The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-05-31

Continued from First Page.
nursed. they spoke Of their dangers.
There were stories of self-sacrifice,
where men died that women might
live. of battles in the water. and of
lifeboats falling on struggling men
and women in the water
While many of the crew were saved
a great number In comparison to the
number of passengers who were
drowned, there are no accusations
against members of the crew. The
general conclusions IF the surviving
passengers Is that the boat sank go
quickly there was no time for the
crew 10 do rescue work.
Mr.. and Mrs. Henry Freeman, OF
! Wisconsin. at the Chateau Frontenac,
| told a vivid story of their dash for
safety after the Empress was smash
| ed by the collier. Mr. Freeman
! jumped from his berth and Selling a
sweater, he threw it around Mrs.
Freeman. In the dark they strug
gled up the panionway and made
| their way to the port side. where the
unmanageable 1ifeboats were. They
determined to die together and both
! jumped into the water
! Mrs. Freeman Talks.
| "Following the sinking of the ship"
| said Mrs. Freeman. we were both
! dragged down We became separated.
| but we were fair swimmers and
| thought we could help ourselves a lit
! tie bit. When we came up | could
not see my husband. and he could not
! see me-
| Just before the collision I had a
premonition that something dreadful
was going to happen. ] lay there
/ thinking of ii. and then l heard the
whistles going, and the men running
| on deck. That woke my husband up.
| too, We saw that we were going to
/ be swept into the water and We lock-
/ ed arms and Jumped just before the
! boat turned We jumped into the
I black. cold water. When I felt my
| husbands hands torn from mine. I
err again. But we we're picked up by
| boats from the Storstad and taken to
| her"
| Charles Spencer. bellboy on tho
! Empress. told of the manner in
which Captain Kendall. OF the En-
| press, saved him. Still historical
| from the suffering he endured, he
! cried as he told Of his experiences
Kendalfs Bravery.
when the crash came ! ran down
| TO the steerage to wake up the boys
there, and get them to go to the bulk
t heads and close them. They are
closed by hand wheels. I did mol
/ have much time, because when J
reached there the water was two feet
deep and I could hardly get through
It. know two of the boys were
drowned there l and another. Sam
uel Baker. were the only bellboys
saved out of the dozen on the ship
After | woke up the boys below we
ran up to the boat deck. where men
were trying To put the iifehoats over
board The Empress had list to
starhoard. and the top deck was
down TO the water. One of the rum
nels toppled into the water and al
boat made a final lurch I dived into
the water When came up Captain
Kendall was near me. he caught
hold Of me and helped me along.
Baker was near us. and the captain
took him. too. We were in the wa
ter about twenty minutes when we
were picked up and taken to the col
her"
j. H. Price, ordinary seaman. who
recently was awarded a medal Tor gal
iantry for jumping into the water from
the Deyonian to save Noiturno pas
senger, told this story;
his boat He had climbed down the
starboard gangway into his tender,
and | had got the sea ladder ready
for carrying forward for storage. AS
/ reached the break OF the deck under
the bridge l saw the Storstad bear
ing down on our starboard bow.
could see her masthead lights then.
but neither of her sidelights- Her
course was somewhat across ours. and
I heard our bridge signal them to
starboard their helm. He did the same
with our engines running full steam
astern, and stopped our Roadway.
Light showed.
Then ! saw the Storstad sheer away.
and her starboard light showed. But
she kept coming on and 1t was clear
she was going to hit US. She struck
us Just about the starboard gangway.
should think she went into VI by
the number one, or forward. stoke
hold. and then ripped aft In tho engine
room. At the crash came, hsarA ~
order from the bridge. All hGnaes