Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 August 1906 — AWFUL DISASTER; 300 LIVES LOST [ARTICLE]

AWFUL DISASTER; 300 LIVES LOST

Emigrant Ship Goes Down at Sea Off the Coast of Spain. PANIC BREAKS LOOSE ON BOABD Captain Commits Suicide Because Hs Was Fatally Imprudent SUBVIVOBS ABE ALL DESTITUTE Pitiable Scenes Enacted Among Them; Terrible Scenes of Frantic Violence on the Sinking Ship. Cartagena, Spain, Aug. 6.—A terrible marine disaster occurred Saturday evening off Cape Palos. The Italian steamship Sirio, from Genoa for Barcelona, Cadiz, Montevideo and Buenos Ayres, with about 800 persons on board, was wrecked off Hormigas island. Three hundred emigrants, most of them Italians aud Spaniards, were drowned. The captain of the steamer committed suicide. The bishop of Sao Pablo Brazil was also lost. The remainder of the passengers and the officers and crew got away in the ship’s boats or were rescued by means of bouts sent to them from the shore. Rescuers Loae Their Lives. Several fishermen who made attempts at rescue were drowned. Those rescued from the vessel are now at Cape Palos in pitiable condition, being without food or clothing. The Sirio struck a rocky reef known as Bajos Hormigas, and sank soon after, stern first Hormigas island lies about two and a half miles to the eastward of Cape Paios. Before he committed suicide the captain declared the steamer had 645 passengers on board and that her crew numbered 127 men. The Sirio had 570 passengers when leaving Genoa, but additional Spanish passengers were taken on board at Barcelona, where the vessel touched a few hours before the disaster. Struck a Terror to Navigators. The steamer was threading a difficult passage through the Hormigas group, where the Bajos Hormigas reef is a continual menace to navigation. The vessel began to settle rapidly immediately she had struck, and a terrible scene of confusion and panic ensued ou board. The fishermen along the coast sought to render every assistance in their power, and sent out boats which brought many survivors ashore. Harrowing Scenes at Cape Paloa. The survivors have gone into camp on the main square of the town at Cape Palos. Here harrowing scenes are enacted as the stricken families anxiously seek beloved members among the rescued. A mother wfio lost her three children went insane. The doctor of the Sirio gave up his wife and child as lost, but they were finally brought in by one of the rescuing boats, and the scene as this family was reunited was most affecting. LIKE FRIGHTENED BRUTES Frantic Men Spare Neither Sex, Nor Age In Their Frenzy. The scene on board was one of the worst on record. The Italian emigrants, with knives in their hands, and without regard for the women or children, fought with the greatest brutality for the possession of life buoys aud boats. Many were killed or wounded, including several members of the crew who were attacked by emigrants. Crowds rushed forward, pushing each other and fighting for places iu the boats. Many fell and were trampled to death. Dozens of men and women threw themselves into the sea. In the midst of this panic the captain and officers of the Sirio endeavored in vain to restrain the people, restore a semblance of order and organize a system of life-saving. This was not accomplished, for the vessel suddenly either broke in half or glided off the rocks and foundered in deep water. Eye-witnesses give awful pictures of the brutal panic on board. For half an hour the emigrants were masters of the situation. They completely overcame the crew by sheer force of numbers, aud this in spite of the efforts of the officers, who tried to save the women and children first. One report even states that a group of emigrants approached one of the ship’s boats which already was full, and which was about to hie launched, and dislodged the people, killing several with their knives. Just as they were about to occupy the boat themselves another body of armed emigrants came up and a fierce fight for the possession of the life-boat followed. A roll call taken on shore shows that 385 persons from the Sirio are missing, but It is believed that a few were taken bn board French and German steamers which continued their voyage after the Sirio sank. Among the survivors at CapePaiosare many mothers who weep and wring their hands for lost children, while there are also numbers of children who are unable to find their parents. The bishop of Sao Pablo, Brazil, was drowned while blessing the pas* sengers of the Sirio.