager to give
your correspondent an account of his
experience. He was N the water
about half an hour and attempted to
get into a boat He was seized when
he managed to get half in and thrown
back into the water Again he tried
to enter the boat but the inhuman
savages who managed it were deter
mined to keep him out. Hc managed
ing to the life line of boat not far
away he saw his mother, and as If his
trials were not enough he was forced
to witch a man shove her deep iuto
the ocean with an oar. She was
drowned. He said the man was saved