The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1913-10-16
4 liner BURNED
.9 lII.1n,Pu
The volturno Destroyed and
1876 Persons Perish.
BOATS SEIZED BY THE CREW
Fleet Of Vessels Summoned by Wire
less Made Helpless by Storm
Rescuers Succeeded in
Saving 521.

| London, Oct. 13.-Not since the
Titanic sank has Europe been &c
thrilled as by a wireless message, tell
ing of the burning of the steamship
Volturno in mid.Atlantic with loss
so far as can be ascertained at pres
ent of 1875 lives and the rescue Of 521'
The survivors are now aboard a fleet
| of steamers summoned by the Vol
tumo's wireless call for help, some OF
which are bound eastward and Others
| westward. The Volturno sailed from
Rotterdam on October for New York
According to the official statement
she carried twenty-five first cabin pas
sengers, 53S steerage and crew mum
bering So.
Helpless for Hours.
The rescue ships reached the scene
of the disaster in plenty of time to
save all, but for hours stood by the
blazing vessel, impotent because OF
the storm to reach the agonized men,
women and children crowding the
afterpart of the ship and within a
stones throw.
All night Thursday the life boats
made a desperate effort to get along
side the Volturno, but the waves beat
them back again and again, and not
until the storm abated at daylight
Friday did the rescuers succeed in re-
moving the survivors from the doomed
ship.
Liners Race to Rescue.
The steamer Carmania, bound from
New York to Liverpool, was seventy
eight miles away when the call for
help sounded. Captain Barr. ordering
full steam, in spite OF the gale, drove
through the seas at twenty knots an
hour and was first of the fleet to reach
the burning vessel. She was followed
by the La Touraine, Minneapolis, Rap
pahannock, Car, Narragansett, De-
vonian, Kroonland, Grosser kurfuerst
and Seydlitz at various hours through
out the day. But try as they might,
the rescuing vessels could get neither
line nor lifeboat to the Volturno, the
forward part of which was almost
hidden by dense cloud of smoke
when the Carmania arrived.
The latest accounts of the disaster
to the steamship Volturno, burned and
abandoned in midocean, confirm that
the loss of life will be limited to
about 1876. The Carmania. first of the
rescuing ships to reach the burning
steamer, arrived off Queenstown, but
owing to the gale proceeded to Fish
guard.
A graphic story by the solitary sur
vivor aboard the Carmania was re-
ceived by wireless and presents ter.
rible picture of the horror, the panic
and confusion aboard the burning
liner. Walter Trintepohl, a German,
who tells the story, however is clearly
suffering from the stress of illness
and awful experiences and his story
is too incoherent to be accepted in
every detail.
Most important. if true, is his de-
NAL that two boats got away from the
Volturno.
Crew Panic Stricken.
The crew of the Nolturno, mostly
Belgians and Germans. stampeded to
put into effect the primitive law of
the survival of the fittest when the
liner, burning in midocean, became
doomed last Thursday night.
When the order to lower the life.
boats came, women and children were
pushed aside by sailors half crazed
with fear.
Instead of quieting the passengers
hey made the panic worse, accord.
ing to the story of survivor. Then |
! boat was lowered and the sailors |
who had crowded into it found only
leath instead of the safety they had
sought. The boat smashed against
he ships side, broke in two, and all
we're drowned.
The latest accounts of the disaster
o the steamship which was aban.
loned in midocean on Friday morn.
ng confirm that the loss OF life will
10 limited to about 1856.
<ASNO4uiu6 " OlhCi dCSOuulS SdUldIu
nch was the last to leave his vessel,
vhich was still burning late Friday
light and was a danger to navigation.
Arthur Sturgeon. passenger on
he Carmania, in a wireless dispatch,
his own description OF
be dash of the Carmania to the burn.
lg vessel and the rescue Of the pas
engers of the Volturno by the story
I'D him by the survivor, Walter Trim.
spohl, q German who swan to the
and was rescued In an ex.
aubted condition.
Since being taken aboard the Car.
lania, Trintepohl has been in the
lips hospital threatened with pneu-
onia. He told the story to Mr..
purgeon before he became seriously
!, but owing to his exhausted state