ST. LAWRENCE TRAGEDY.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 12807, 3 June 1914, Page 5

ST. LAWRENCE TRAGEDY.

444 SAVED GUT OF 1467, MRS ANDERSON'S EVIDENCE. SAYS CAPTAIN KENDALL NEVER ASSISTED. PITIFUL SCENES. (Times. —Sydney Sun Service.) LONDON. June 1. There were pitiful scenes on the shore where the corpses from the Empress of Ireland were laid out in plain pine coffins. Thirty were unidentifiable. Distraught women and heartbroken men searched for missing relatives. Men-o '-warsmen carried the coffins ashore, the procession down the gangway lasting an hour.

Advices state that the bodies of Sir Henry Seton-Karr, Mrs H. Wynne Price, of New Zealand, and Miss G. Byre, of Brisbane, have been identi lied.

A WARNING DREAM. QUEBEC, June L Ensign and Mrs Smith cancelled their passages on the Empress of Ireland because of the wife's dream about another Titanic disaster.

IRVING'S BODY RECOVERED

LONDON, June 1

News has been received that the "body of Laurence Irving, the actor, has drifted ashore. The face was unrecognisable, the hand clutching a piece of his wife's night attire.

ENGLISH PEOPLE QUIVERED.

(Times. —Sydney Sun Service.)

LONDON, June 1

The Right Rev. H. D. Ryle, Dean of Westminster, preaching at the Abbey, said English people quivered under the blow of the disaster. It was but an enlargement on a terrible scale of the daily disasters by road, rail, aeroplane and motor car, but this w; t s the more dreadful because death aud destruction had been caused to hundreds of our own kith and kin through no fault or foolhardiness in the protected waters of a river, and in the dead of night.

THE INQUEST.

OTTAWA, June 1

Mrs Anderson, at the inquest, stated her husband had endeavoured to keep the Storstad pressed against the Empress's side, but the latter's speed was too great. Captain Anderson ordered out all the boats. At first it was not thought the Empress was in any danger of sinking. Captain Anderson gave up everything he possessed to aid the survivors when he rescued them.

A PUBLIC FUNERAL. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company is arranging a public funeral of the dead. THE ENQUIRY. OTTAWA. June 1. Government has fixed 9th June as the date of the opening of the enquiry. Two judges of the Canadian Admiralty Court and one representative of the British Admiralty will compose the Court. The House of Commons has passed an amendment to the Shipping Act providing for a separate commission to investigate the disaster. Sir Wilfrid Laurier endorsed the Bill, which was read a second time and the third reading was fixed for following day. The amendment provides for the appointment of the Canadian Admiralty judges above mentioned/

THE RELIEF FUND. LONDON. -Tune 2. The fund being raised in Liverpool has reached £15,000. HAPPY REUNION OF HONEYMOON COUPLE.

(Times— Sydney Sun Service.) Received 5.50 p.m.

QUEBEC. June 2. There was a happy reunion of the Greenways (Salvationists), who were on their honeymoon and were separated during the commotion. The wife was blown into the water and burned and bruised, and was picked up by a raft. The man said, "Don't be afraid little girl, I have lost my wife." He opened his coat and vest and drew her close, and buttoned his coat round her. She replied. *'l have lost my husband. She did not remember anything till aboard the Stortstad. The raftsmen were lost, and a pilot boat picked up Greenway.

MISS TOWNSHEND'S EXPERIENCE. Miss Townshend plunged into the •water, and was kicked by struggling victims, but she closed her eyes and struck out bravely never thinking < f the possibility of drowning. She swam for a mile before she was picked up.

NORWEGIAN WOMAN'S TER RIBLE EXPERIENCE.

Received 9.30 p.m. RIMOUSKI, June 1

Starved and raving as the result of her experiences a stalwart Norwegian woman, who was a passenger by the Empress of Ireland, was found wandering on sand dunes clad in a single garment. Men sought to aid her, but the woman ran off. and was caught when exhausted. She had forgotten her own name. Apparently she drifted in the water for eighteen miles flinging to driftwood. She has not been identified yet.

MRS ANDERSON'S EVIDENCE. POSITIVE CAPTAIN KENDALL DID NOT ASSIST. Mrs Anderson asserted that atter the Empress of Ireland sank she heard continuous screams all round. Captain Anderson seut out lifeboats picking up everyone possible. She was positive that Captain Kendall did not assist any of the passengers, but instead lie tame aboard and lay down

in the Storstad's chart room while the Empress of Iceland's crew came aboard refusing to go to assist the drowning passengers, stating that they were too numerous.

SYMPATHETIC CADETS.

Received 11.20 p.m

VANCOUVER, June 1

The Cadets who visited New Zealand express their keenest sympathy with the Bloomfields. During their recent visit to Auckland the Cadets were entertained bv the Bloomfields.

A FORTUNATE CHANGE.

