VICTIMS' BODIES DISFIGURED.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13486, 4 June 1914, Page 5

VICTIMS' BODIES DISFIGURED.

IDENTIFICATION DIFFICULT.

THE STORSTADT'S CONDUCT,

DELAY IN LOWERING BOATS

Quebec, June 2

There is great difficulty in identifying tire Empress of Ireland's victims owing to the mutilated state of the bodies.

It is apparent that many were killed instantly owing to striking wreckage or were crushed by the Storstadt's impact.

Mr. Lpuis Gosselin, K.C., declared that the Storstadt's captain did nothing. When Mr. Gosselin reached the Storstadt, after being an hour in a collapsible boat, lie appealed to the captain of the Storstadt to assist drowning persons, but the captain merely looked at him. Mr. Gosselin is willing to swear that no' boats were launched from the Storstadt. The crew were standing idle on deck when Mr. Gosselin appealed to them for God's sake to do something.

Mr. Lionel Kent, another passenger, confirmed Mr. Gosselin's statement. The Storstadt, lie said, did not put out boats for a considerable time after the collision.

The chief engineer of the Empress of Ireland, Mr. Sampson, says that a desperate effort was made to beach the Empress of Ireland, but the engines were useless. After the lights went out Mr. Sampson told the men to save themselves. They scrambled up the ladder which then, owing to the vessel's list, formed part of the ceiling of the engineroom. The men crawled out on the derrick posts, when some of the vessel's top hamper fell, carrying them into the water.

Tim identification of Mrs. Price, of New Zealand, was made after about 16 members of the crew, had claimed that the body.was that of a stewardess.

Some doubt still exists as to whether the body of Mr. Laurence Irving was found. Th© identification was by means of a ring with his initials, but there were other passengers with the same initials also lost.