El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-10-13
SURVIVORS, STORY
Of SEA TRAGEDY
CONTINUED From Paee one.)

/ and in 20 minutes there occurred a ter
/ rifle explosion which to the helpless
! specttOrs on board the surrounding
| vessels seemed to seal the doom of
! those on the stricken ship.
4 After describing the rescue Of the
I German, Walter Trintepohl, the only
! survivor taken on board the Carmania,
| the bulletin proceeds that the hope Of
| saving any more of those on board the
| Volturno had almost abandoned when
] the sea suddenly moderated and the
| fleet Of rescuing ships was able to get
away a number of life boats and take
| Of all the survivors.
Captain Inch left his vessel at 8
o'clock ca Friday morning. CARRYING
with him all the ships papers.
Forty in Live Boats Drown.
Forty of the 136 persons lost from the
steamship Volturno in mid Atlantic
were in the two boats which succeeded
] in getting away from the burning yes
sci and which, without doubt, were
sWamped- The majority of the other
( victims lost their lives when four 9TH
er boats were smashed against the
steamers sides in an attempt to launch
them.
All this occurred before the arrival
of the Carmania and other liners sum-
moned by wireless calls for help. The
Carmania with one lone survivor Of
the NolturnO aboard has reached Fish
guard From that survivor, however,
! comes thrilling story of the burning
of the steamer, of the terror, the strug-
gle for the boats, the death of those
who went over the sides and his own
desperate fight for life.
Arthur Sturgeon, a passenger on the
Carmania, in a wireless dispatch, sup
plements his own description of the
Carmania'S rush to the burning YES
sci and the rescue of the passengers
him by the survivor, Walter Trinte-
pohl. a German, who swan to the Car
mania and was rescued in an exhausted
condition. Since being taken aboard the
Nrarman19- TTinLRnOh1 in ha
ships hospital threatened with pneu-
mOnia-t He told his story to Mr.. Stur-
geon before he became i'll. Trintepohl
mad Deen employed at Barcelona and
took third class passage on board the
NoIturno to take a position offered
him New York
Survivor Tells of Disaster.
"Al went well" said Trintepohl, "un-
til Thursday morning when the fire
alarm sounded We were aroused and
told to go on deck as fire had broken out
in the hold. On assembling, life belts
were handed around, and much time
was occupied in fastening them. We
were told that the fire might soon be
quenched, but the captain thought it
ton.
THE fire frightened the children,
who cried bitterly. There were many
babies in arms
blazing down below. About 10 o'clock
there was a cry to lower the boats.
Crew Behaves Badly.
THE captain behaved spIendidly: so
did the officers, who were English.
am sorry the crew, who were Germans
and Belgians, behaved very badly. The
people rushed about wildly, and the
crew seemed to think they ought to
have first place in the life boats.
THE first officer took charge of
the first boat but although he wanted
the women and children saved first, a
majority of those who entered the boat
were members of the crew. This boat
was smashed against the ships side.
Just as it reached the water it broke
in two and all were drowned.
Meanwhile attempts were made to
lower the second boat I cannot say who
was in charge of this, but I do know
that after the chief steward had thrown
provisions in, he jumped in himself
There were more men than women in
this boat, which was broken against
the ship All were drowned. These
two boats were amidShip. Three others
were put aft. The fourth officer was
IN one of them, but cannot say which
one: All was confusion. The ropes
broke and the people were thrown into
the water, and were drowned or killed
when the captain saw what had hap
pened he cut the tackle of the other
launched.
''As soon as the Carrnania was sight
ed the captain made all the women and
children go to one side and the men
to the other. He had been compelled
to leave the bridge and go aft because
II was too hot. Women went. Shrieked.
laughed and became hysterical
We had no thought of food, but in
the afternoon we considered il better to
get something and went to the kitch-
ems, which we found deserted. made
coffee and helped ourselves to biscuit
and beef. But most of the passengers
refused to east. We saw RATS sent
from the Carmania, but nobody told us
TO jump in In fact, we knew not what
they were there for. About s o'clock
the decks aft began to get very hot. But
we did not seem to feel the heat"
W hen shown his boot with the sole
halt burned through, Trintepohl said:
i don't remember this, but it was
awful when the flames burst out Some
of the men and women tore their hair,
but others were quite still.
After the explosion I thought it
mer and an English passenger and one
OF the crew said they would accom-
pany me; 1 jumped first and they &C
companied me, but I never saw them
again.
Il made for the German ship but
they did not hear me. Then I came to-
wards the Carmania and shouted help
and was seen by the aid of the search
IlSnt; was about an hour in the sea
and became half unconscious I know
not how / was got out.
Six Burn to Death.
During the day five sailors and one
steward fell into the fire and were
burned to death
When TrintepOhl was told that ac-
cordlng to the captains wireless mes
sage, six boats had been launched and
two got away, he said:
II IS not So was there all the
time and saw everything. No boat got
away"
Wireless Says no Passengers Drown.
The wireless operator aboard the
Carmenia sent the following message:
boats hn