The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1898-08-04
ApROCEssION OF CORPSES.
Sicken;ng Spectacle Witnessed Near
The Scene of La BourgOgne
Disaster.
Baltimore Sun.

Baltimore SUM
A gruesome sight was met with in
the morning watch Jul Y 10 by those
on duty on the Johnston Line steamer
Templemore, Captain Thomas. which
arrived in port Saturday from Liver
pool. 1t was half past four in the
morning when the ship was found
ploughing her way through a sea
dotted with dead bodies OF human
beings From that time until half
past six o'clock the Templemore had
one or more bodies always in sight,
the distance run being nearly eighteen
miles.
BY working up the position it was
found that the Templemore was in
lat. 420 so, long. 600, or about sixty
miles south of Cape Sable, and very
near the position where the sailing
ship Cromartyshire sunk the French
steamer La Bourgogne. July 4.
A description given by the officers
of the Templemore agree that the pas
sengers bad sought refuge from
drowning by placing lifebelts sDund
themselves, and that all the belts on
the bodies were of splendid quality.
Death evidently came to all by eN-
haustiOn and not from drowning,
unless they had been drawn down in
the vortex that accompanied the
sinking of the ship. Many bodies
were fully dressed, as if prepared for
a rescue. Here and there were bodies
almost nude, made so by the action
of the sea or perhaps by frantic efforts
to save themselves by grabbing a
boat. from which, if many reports be
true, they were brutally driven only
to die.
The officers of the Templemore re-
marked that it was easy to distinguish
the bodies of men from those of wO-
men. Every body of man, they
say, tloated with face downward and
in the water, while the women tloated
with their heads above water and
faces exposed, but slightly turned
either to the right or left side. Not
one mans face was turned upward.
Some of the women were partly
dressed as if they had been hurriedly
summoned. Others were fully dress
ed, as if they had found time to give
some attention to their personal ap-
pearance. no doubt having been
calmed by the assurance that there
was no danger and that boat was
ready to receive them.
One body of man, who evidently
was a sailor from the practical idea
of a life-preserver, tloated by with
two baskets dashed to his back.
They were baskets that are used on
shipboard for the trimming or trans
ferring of coal. The baskets were
holding the body Just awash.
What appeared remarkable to Cap
tain Thomas and his officers was that
not one child or very young person
was among all the floating bodies.
Men and women only could be seen
in the procession of corpses that
passed in grim review by the Temple
more. This was accounted for by
the thought that grown persons
sought safety first, or that parents,
feeling secure in the promise of the
officers that all would be saved, led
them to expect that the children
could be carried to safety. This and
other reasons were advanced by the
men who saw the sickening sight in
the morning watch.
When the picture of human calam-
ity was passing before their eyes,
Captain Thomas says the ocean was
in the most placid mood he ever re-
members to have seen the North At
lantic. 1t was so smooth the officers
aver that match box would have made
an object for investigation for the prac-
ticed eye of a sailor. The wave sent
out from the Templemore's propeller
were all that affected the apparent
restfulness of the bodies and made
them move up and down in the ship S
wake. The displacement of the great
ship widened her wake behind, af-
fecting bodies that were long dis
| lance off.
Another singular thing was the en-
tire absence of any wreckage from
| the ship. There was neither piece
of wood nor any article that might
have belonged to the ship floating
anywhere in sight. Only bodies.
still in death, dotted the smooth
breast of the summer sea. 1t ap
peared that, as all these people were
fortified with life belts, which held
them atloat after they were decom.
posing and bloated, the effort to res.
cue them from the ship after they
were overheard could not have beer
heroic. Some may have been drawn
into the vortex, but certainly a few
must have remained on the surface
long enough to have been rescued by
boats from either the Cromartvshire
or the steamer.
The Templemore left the dead
bowling to the slight swell that went
over the sea from the steamer. II
was morning watch that will evel
remain impressed upon the minds O.
the officers and crew who witnessed
the sight. 1t was so sickening tina,
several refused breakfast, and coulG
not eat until the scene had been lef
| far aStern.