LATER DETAILS.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 12805, 1 June 1914, Page 5

LATER DETAILS.

PANIC FOLLOWS TERRIFIC COLLISION. PASSENGERS HURLED OVERBOARD. DOCTOR'S MIRACULOUS ESCAPE CAPTAIN GOES DOWN WITH SHIP BUT RESCUED. Received 5.5 p.m. QUEBEC, May 29. A panic broke out after the terrific collision and the men and women rushed from their cabins. Some reached the deck but were hurled into the river owing to the angle of the deck. Parents were separated from children and husbands from their wives. Dr. Grant, ship's surgeon, saved many owing to his coolness and capable directions and medical attention when the survivors were picked up.

Captain Kendall stood on the bridge when the vessel sank. Two hundred and ffty dead bodies have been recovered. Dr. Grant went down with the ship but managed to escape through a porthole. Search still continues amongst the wreckage in the river. Five persons were found clinging to wreckage still alive but it is unlikely that they will survive owing 1") exposure. EXPLOSIO"- CAUSES RAPID LINKING. A steerage passenger, named Phillip Lawler, asserted that the explosion really caused the Empress of Ireland j to sink so rapidly. He says the people were shot off the ship like peas from a pod. Lawler and his wife and son slipped overboard as they were unable to stand on the sloping deck. The wife slipped from her husband 's grasp and was drowned but the others were rescued.

Another woman leaped from the sinking' steamer and swam round awaiting succour for nearly an hour and was then picked up dying aboard the rescuing tug.

RELIEF TRAIN DERAILED. SEARCHING ENQUIRY ORDERED. RELIEF FUND OPENED. HYSTERICAL SURVIVORS. A relief train conveying a special emergency staff of the Canadian Pacific Company was derailed. A second train was promptly despatched and brought the survivors to Quebec. Altogether twenty-two died from exposure. Only twelve women were saved. Government has ordered a searching enquiry. A relief fund has been opened, Government promising a large contribution.

The Salvation Army lost heavily, the whole of their territorial fieid force being wiped out including Commissioner Kees. The Army promptly met here and organised a new set of delegates and despatched them by the next out-going steamer, the band playing through the streets "God be with till we meet again." Enormous crowds awaited the arrival of the rescued at the station. The survivors were too hysterical to be able to give a coherent account of the disaster. 400 BODIES RECOVERED. THE BLOOMI'IELDS MISSING. HOW THE IRVINGS MET THEIR DEATH.

Received 5.5 p.m. LONDON, May 30. It is officially stated that the Empress of Ireland carried 87 first class 153 second class, and 715 third class passengers and a crew of 432.

Four hundred bodies have been re covered.

The missing include Lieut.-Colonel Bloomfield and his wife and daughter of Auckland, and Sir Henry Seton Kerr. Among the survivors are Miss Townsend, of New Zealand. Many passengers had their limbs broken.

There was 110 time to arouse all the passengers.

Lawrence Irving tied a lifebelt to his wife, the vessel then lurched and Irving was thrown against a door and his face was cut. He carried his wife upstairs and a passenger offered to help him. Irving said: "Look after yourself, old man, but God bless you all the same." Both climbed the rail as the explosion occurred and they were not seen again.

Mr Burt, of Toronto, coming to the surface, saw Miss Thomson (? Townsend) and she besought his help. He caught a floating suitcase which kept both up till they were rescued. The captain was found clinging to the wreckage and was picked up by a lifeboat whereof he assumed command and saved seventy-three. Afterwards the lifeboat rowed around the wreckage for three hours. Dr. Grant who was penned in his cabin got his head through a porthole and a passenger pulled him through and rescued him.

IMPOSSIBLE TO LAUNCH BOATS. MANY MAD FROM SHOCK AND EXPOSURE. Received 5.5 p.m. LONDON, May 30. Mr Duncan, a Londoner, states that there was a crash and frightful grinding of the plates when the Empress of Ireland heeled over and though there was a sufficiency of boats it was impossible to launch them owing to the list . There was no panic though some confusion in the midst whereof the Empress of Ireland lurched and the passengers rolled down the deck into the sea. The women were crying and praying and the men shouting. The cries continued until the icy waters ended their sufferings. He swam for an hour before he was rescued. He felt the bodies of dead men under his feet. The officers behaved splendidly, facing death fearlessly. The captain was on the bridge until the liner sank. Duncan was taken aboard the collier. He says many who were rescued were raving mad from shock and exposure. Dr. Johnson, a Canadian Pacific medical officer, says that if the Storstad had not backed out many more would have been saved.

The Marconi operator states tliat Father Point station responded promptly, bnt he was unable to take, the messages as the Empress of Ireland's dynamos failed within live minutes.

Mr Maclntyre, a Salvationist, says the vessel was wallowing on her side for a few moments, and the explosion sent a burst of steam all over the vessel, which seemed to turn turtle.

HYSTERICALLY ANXIOUS CROWDS. BESIEGE COMPANY'S OFFICES. THE INSURANCES. MANSION HOUSE lUND OPENED. Received 5.5 p.m. LONDON, May 30. There were poignant scenes of hys-

tericall}- anxious crowds besieging the Company's London offices in the day of alternating hopes and fears. The dearth of news, and especially the absence of the survivors' names", intensified the depression. Many determined on an all night vigil. The maj rity a\ ere interested in the crew. iMimerous artistes amongst the crowd despairingly inquired of Lawrence Irving \s fate.

The Company's offices at Liverpool | continued surrounded at a late hour by grief st icken wemen and children while the men stoically speechless st niggled to obtain a glimpse of the latest messages in the window. The Empress of Ireland 's insurances with Lloyds are:—£27,ooo on the hull, £2,000,000 on the cargo, £IOO,-000 on the freight and disbursements, while individual policies on the passengers' lives and effects are estimated at another £IOO,OOO. A Mansion House fund has been opened.

Newspapers emphasise that the nature of the disaster was nullified by the many precautions carried out since the Titanic disaster.

SAD SCENE AT LIVERPOOL. (Times.Sydney Sun Service.) Received 5.5 p.m. LONDON, May 30. Perhaps the saddest scene.at Liverpool in connection with the Empress of Ireland disaster was a woman wearing mourning entering to claim an insurance from an office on account of her husband's policy. She heard the commissionaire describing the collision and enquired the name of the steamer. She fainted on hearing that it was the Empress of Ireland whereon her son was a sailor. THE SALVATION ARMY'S LOSSES. OVER 100 OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS. Press Association.—By Telegraph. WELLINGTON, May 31. The National Headquarters of the Salvation Army, Wellington, to-day received a cablegram from the International headquarters, London, stating that over 100 officers and soldiers had been lost on the Empress of Ireland. The officers who perished include Commissioner and Mrs Rees (Canadian Commanders), Colonel and Mrs Maidment (Canadian Chief Secretary), Brigadier Scott Potter, Major j and Mrs Findlay, Major and Mrs Creighton, Mrs Major Simcoe an:l thirty other officers; also the Canadian Staff Band, and Brigadier and Mrs Hunter on furlough in Canada from India. References were made to the disaster in all churches to-day.