Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1914-04-10
HOPE FOR rs men
ABOUT ABANDONED
SEALING STEAMER SOUTHERN
CROSS is TO BE POSTED
AS LOST.
STORY or OTHER TRAGEDY
Survivors Of Newfoundland Tell OF
Death of Comrades--identifi-
cation Scenes Are
Pitiful.

st. Johns, N. F.. April 7.-Hope for
the safety of the sealing steamer
Southern Cross, missing since last
Tuesdays storm, has been practically
abandoned. and the vessel is to be of.
fcially posted as lost with her crew
Of 173 men.
Newfoundland Survivors Talk.
The handful Of survivors of the
Newfoundland have just told their
stories of the disaster which cost the
lives of II of their comrades, and
they hold out no hope that the South
ern Cross might have weathered the
gale.
The colony, plunged into mourning
by the greatest tragedy in it's history.
has waited in vain, hoping against
sea might bring some word from the
missing vessel whose loss would de.
prive whole settlements Of their bread
winners and render more than 1000
| women and children dependent upon
charity
First Hopes Fade.
First hopes, based on the stoutness
Of the ship, faded when survivors of
| the Newfoundland told of the two
days blizzard and the condition in
which it caught the Southern Cross
Captain Martin said he parted com
pany from her a week ago Thursday,
when the Southern Cross turned
homeward with 10000 seals. She was
so deeply laden that all her provisions
and part of her bunker coal were
stored on deck SO that every available
space below could be filled with her
catch.
| Captain Bartlett of the Terra Nova
! said the last he saw of the Southern
Cross was week ago Friday, when
she was wallowing slowly down the
| coast. Other ships of the fleet sight.
ed the steamer driving before the
gale last Tuesday morning. She has
| not been reported since and the skip.
| pers of the fleet that came through
| that gale and the storm of equal Sc.
verify later in the week, say every
| chance was against a vessel so deep
| y laden
Churches Remember Dead.
In every church Sunday the disas.
ter which overlook the Newfound.
lands men on the ice was the theme
| Of the sermon.
Messages of sympathy from the king
| and from the Canadian premier were
read and were gratefully received.
| BY noon all but five of the So bod.
| les of the Newfoundland's hunters
brought in Saturday by the Bellaven.
ture, had been identified. These were
shipped on a special train for Bona
Vista, where most of the victims lived
Attendants at the Greenfield insti
| tute, which was turned into morgue,
said that the scene accompanying the
Identification of the bodies were al.
most beyond endurance.
| One woman found two bodies CLASH
ed SO tightly in death they could not
be separated. They were her hus.
band and son. The lad was wrapped
In his fathers arms, as If the man
| had been trying to SHIELD him from the
pitiless cold.
Pitjful Scenes Enacted.
The hand of another dead man was
missing. One of the survivors who
had lain helpless near the body for
| nearly 48 hours, said that his comrade,
| unable to stand the agony of frost.
bite, had sliced off the hand with his
seaman's knife.
A gray-haired mother, supported by
her two daughters, passed down the
| long rows looking for her sons. Atten.
| ton was suddenly drawn to them
when the woman fell to the floor in
faint. They had found not only the
four sons and brothers, but two cous-
| ms, among the dead.
Of the 80 survivors in the hospital,
| none is expected to die, but the ma
jority will never be fit for active SER
| vice again. Three lost both hands
and both feet. Five lost both feet.
Eight others lost foot and II will
lose hand or fingers. The others
will bear scars for life.