Received 12.5 a.m

SYDNEY, June 2

Advices have been received thai the Quartlys are safe at London They intended to join the Empress ol Ireland but sailed by an earlier steam er.

AN EXPLANATION OF THE COLLISION. Received 9.50 p.m. MONTREAL, June 1. The agents of the Storstad state that the Empress of Ireland was seen off the port bow of the Storstad, the green light, being visible. The rules of navigation gave the Storstad the right-away. The Empress's course was changed so as to pass-safely in the fog which descendtd. The Storstad 's engines were slowed down and then stopped. Her course was unaltered. The whistles heard from the Empress were answered and the green lights were again seen through the fog. The engines of the Storstad were sent astern, and her way was nearly checked when she collided. The Storstad tried to keep her prow in the hole, but the Empress slewed away and disappeared. The Storstad frequently whistled in order to locate the Empress, but failed. Then she manoeuvred close to the Empress and lowered her boats, and everything possible was done to assist. The officers of the Storstad confirm the agents' statement. They declare that scores of people life-belted were lying dead in the sea, the freezing water having benumbed them.

Staff Captain Mclntyre (Salvationist) declares that there was unspeakable confusion aboard the Empress as the vessel lurched and listed, and the people climbed to the higher decks. When the Empress sank he was carried downwards into the swirling cataract, but keeping his head after fearful suffocating moments he came to the surface and grasped an overturned boat.

Bandsman Green (Salvationist) lost his father, mother, and sister. They made efforts to reach the deck, but it was li&e climberg a wall. There w T as little panic except among the foreigners. He saw a man push into a boat before a woman, and another man knocked him down. The Salvationists sang '' God be with you till we meet again." Their engulfing caused an abrupt termination.

DR. GRANT.

HIS EFFORTS UNANIMOUSLY PRAISED.

Dr. Grant's efforts are unanimously praised. He relieved both physical and mental suffe. iijgs, and brought order out of chaos. When taken aboard the Storstad he directed the laying out of the corpses, and arranged for a supply of dry clothing for the women.

THE LATEST RETURN. The latest return shows that 1467 were aboard the Empress, and 444 saved, whereof 35 are first-class, 38 second, and 164 third-class passengers, and 207 of the crew.

BLOOD-COVERED ANCHOR.

OTTAWA, June 1

Examination of the Storstad sliow:> that its anchor point pierced the Empress of Ireland's side, killing numbers in the cabin. The anchor was covered with blood. It had evidently opened the Empress of IreSand's plate along her side like a salmon tin opener.

Captain Anderson, of the Storstad. asserts that the Empress of Ireland changed her course, as he maintained his undeviatingly. He says that the Storstad's speed was checked before she struck the Empress of Ireland. The captain says he attempted to keep the Storsuifi's nose against the Empress of Ireland's side, but, owing to the speed at which the Empress of Ireland was proceeding he was unable to do so.

Captain Anderson asks that judgment should be suspended until a competent tribunal apportions the blame.

Commander Tweedie, of the cruiser Essex says it will be impossible to raise the Empress of Ireland, but divers may recover the money and valuables which went down in her.

A NEW ZEALANDER SAFE,

Press Association —By Telegraph, CHRISTCHURCH, June 1,

Pears for the safety of the wellknown New Zealander, Mr Leslie Lilley, who it was thought was a passenger in the Empress of Ireland, have been set at rest by the receipt of a cable message sent by him from Montreal. He was prevented by business arrangements from joining the steamer last Thursday, as he had intended,

A MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE.

WHEN THE EMPRESS STRUCK A ROCK.

DUNEDIN, June 2

A Dunedin gentleman and his wife shared with close on 1500 other passengers a memorable experience on the s.s. Empress of Ireland early in October. 1909, when crossing from Liverpool to Quebec. "When rounding Father Point,'■' the gentleman says, "the splendid vessel struck a rock and ripped her bottom on the port side. She immediately heeled over to a dangerous degree. Signals went up for assistance from Rimouski. and soon the Customs boat and another vessel arrived on the scene. It was found, however, that by opening the starboard banks she could be put cm an even keel. We were all instructed to prepare our luggage for going ashore, but the order was counteimanded a little later, it being thought that the ship could make Quebec without danger, "\\ e stayed all night on

board, and got into port the following day. The accident happened about 2.M0 p.m. on a beautiful sunny day, going up the liver. The coast is flat, with little rocky headlands running out. The locality is recognised as being dangerous. On the occasion to which I refer the skipper (not the last captain of the ill-fated vessel) went, it was stated, too close in shore. Temporary repairs were effected at Halifax, and complete repairs at Liverpool.

PALMERSTON'S SYMPATHY,

At the commencement of Palmerston Borough Council meeting last night the Mayor (Mr J. A. Nash) referred to the sinking of the Empress of Ireland, and moved that this Council place on record its sincere sympathy with those who have lost relatives end friends, and that the motion be forwarded to the Premier to be conveyed to the Canadian Government. The motion was carried, the Councillors standing.