The San Francisco call., 1898-07-07

The water rushed around, faster and l faster, and the unfortunateS disap- peared with despAir1ng cries.
 | Mrs. La Casse had been on the edge | of the maelstrom, but something threw 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 this boat, a,--- 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. La Casse says that moment after the steamer was engulfed men,
 women and children arose on every side of the whirlpool, and the sight of
 the faces and the arms and the sound of shrieks was so terrible that she will remember them to her dying day. Mrs. La Casse says that when the panic first seized the crew men fought for positions in the boats like rav- ing maniacs. Women were forced
 back from the boats and trampled
 on by men, who made self-preser- vation their first object. Among
 them were a large number of the lower class of Italians and foreigners, who in their frenzy stopped at nothing that promised safety for themselves. 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 four ished and used with effect. Women and children were driven back to inevitable death at the point of weapons, the own CTS of which were experts in their use. According to stories of the survivors
 women were stabbed like so many sheep.
 The scene on the water was even
 f1.r-f were struggling in the water attempted to drag themselves into the boats or on raftS. These were pushed back. Here, too, knives Were used freely. | Not all of the dead met death by drown
 ing. Christopher Brunon saw a sailor
 belonging to La Bourgogne strike a
 passenger over the head with a bar and
 kill him. The body dropped into the
 water. The passenger grabbed the boat 1 in which the sailor was and attempted
 to get on board.
 Matte O. Zurich, a Norwegian, said
 it did not appear to be anybodys duty l to look after the launching of the boats.
 Those on the port side were not touched l by the crew. People climbed into them, | waiting for the boats ito be launched, l but in a short time the steamer listed so rapidly it was impossible to do so.
 Zurich declares that two of the life
 rafts upon which people were saved . NG+ C cut dOl tlL Dy HILL I1G was UHdDi6 to move them, but they tumbled over board when the steamer careened and 1 proved useful. The steamer slowly
 settled down by the stern and star board side and the water advancing | gradually drove the people forward
 Finally men, women and children were
 walking about on the port bow. The
 stern was deep in the water and the l bow in the air. The ship gave a great | plunge and hundreds nf i,,
 the water, grabbing at broken oars.
 bits of canvas, etc, and struggling. Zu-
 rich went over the Starboard side and
 caught raft, on which he climbed.
 He thinks that had the boats been l launched as soon as the steamer struck
 several hundred who perished would
 have been saved. Only one of the port
 boats, small one was launched. Thar
 was the boat the second purser escaped
 in. Zurich saw one boat leave the
 Bourgogne with only few people on it.
 Fred Miller, SWede, lost his sweet
 heart through the boats not being cut
 away. The girl had on a life belt, but
 the suction of the sinking ship was too
 powerful
 He and the young woman got into a
 boat with many others, waiting for the | sailors to launch it. The boat was l finally capsized and the girl was lost.
 Miller climbed on a life raft, which | upset, dIiu i've were drowned. tor thRTA were many crowded on it. The others climbed upon the raft.
 Among the survivors are nine Assyri- | ans and ArmenianS. There were 75 ASSyrians in the party when it left
 New York. All but eight perished. One l of the eight lost his wife and two | brothers and other relatives Another l lost two daughters. Only one of thir- | teen ArmenianS survives. The AsSyri- | ans were bound to their homes near
 Damascus, and every one had from one
 to two hundred dollars saved. They lost l 1t all, barely escaping in their trousers and shirts. On board the steamer Gre 1 elan, which lowed the CromartyshiTe
 with the survivors to Halifax. the As l syrians Wept like children and could | not be comforted. The one surviving | Armenian tells a sorrOwful tale of the 1 drowning of an Armenian priest and | his family, who had got in boat with
 some thirty other people. When the
 end came and the boat was abandoned 1 to it's fate by the crew, who made 10 | effort to launch it, the priest stood up
 and with uplifted hands prayed aloud.
 Several French priests stood on the
 deck during the sinking of the steamer
 without making an effort to save them | selves and gave dissolution to large
 crowd of passengers.
 1 August Piyrgi was eager to give the correspondent an account of his eX- perience. He was in the water about half an hour and attempted to get into
 a boat. He was seized when he man. l aged to get half in and thrown back
 into the water. Again he tried to en- ter the boat, but the savages who | manned it were determined to keep him out. He managed at last to get
 in and to stay in. Clinging 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 watch man shove her into the ocean with an oar. She never rose. He said the man was
 saved and was almost sure he could recognize him.
 Fred Miller, a Swiss, was the most jovial and contented of all the unfor- tunate passengers. He lost all his
 money and clothes, with the exception of a pair of trousers and a shirt, but he laughed and now and then cursed the frenzied sailors with passionate earnestness.
 Miller got into a lifeboat with some others and remained there until he
 reached the water, when he thought 1t was time to leave. None of the sailors ever attempted to let the boat loose. He swam for a long time before he was picked up He saw an Englishman 1