The Portland daily press., 1898-07-09
STORIES OF HORRORS CONFIRMED
Passengers on La Bourgog ne Insi st That
Crew Was Guilty of Cowardice and


Boston, July s.-The Plant line steamer
Halifax arrived here at 6. So O'Clock this
morning having on board 1872 survivors OF
the French line steamer La Bourgogne,
which was sunk in collision with the
ship Cromartyshire, off Sable Island last
Monday.
On the passage from Halifax La Bour-
gognes passenger list was carefully re-
ia souls on board the steamer, of whom
$50 were lost and 1854 were saved.
Of the saved 10 were second class, Al
steerage and the remaining los were
members of the crew.
Manager Ebbit, of the Plant line, was
in charge Of the landing. and the ship
wreck men were given every ecessary
attention.
Each one was provided with ticket for
New York, and special electric cars were
in waiting to conduct the passengers to
the Providence station.
Three cars for the accommodation OF
the survivors were ready for their reeep-
tion and in due time thev were attached
to the train which left here At 10. W this
forenoon over the shore line.
The survivors agree that the La Bour-
gogne struck the Cromartyshire glanc-
ing blow, and the shock was not great.
Therefore, it is believed that many of
the passengers never awoke.
The opinions as to the time lnterven-
ing between the collision and the sinking
Of La Bourgogne vary greatly. Some
say ten or FIFTEEN minutes, and others say
thirty or thirty-fye, while one man wa S
certain it was full hour.
The glancing blow La Bourgog ne
struck the Cromartyshire was one tn at
never could be provided for by water
tightadoors.
fred Nyffler, was the sole survivor of
q Swiss party of about fifteen going to
their native country on visit.
Nyffler saw one boat leave the ship co n
tanning only sailors.
The ship had a terrible list to port, her
decks being almost perpendicular. A S
she sank, the stern went up in the air +,
with the boat Nyffier was in.
The stern kept going up in the air until
all Of sudden came q crash and the ship
went down. Nyffier rose to the surface
in minute and all around him were
women, children and men struggling in
the water shouting for help.
He then got hold of q GRO wded raft
which was soon upset, throwing all upon
it into the water. He managed to get on
il again, however, with several others
and remained on until picked up by the
Bourgogne's boat and taken to the Crom-
artyshire.
Nyffier. states that while on the raft he
saw i've women who were cllDging to the
very rope he had hola Of thrust to their
death with boat hooks in the hands OF
Frenchman on the raft
Nyffler saw an American beaten over
the head, while trying to get on a raft
not far from the one he was on. a& /
Mr.. K. Archard, a Frenchmen, who
has been some years in Baltimore, was
o. his way to France with his wife and
collision he put them in a boat amid
ships and went to get another boat for
himself. Only one end of the boat he got
into was cut loose and the boat tipped
when it desce- ded throwing the occu.
pants into the water.
Just at this time the Bourgogne's fun
nels gave away and one of them fell d.
rectly across the boat in which Archard E
wife and children had been placed, crush
ing 1t and knocking all the passengers
overheard. One Of the anchor chains
struck Mrs. Archard across the chesU.and
literally tore her body asunder.
Charles Liebre- and others who were eye
witnesses, say it was the most blood
curdling sight they ever saw.
Mr. Archard had $4,000 on his person
at the time OF the wreck and it was saved
with him. He is heartbroken and
WreGcleQ on account Oh the loss OF MS
wife and children.
From the testimony of three persons
Otto Zeizer, of New York, MIR. Archard
of Baltimore, and Charles Liebre, chile
cook of the Stafford hotel, Philadelphia
it appears that the fourth engineer of tht
La Bourgogne, who was saved, acted IN
the most brutal manner toward the pas
sengers.
The three men agree in the statement
that after the collision, when every one
was surrounding the boats, the fourth en-
gineer said:
damn the passengers, let them save
themse yes. We save ourselves first. - z
He also said that if he had a revolver
he would shoot the passengers. 1rv
On the voyage, Liebre became acquaint-
ed with Y0usouf, the notorious wrestler
who was passenger. After the collision,
lieDre says he saw Yousouf strugglin G
in crowd Of drowning passengers. beat
ing them off with the stiletto and showing
them aside trying to reach boat. He
failed, however. and went down.
l.. Terlaud Of New York and Mons Lu
cas- from Mothrean, France, the latter be.
ing waiter on La Bourgogne, tells the
following story of their hardships. -
Terlaud says he saw a boat containing
only three Austrians and he attempted
to get into it, but one of the Austrians
whom Yerlaud is perfectly certain he car
recognize, warned him off with large
kitchen knife. He did not wish to be
killed SO he stopped his efforts in that
direction. Lucas was picked up by q
raft after being in the water many hours.
During the voyage from Halifax to Bos
tor, the Indignation among the passengers
over their experiences seemed to be grow
ing and there was much talk of lodging
complaints with the proper officials, eth
er at Boston or New York.
While the Halifax was entering Boston
harbor the following persons signed their
names to paper as witnesses to the fact
that the Austriaus used knives to keep
people out of their boat:
Louis Goteaux, Alexander Bochard,
Ernest Angel, Fernand Gusa, CASTOR
Savage, Emil Pillmeir, Maurice De walls,
Battaid Pere.
COMPANY'S STATEMENT.
why More Passengers We're Not Saved
Explained.