Show TALES OF HEROISM TOLD BY SURVIVORS R S passengers saved from empress of ireland relate thrilling stories of rescue work DEATH CAUSED BY BLAST little girl ono one of two children to escape saya she helped herself ships surgeon tells tails experience peri ence crew la Is praised Pra laed quebec th Thrilling rilling tales ot of heroism horol sni stories ot of futile fights for life narratives that tell of the horrors of that fateful few moments after tile tho ent em press of ireland was waa rammed by the Stor atad poured from the lips ot of the rescued when tho the special train bearing thorn them reached this city there was little voiced criticism tor for the terrible loss of life rattier rather those who had been snatched front from tho the of death seemed anxious to tell of men who had proven themselves heroes in alib supreme moments of their lives special praise was given to tho the work of dr james F grant of victoria 13 C ship surgeon on the empress to ills hla coolness was waa credited tho the saying baying of a large number of persons taken out of the water who probably would havo have perished had they not received prompt medical attention surgeons own narrow escape A graphic description of tho the scene on an the empress of ireland after the collision was given by doctor grant arant 1 I was in my cabin said the ships surgeon and knew nothing of the accident until the boat listed so that I 1 tumbled out of my berth and then rolled under it I 1 tried to turn on the light but there was no power 1 reached the bolted do dor r fit blit the I 1 hat I 1 st was waa so strong that it ti icon me considerable time to open it when cheh finally I 1 got out and reached the passageway it was so steep due to the way the ship was canted that my efforts to climb wore were rendered impossible by the carpet which I 1 was clinging to breaking away 1 I then scrambled up and managed to get my head bead through a porthole but I 1 was unable to got get my shoulders through at that time the ship P was waa lying almost flat in the water en cn its starboard side A passenger finally managed to pull me through the porthole sank with one hundred others about a hundred passengers gera were gathered on the side aide of the ship at the time but a moment after I 1 joined them the vessel took another list and plunged to the bottom 1 I next found myself in the water and swam toward the lights of the steamer and when nearly exhausted from the struggle and the exposure I 1 was picked up by a lifeboat this boat went on to the scene of the disaster and picked up a load of survivors from the water and then took ther their on board the there we were wrapped in blankets and I 1 was waa provided with clothes when able I 1 did what I 1 could to help the survivors survivor wr some of them however were in such exhausted condition that they died child says she saved herself only two children are known to have been saved from the wreck A wonderful rescue was one of these little eight year old grade hanagan daughter of the leader of the daiv salvation aaion army band her father and mother were both drowned grade was not told of her loss and believed at night that her father and mother would come to quebec on the next boat when asked how she w was as saved grac grade le replied refilled oh I 1 saved myself the child was entirely unconcerned apparently not realizing what she had been through no lifeboat was near when she was waa thrown from the empress she santi at oace but rose ro so to the surface in a moment ino ment saw a piece of floating wood near her and seized it t later she was pulled into a lifeboat she had been benumbed to the point of exhaustion by the cold water but kindly hands bands worked skillfully fully to revive her handshe and she soon was entirely restored saves save self and wife major attwell of toronto and his wife were among the saved 1 I got a life belt for my wife said major attwell and we both jumped into the water together when we saw that the vessel was wa doomed to go down wo we both sank three times being carried under by the suction of i the foundering vessel when we came up the third time I 1 saw a lifeboat near i and to it ft I 1 swam pulling my wife after me then those in the boat pulled us in and we WB were saved tile the impact was just sufficient to waken us it sounded as it our boat had struck a rock it was very slight md and I 1 WM was surprised when I 1 afterward came to realize the awful consequences of the crash when we got goi on deck there were very tow few persons persona to td be seen in fact the people deop on th deck were so BO few that they were hardly noticeable tile the reason tor for title Is th that at when the boat had listed to ono side bide the stairs from the sleeping Ble apartments up to the boat docks decks were very biffl cult almost impossible to mount I 1 did not see eoe the hole tit in the side aide of our ship as I 1 rushed for the stairs but I 1 did see the water en entering lit in such euch volume that it threatened to drown us its before wo we could mount the stairs salvation army mans mana story A mcintyre was in the second cabin with most moat of the other salvation army passengers lie ho told a vivid story of ills own experiences and of what he saw as aa lie ho swam to safety virtually every leading of the salvation army in canada Is gone he said eald commissioner rees ilece and ills hta wife and tho the children sank and only throe three of this family survive out of 0 f our salvation party of on board probably less than twenty were rescued 1 I was on the upper dock deck an and therefore had a better chance to got to safety than those lit in the lower berths the water came in through tho the port holes of the lower leeks decks before the tha asson gers thoro there realized their danger or that thoro there was wa danger at all 1 I was waa aroused from my sleep by the impact and awoke the others in my cabin I 1 could then hear bear plainly tile the rush of water and I 1 felt sure that something serious had happened I 1 also heard tho the machinery ot of the boat running it did not stop immediately after the crash but continued until the explosion occurred gave woman hla his life belt 1 I grabbed a life preserver and went out to tho the deck on dock there wore no life bolts belts and quite a number of 0 people were standing about apparently aly unable to determine what to do I 1 i gave my bolt to mrs airs foord one of our party I 1 tied the bolt belt on her myself my three comrades went to the bottom t I 1 swam in the direction of the vessel that rau ran us down and was pulled into a lifeboat of the collier I 1 saw tile the collier standing not far from where the empress foundered it was all lighted up when I 1 was waa taken on board I 1 saw many men rescued practically alli unclothed I 1 was wan almost almont in a state of nakedness myself and the rest reel of those on board were shivering and in a bad state from the ley icy water of the river and the chilly morning air soon however we wore were attended to by those on board the collier and made warm and comfortable heard boilers blow up As I 1 swam through tile the ley icy waters I 1 heard the dull explosion caused by the water reaching the engines of 0 the sinking ship it was followed by a burst of steam that spread to all parts of the vessel then came a quick listing of the liner and she turned over it looked to me as it if she turned turtle 1 k I dont think there were many first class passengers saved I 1 saw only one of the first class boats lowered the weather was virtually calm and there was waa plenty of light on tile the water when I 1 came on deek deck I 1 saw no tog fog 1 I thought at first we had bad hit a rock some of officers ficerA of tho the vessel came along and said that the ship would not jo go any further for bottom had been struck praise liners crew the behavior of tile the crew was on tho the whole good though it must be said eald that the men hardly had time to collect themselves vee or to effect rescues in any systematic way the boat was really sinking before the crew or 0 anybody ariy body else realized it or could do anything those of the crew who got to the deck tried to launch a boat on the upturned side of the vessel but this thi s was impossible because the list hat was such that the boat could not bo be put into the water nd ind landed on the side of the ve vessel the decks were alm almost est perpendicular so BO that many passengers in order to escape escape had ts to slide down from the higher side tc the lower or water side another tells of explosion A story that there was a tremendous explosion on the empress of ireland after it was lilt hit by the Store tad was told by philip lawler a steerage passenger from crantford Drant ford ont ile ho was on the way to Hn england glana with biti ills his wife and son herbert iler ert aged fifteen when the collision came the empress listed under the severe shock hock and water rushed into the steerage quarters A few seconds later there came an explosion that shook the vessel this probably was when the water reached tho the boilers mr lawler said people were simply shot out of tile the ship into the gew by the explosion mr lawler added 1 I was pushed overboard with my wife and boy the boy could swim so I 1 tried to take caro of my wife but somehow she slipped from my grasp and cank |