The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1914-04-06
SURVIVORS FROM
ICEFLOE REACH
ST. JOHNS
Stories Of Suffering are Seldom
EquaIIed
SOUTHERN CROSS MISSING
Victims Of the Wreck Of the New.
foundlsnc Now Thought
TO Number IT

ST. Johns, y. F., April 6.-Anxiety
deepened at ST. Johns. y. F.. last
night for the l73 men on the sealing
steamer Southern Cross. which has
been missing since Tuesdays bliz-
card. She was not reported either
by incoming vessels Of the sealing
feet or by the steamer Kyle. sent
out by the government TO search for
her. By sunset today. IL she is not
heard from. she win be officially post
ed as lost with all on board. Disas.
ter TO her. following SO closely upon
the loss of II men OF the sealer New
foundland. would bring upon the col
ony the greatest tragedy in its his
tory. depriying whole settlements OF
their bread-winners and rendering
1000 women aud children dependent
upon charity.
AS the public learned yesterday
from the Newfoundland's survivors
who were landed Saturday the details
OF the two-days' blizzard and the con
dition in which II caught the South.
ern Cross, the first hopes. based on
the stoutness OF the ship. faded.
Cap. Daniel Martin of the sealer Erik
and Capt. William Bartlett of the
Terranova, which arrived with full
catches. we're dubious regarding the
safety of the missing ship. Neither
had seen her within a week.
Capt Martin said he parted COM
pany from her a week ago Thursday,
when the Southern Cross turned
homeward with 1900 seals. She was
so deeply laden that al her provisions
and part of her bunker coal were
stored on deck, so that all available
space below could be filed with her
catch.
Capt. Bartlett of the Terranova
said the last he saw Of the Southern
Cross was Friday, March q, when
she was wallowing slowly down the
coast. Other ships OF the feet sight
ed the steamer driving before the
gale last Tuesday morning She has
not been reported since. and the skip
pers Of the fleet who came through
that gale and the storm of equal sew.
Gritty later In the week say every
chance was against a vessel so deep
in the water as the Southern Cross.
By noon all but five Of the SO bod
les OF the Newfoundland's hunters
brought in Saturday by the Bellan.
venture, had been identified. These
were shipped on a special train last
night for Bonavista. where most Of
the victims lived. Attendants at the
Grenfell institute, which was turned
into morgue, said that the scenes
accompanying the Identification Of
bodies were almost beyond endur-
ance. One woman found two bodies
clasped so tightly in death that they
would not be separated. They were
husband and son. The lad was wrap
ped in his fathers arms, as IL the
man had been trying to shield him
from the pitiless cold.
The hands Of another dead man
were missing. One of the survivors,
who has lain helpless near the body
Tor nearly As hours, said that his
comrade, unable to stand the agony
OF frost bite, had sliced off the hands
with his seaman's knife. a gray
haired mother, supported by her two
daughters, passed down the long
rows looking for her sons. Attention
was suddenly drawn to them when
the women fell to the floor in faint.
They had found not only the four
sons and brothers, but two cousins,
among the dead.