“I think it was five minutes later that I heard screams and cries, and I shouted to my husband, ‘Oh, they are calling.’ At first it seemed as if the cries were coming from shore. The captain gave orders to go in that direction and proceeded very slowly. Everywhere around me now I could hear screams. My husband gave orders to send out all the life-boats, and that could not have been ten minutes after the vessels had collided.
“I gave all I had to the passengers and have only what I am standing up in. My husband gave two suits and other clothes away.
“The first woman to come on board was a Salvation Army member, clad only in her night dress. When she was brought into the cabin she ran to me and putting her arms around my neck said, ‘God bless you, angel, if you had not been here we would have gone to the bottom.’”
Mrs. Andersen went among the rescued passengers with stimulants. All the cabins were packed with shivering survivors.
STORSTAD’S OWNERS FILE COUNTER SUIT
An unexpected development came in the Empress of Ireland disaster on Wednesday, June 3d, when the Storstad’s owners entered a counter claim against the Canadian Pacific Railway for $50,000 damages due to the collision, contending that the Empress was at fault and alleging negligent navigation on her part. This complicated the case still more, and counsel on both sides busied themselves searching for precedents in Canadian courts. There is a case, heard in Prince Edward Island in 1892, when the liability was limited to $38.92 for each ton of gross tonnage. On this basis the total liability of the Empress of Ireland would be $552,313 and of the Storstad $234,609.
CHAPTER XIV
Parliament Shocked by the Calamity
ST. LAWRENCE DISASTER DISCUSSED IN THE COMMONS—AN APPALLING SHOCK—FATE’S HEAVY HAND—BORDEN AND LAURIER EXPRESS SYMPATHY
GOVERNMENTS may seem a little aloof from their people in times of prosperity; but not so in times of trouble. The Canadian Parliament met on May 29th under the shadow of a great disaster. No other business was discussed.