DRAMA IN ATLANTIC

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 68, 10 August 1938, Page 1

DRAMA IN ATLANTIC

THREE DIE FOR MURDEDER PRIESTS GIVE. ABSOLUTION LONDON, -May 17. —A story of five sudden deatiis at sea —a. murder, the stiicide of the alleged murderer, and tlie drowning of three men of a. boat’s crew who tried to rescue the murderer, was told, when the American passenger' and freight steamer . City of Norfolk' 8424 tons, tied no in. London’s Royal Albert. Locks. Passengers, who ran from the* dining saloon when the ship suddenly, stopped about 109 miles"' from the ' Cornish coast, crowded the rails and saw the second part of the drama. Priests gave conditional absolution to the men lighting for life in the Atlantic. The five men who died were Americans. Ernest H. Top]), aged about 60. was stabbed to. death through the heart as he was cleaning celery 'mTlhe strip’s galley. Boat Capsizes. The man who is alleged to have killed him was a kitchen hand, Chris -Miagurio, aged about 21. He jumped overboard. A ship’s motor-boat with 12.' men on board was lowered into- a 'hdnvy sea. The boat capsized as it bit the water, and the three men lost were Charles W. Kendall, carpenter, Bowie Do Vries, baker, and William Buddenbohn, utility man. N ine men struggling in the "sea- 1 were, picked up by the crew of another boat. _ Among the 65 passengers aboard were three priests on their way from ’America to attend the Eucharistic Congress in Budapest. Grey-haired Father Henbert. of Chicago, and two younger men, Father Antoninus Bearsdon, of Tennessee, and Father Rostov, of Wyoming, saw the bpat oapsizp and stood praying at the'ship's side. £ Five-Hour Ssarch. /“I shall never-forget that scene in tjie last-fading light as those brave men wont down,” Father Henbert said. The City of Norfolk’s searchlights were switched on to guide the rescue party in, the second boat, and tho steamer circled round and round as the rescuers .searched for the drowning men lor nearly five hours. It was aftei" midnight the City> of Norfolk began again her ‘’■ySfffinoy to London after picking up tlie icapsi zed /lnotor^hoat. ship dockSdV SupcrintendBemicftJ of Scotland hoard to 'inquire about of bravery were told. BBH9BBBHEHu-kccpei;r Lewis Miller, man with an to him. Then Miller nn h°m- - until ho MBBUBhBK'"*"!- himself. 1 *■