collapse of hurls hundreds into seething furnace …€¦ · ment:of the final account ... agers of...

A double mind'

is J always a bor-rowed one.

LONDON. June 16.—

A dispatch tothe Dally Mail from Constantinoplesays the consular reports confirm thadestruction of many Armenian vil-lages in the Sassun district Thanumber of killed is estimated to ex-ceed 3000 Dersoru.

•

.Many Armenian Villages Destroyed.

COOK ESTATE SETTLED.— Superior JudgeKerrigan yesterday Issued a decree of settle-ment:of the final account ¦ and jdistribution otthe estate of. Pardon A/ Cook, deceased. Theheirs are his widow,;Lizzie

'Cook; and daugh-

ters Lora A.-Cook, Alice C. Swan and Ine»

C. Noble. The estate consists of $44,280 Incash, the block bounded by Hush. Sutter Scottand Pierce streets, and other realty/ .-.,,

HARRISBURG, Pa., June ti.—Th3commission of Attorney General KnoXas United States Senator to succeedthe late Senator Quay wa3 to-day pre-pared and signed by Governor Penny-

packer and sent to Mr.Knox in Wash-ington. The commission runs untilthe next meeting of the Legislature,which willorganize in January, 1905.

Kno.x's Commission la Signed*NEW YORK, June 15.—North Broth-

er Island Is a vast morgue. Bodies ofwomen and children, of young girls, intheir teens, with their loosened hairfallen about their white faces, of babesin arms and young boys, lay on thfcground, withsheets draped over them:• Here was the body of a mother \7iththe child she had tried to save stillclasped In her arms. Beside her. wouldbe a little form which the lifted sheetdisclosed to be that of a boy, perhapsher son. Onlynow and then could therebe any other identification except bynumbers. So there remained nothingfor the Coroner anty the police to do ex-cept to place a numbered tag upon onebody after another before It was lifted

Pitiful Scenes While Relatives AreSearching Among the Victlme.

ISLAND A VAST 'MORGUE.

Whitney made his home in the Eastibut spent much time in California. Itis,stated that the -estate left by Whit-ney is less than $10,000, with liabilitiesin excess of this amount. "•¦¦

-

LOS ANGELES, June, 15.—An inves-tigation which has just been com-menced In the Superior Court of Or-ange County. Into the -state and af-fairs of the late Oscar -K. Whitney, foryears a prominent and respected citi-zen of Syracuse, N. Y., who died InLos Angeles Sisters'- Hospital January5 last, reveals the fact that Whitney lacharged by the United. States Fidelityand Guarantee Company of Baltimore,Md.. with fraudulently appropriatingto his own use about $50,000 of thefunds of• the People's Building, Loanand Savings Association of Geneva, N<Y.,s of which association '¦¦ he was actingas. assignee at the time of-his death.

tnto Results InSensationalDevelopments.

Probing Affairs of New Yorker's Es-

OFFENSE IS -ALLEGEDAFTER MAN'S DEATH

Cassroann, Hattle, Infant; Gallagher, Kate.

¦ Fernlsen. Mrs.; Ferhiaen. Emma;' Fernisen,Henry, child: Fernfsen. .Marie; •Flnklngtreck,Kate, child; Flnebuch; boy; Fitrkow, Mrs.'An-nle; Frlesae. Ella; Friesse, Adelaide; Frerce?,——.man; Fries*, Frederick; Furman, Emma.

Eagle. Lulu;Bell (child);Eell. Ellle (Infant);Eller, Joseph; Elite, Mrs. Marie. \

Josephine (chlldA; Diehm. HarryDelvlnthal. Sophia;'Delvlnthal. Mrs. Matti*:Dengleiv Harriet; Denter HattU; Dooerlng.

Eda (child): Dooering.- Mrs. Ida; OorhoerTer.Mattla (child): DorhoelTer. . Mrs. ¦ Barbara:Dorrey, Edna.. (child);,DuesIer. Mrs. Lena.

Canfleld..Henry, cook, prisoner; Clpse, Softa:Cllne, Mra. Anna; Cllne, Harry.

B.'v;--.-;2f.-

Beget .Mary; Behren*. Frederick, child- Beh-

mm, Herman: Henach. Lulu, child; rierfln"trfa

Tr";,Blo

nmj?,n

-Mriv fc«*«w bS?£Mlr-^t : '~" *"'BurPny. M«*

Abesser, Kate, child; ,Addlck»es. Mm. Man-gle: Anger, Charles: Armand Mrs. AnnlrArmand., Stella, child; Attraus, Ernest, child.'

NEW YORK, June 16.—FollowingJ« a list of the Injured in the hos-pitals: ... , „:,,;.

Names Recorded In"the Hospitals ofGreater New York. }

PARTIAL LIST OF INJURED.

LIVERPOOL. June 15.—

The man-agers of the Cunard .and White_Starlines deny that they participated inany conference here yesterday," atwhich, according: to report, the termsof settlement of the rate war were dis-cussed. Representatives of tho Do-minion and Allen lines and of theCanadian Pacific conferred at Liver-pool yesterday. They determined tomeet the White Star Line's cut bymaking a'50-shilling rate for third-class fares to Quebec and Montreal.

Managers of White Star and CunartlLines Deny They Participated

In Any Conference.

SinTLEMEXT OP RATE"WAR IS STILL. FAR OFF

The majority of the injured are suf-fering from burns, submersion andshock. In addition to tne foregoing,many were treated at; the hospitalsand sent to their homes.

Zclens, Mary (child); Zclens. Mx«. Kate;Zundal, Mrs.. Maria.

i Webber. Annie; Weaver. Edwin, pilot, prla-\oner; Wethl. Amelia: Wentraub Carl; WesserMrs. Eamestlne;- Woods, James, member ofthe crew, prisoner; Wolf, Margaret; Wurstich.Arthur (child).

Van Schack. William H., captain, prisoner;Vaeth, William; Van Wart. Edward, crew.prisoner.

Ullner,JLJzzie; Ullrich. Mrs. Sophia.

V.

Bchultz. Susj>n: Schultz. Paulftie; Schnatlltz.Fred, child; Schumacher. -*-; Schuman. