Sad Events Recalled.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 48, 18 June 1914, Page 5

Sad Events Recalled.

THE EMPRESS INQUIRY. CONFLICTING EVIDENCE. IBy Eleotbio telegraph— Copybight' £UNITBD i'liJ'Sa ABBOOJATIOS.J Quebec, June 16. Witnesses disagreed as tu the number of whistles blown when the vessels were approaching. Captain Kendall, replying to Lord Mersey, stated that he stopped the Empress of Ireland and turned her right towards the Storstad, according to the j rules of navigation. Captain Kendall refused to admit that the Empress of Ireland could have drifted in front of the Storstad. After the whistles were blown he believed the Storstad changed iter course, while hidden in the fog. A sheet of flame burst from the Empress of Ireland when rammed, the collier evidently penetrating the boilers. Captain Kendall, after meeting Captain Auderson for the first time, vehemently contended that the collision was the Storstad's fault, and. Anderson repudiated this. Kendall fell insensible during the argument. Tuftness, chief officer of the Storstad, swore that the was unchanged after sighting the Empress, though an abortive attempt was made to port her helm Rafter slowing down. He added that the sailors of the Empress of Ireland when rescued by the Storstad refused to return to assist in the rescue of passengers. Mr Haight, counsel for the Storstad owners, explained that apparently the Empress of Ireland's captain thought he could cross the bows of the slower Storstad, and that the Empress' helm was ordered to port hy one officer and to starboard by another.

Captain Kendall repudiated the suggestion of confusion of orders. He admitted that he knew the collision was 'inevitable when he saw the Storstad in the fog, and that he did not give orders to close the water-tight compartments until three of the compartments had been exposed to the inrush of water.

' Mr George Gibson, representing the sailors and firemen, suggested that there were insufficient able seamen aboard the Empress of Ireland, but Captain Kendall declared that there were enough men aboard, and that the boats were launched .quickly.

Lord Mersey: If you had gone straight ahead, this collision would not have occurred? Captain Kendall: Provided the other ship had kept her course. He thought the starboard boiler was loosened by the impact, thus increasing the list. Tufthess said he heard the Empress of Ireland give one long Wast alter the fog fell. Kendall denied this. He declared that the current was insufficient to cause the collision. Tuftness said that the Storstad lowered her boats directly the cries of people in the water were heard. He reiterated that • the crew, of the Empress of Ireland's boat refused to return to save the survivors, explaining that the boat given them was too heavy. The Storstad's men took the heavy boat, giving the Empress' men a lighter one.

"THE REAL HEROES;" [By Elbotbio Telegraph—Copyright] Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, June 17. At the Salvationist Congress General Booth, at the "Canadian rally," introduced Kenneth Maclntyre, a sur"v.ivpr of the Empress of Ireland disaster, who described the horrors of that night. No Salvationists, he said, wore a lifebelt. The real heroes were the non-survivors, who gave up their lifebelts to others. The most beautiful fact about the disaster was that no husband or wife was saved or drowned without the other. During this impressive address, interpreters scattered among the vast audience, carrying telephones with many receivers, translated the story into a dozen different languages. The Congress rose and acclaimed Maclntyre as a hero, and sang "God be with you till we meet again." A FORTUNATE NEW ZEALANDER London, June 17. Mr Fred. Haybittle, of Wellington, booked at Quebec to sail by the Empress of Ireland, but owing to a man failing to ke£p an appointment with him, he changed to another steamer at the last moment, and ultimately accompanied the survivors to England.

IS THERE SPEEDING UP? SAW THE EMPRESS SIX MILES AWAY. .''■■ iin Luwj (Recoived 10.45 a.m.) Ottawa, June 17. Tuftness, answering Mr Apinwall's cross-examination, said lie did not. know whether the Storstad's master received bonuses for speedy voyages. Captain Anderson, when questioned on the point, answered in the negative, but stated that the ship, however, was unloaded in Montreal at night, indicating some necessity for urgency. Tuftness said lie saw the Empress of Ireland first when six miles distant, and she was pursuing a course which was likely to bring her across the Storstad's bows. He did not hear any signal from the Empress of Ireland indicating she wa R stopping.