The record-union., 1898-07-07
APPALLING
MARINE
DISASTER.
CONTINUED from First Page.)

tain radius When the suction ceased,
those still alive saw about ZUu poolets
come out of the water with rush, as
If the sea were giving up the dead after
having swallowed the ship
But the struggle for life still coniin-
ued after the ship went down. hun
dreds still flcated about, grasplng Tor
rafts, boats and wrSckaSe in franuc en-
sdeavor to keep above water. Even then
many of those in the boats, if the
stories told are to be believed, showed
their brutality by beating eff those who
attempted to climb aboard.
BY this time the small boats OF the
Crcmatyshire had come up and the
work of rescue began. The crew OF
the ship worked herocally, and saved
everyone who managed to keep above
water but even then scores fell away
from boats, rafts and wreckage, ex-
hausted and were drowned. 1t was all
over in an hour. although for some time
great pieces of wreckage came shooting
up from the bottom, marking the spot
where the great liner had gone down.
But little attempt was made to re-
cover the bodies of any of the Inflated
passengers or crew.
In the afternoon the steamer Grecian
was sighted, coming from the westward
and few hours afterward the Gro
martyshire was in tow and arrived here
this morning.
Strangely enough, Mr. La Casse is the
only man of the saloon and cabin pas
sengers who survived 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
aroused from her berth by her husband,
who was on deck at the time of the col
lision. When she reached the deck Of
the listing steamship, she saw the Cap
tain of the steamer on the bridge and
some of the officers at other points, en-
deavoring to direct the efforts of the
crew to launch the boats. There was
little response to the orders of the OIL
GERS. The crew seemed paralyZed.
Matters were quiet and there was no
panic at first, though the decks were
becoming more and more crowded with
frightened people The steamer was
listing and settling, and then a wild fear
seized on the throng and the people lost
their reason.
= Mrs. La Casse was separated from her
husband in the scramble and the steam
er listed so badly that she slid down
the declivity of the deck and into the
water. She had taken the precaution,
at her husbands direction, to put on a
life belt before leaving her stateroom
and shortly after being thrown into the
sea. she was seized by the arm and
drawn upon the life raft Her savior
was her husband. A moment later the
Ill fated steamer disappeared, and a
Whirlpool encircled the spot where the
noble craft had been. Everybody
around the vortex was drawn into it.
The water rushed around, faster and
faster, and the unfortunateS disap-
peared with despairing cries. Mrs. La
Casse had been on the edge of the mael-
strom, but something threw her outside
& the whirlpool. and the next she knew
she was on the life raft.
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
daNits. Some of the women were try
ing to cut the ropes when the steamer
careened and capsized the boat.
Mrs. La Casse says that a moment
after the steamer was engulfed men,
women and children rose 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 re-
member them to her dying day
Among the survivors are nine Assy-
rians and Armenians. There We're
seventy-five Assyrians in the party
when it left New York. All but eight
perished. One of the eight lost his wife
and two brothers and other relatives.
Another lost two daughters. Only one
of thirteen Armenians survive The
AssyrianS were bound to their homes
near Damascus and everyone had from
one to two hundred dollars saved They
lost it all, barely escaping in their pants
and shirts. On board the steamer
Grecean, which towed the Cromarty-
shire with the survivors to Halifax, the
Assyrians wept like children and could
not be comforted.
The one surviving Armenian tells a
sorrowful tale of the drowning of an
Armenian priest and his family, who
had got in a boat with some thirty 9TH
er people. When the end came and the
boat was abandoned to its fate by the
crew, who made no effort to launch 1t,
the priest stood up, and with uplfted
hands, prayed aloud.
Several French priests stood on the
deck during the sinking of the steamer
without making effort to save them
selves, and gave absolution to a large
crowd of passengers.
STORY OF THE DISASTER.