The Portland daily press., 1898-07-07

son accosted was IA young sailor of the
Bourgogne. He wrote his mama on the
back OF Il scrap of ii steerage passengers
ticket, R0Ileri Giuseppe. lie seemed unx-
ioas to give information, but the waiter
mentioned before, told him in French,
not to give your correspondent any in
formation. The correspondent said in
English, pointing to the waiter: "NeVer
mind him, bad"
At this the waiter gave himself away
bud yourself" and pulled tho sailor
away, iahbering i'll French TO him.
Gustav GrimeauV, a French passenger,
oorroborated the other passengers in their
statements about the crew. He saw won-
en- showed away from boats with oars
and showed deep into the water.
The officers of the Grecian say the pas
sengers and sailors presented a sorry spec
tacie when they were taken on board
from the Cromartyshire. They were drip
ping wet and had not eaten Tor "a hours .
The third officer of the Cromarty
said that one half drowned wretch whom
he pulled in over the side nine hours af-
ter the collision, seized his lifsboat and
asked the steward for his knife. He out
a piece off the lite boat and started to
eat It, saving it was all he wanted.
Otto Zeaiser Of New York, who was
going to Paris, said:
''We struck st a. M, and were afloat
one hour before the ship sank. We were
going at full speed in thick fog. The
crew acted cowardly and some of the OIL
GERS seemed to have lost their heads. /
could only see one officer where I was on
the port side. There was no discipline
aboard. The sailors did not try to pull
the boats down. The passengers tried
TO pull the boats down, I tried to get a
boat down and one of the ships walters
pushed me away and told me to go to
hell The captain did not appear to be
aware CT the danger at the beginning
He blew the whistle just before the accl
dent anu he tried another signal but the
water filed the engine room. Half an
hour later he fired distress signals, but
IL was too late. Then he put up the
danger signals. / was told he was in the
cabin when the accident happened, but
he WaS Oh the bridge when the ship went
down. / loosened one Of the life boats
Of which three were left on the steamer,
but they were soon crowded with women,
who behaved very quietly and brayely,
Then l climbed on the superstructure and
climbed all over the ship in company
with two engineers. We found the RATS
on the side, threw them overheard and
jumped on them. Our raft was damaged
by a big hole in it, SO we had to abandon
it, but we were picked un by boats from
the sailing ship Cromartyshire. We were
the first crew and We saw other boats
following us far away The captain of
the Cromartyshire called for volunteers,
but none of the Frenchmen would Yolun-
teer to 90 cut at first, and the crew of the
q sailing ship had to go out. Afterwards
the French sailors went out and picked
up some of the people struggling in the
water. The sailors got hold Of the RATS
first. One raft had "a cord around it to
which five women were holding. The
sailors cut the rope and the women were
drowned.
LA CASSE'S STORY.
Strangely enough Mr.. La Case is the
only man of the saloon and cabin passen-
gers who survives, while his wife is the
only woman of two hundred, not of the
saloon and cabin, but of the whole ship,
who escaped.
Mr.. la Case was aroused from her
berth by her husband, who was on deck
at the time of the collision. She threw
about her the first article of clothing she
could secure and reached the deck Of the
listing steamship to find herself one of
many frantic and half dressed people,
who congregated about the boats. 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 too para1yzed to act.
Matters were quiet and there was no
panic at first. Golden moments were
slipping away and the decks were becom-
ing more and more crowded with fright
ened people, emerging from the cabins
and ooInpanionways.
The steamer was listing and settling,
and then fear seized on the throng and
people lost their heads and really went
l1ad. Mrs. La Case was separated from
her husband in the scramble and the
steamer listed SO badly she slid down the
declivity of the deck and into the water.
She had taken the precaution at her hus-
bands direction to put on life belt be-
fore leaving her stateroom. A moment
later the i'll fated steamer disappeared,
and whirlpool encircled the spot where
the noble craft had been. Everybody
around the edge of the vortex was drawn
into it. The water washed round and
round, faster and faster and unfortunates
disappeared in tWos and threes with de-
spairing cries.
Mrs. La Case was on the edge of the
maelstrom but something striking her
threw her outside the dangerous whirl-
pool and thu next she knew she was on
women was capsiZed and all went down
in the whirlpool. There was no man in
this boat and it was left fast to the
dayits. Some women were trying to cut
the ropes when the steamer careened
deeper and capsized the boat.
Mrs. In Case says moment after the
steamer was engulfed, men. women and
children rose on every hand from the
whirlpool, ana the sight of the faces and
arms and the shrieks were SO terrible she
will remember the scene to her dying day.
Mr. and Mrs. La Casse were going to
Paris, but they have abandoned the iaea
now and left tonight for Boston per
steamer Halifax to return to New York.
PATRICK M'KEOWN'Se STORY.
Patricl. McKeown, young Iris1man,
was Oh the life raft with Mrs. La Case.
He had provided himself with life belt
before leaving his berth. He slept on the
starboard side and the collision with the
Cromartyshirs shattered the glass in the
small window. He dressed with haste
and w.ant on deck. People We're encoun-
tered leaving their rooms. he tried to get
into one of the boats which was being