Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-13

nearby and Janvier threw a rope to them,
hauling them on board. His companions
at the oars had scarcely bent to their work
again when they heard woman's cry for
help coming over the water. He called to
his companions to save her, but so beset
were they with their own perils in keeping
afloat in the tremendous seas that they
fused
After time they became benumbed from
exhaustion and cold, the oars slipped from
their hands, and the men dropped to the
bottom of the boat and died while the spray
and water that splashed over the sides
covered them with winding shee- of ice.
The boatload finally dwndled down to JAN
vier and one other man. The stranger
looked at Janvier with a strange look on
his half-frozen face.
This is awful" he said. II cannot keep
up much longer. 1 am going to end it all
now" and, drawing razor from his
pocket, he cut his throat while Janvier sat
powerless to prevent the suicide.
Janvier was cared for at the lighthouse.
and is in a serious condition from cold and
exposure.
Figures Still Conflict.
Purser Oscar A Young of Providence
still maintained today that there We're from
125 to 80 passengers on board the steamer
when she left Providence for New York,
and most of the survivors who were abe
to express an opinion were inclined to sup
port his figures rather than those of Capt.
George w McVey of the Larchmont, who
estimated the number of passengers at from
fifty to seventy-five.
From some of the surviving officers 1t
was learned that the Larchmont carried
crew of forty-fve men. of which only ten
are accounted for. This means that or a
total from $50 to 200 people on board the
Larchmont nine passengers and ten sailors
have survived. Their condition is pitiable,
but the two physicians who have been in
almost constant attendance upon the suf-
ferers express confidence that none of the
rescued are likely to succumb.
There are only two women among the
survivors-Mrs. Harris Fedman of New
York and Miss Sadie Gallup of Boston.
During the night the coast guards from
the two life-saving stations, aided by
large number of people, patrolled the
beaches, on the watch for additional bodies.
Every corpse that came ashore was en-
casad in fee several inches thick.
On piece of the afterdeck of the steam
er were picked up Mr.. and Mrs. Feldman
and dead man, all that remained Of six
teen who had sought refuge on the frail
support. Little hope was felt that occu-
pants of the missing lifeboats and RATS
had survived the fearful cold (which mod
Grated but slightly during the night.
Wild Fight for Boats.
Nearly all the surviving passengers In
terviewed agree that the crew and officers
behaved well. With the first shock and
the thrush of water and escape of steam
from the broken main steam pipe, Capt
McVey realized the scope of the accident
The crew was called to quarters, each
man springing to his station as the call to
desert the ship was taken. Panicstricken
passengers aroused from sound sleep rushed
wildly on deck and mobbed the boats and
RATS, men and women fighting each other,
forgetful of all but the primal instinct of
self-preservaton. The crew fought otf
the mob Hresolutely, though hard pressed,
and provided for the women and children
first Some of the male passengers re-
covered from their first fright and assisted
in the work.
Many never reached the deck. They We're
suffocated below in their quarters by the
steam. or drowned beneath the deck.
Within ten minutes the boats were away
from the ships side just as she settled low
in the water with the waves dashing over
her and flooding every available foothold.
Cold and high seas completed the work
of destruction and the little band of peo-
pie who got away from the Larchmont was
decimated in groups and in the helpless
drift in the cold it became the old story
of the survival of the fittest.''
One of the two women survivors of the
York city, who was rescued with her hus-
band from the after portion of the deck
house which had been torn from the
steamer by the bursting of the lower
decks from the air pressure as the water
rushed in.
One Woman's Experience.
That a woman should have survived the
horrible experiences on the frail support
was a miracle. She was one of sixteen
persons who We're carried off on a piece
of wreckage. There was one other woman
on the deck house. but in a minute after
the raft went adrift seas swept overheard
the second woman and two men. From II
o'clock Monday night until picked up by
the fishing schooner Elsie at IL O'Clock
Tuesday morning. the small portion of the
afterdeck drifted helplessly.
one Dy one the men dropped OH. Some,
weakened by the cold and exposure, lost
their grip on the support, and were washed
away by the waves and drowned. Others
died and rolled overheard. Still Mrs Field
man, aided by her husband. chung to the
raft. Feldman al one time was a sailor on
the Black and he knew the necessity
of keeping UP some physical action to make
the blood circulate in such biting weather.
By word and example, he induced his
wife to keep arms and legs moving al
though the woman became so greatly ex-
hausted that she could scarcely make her
muscles respond to her will. Her chilled
limbs were rubbed by Mr.. Feldman into
activity when they were benumbed, and by
his efforts she survived, although apparent
ly more nearly dead than alive when the
Elsie appeared.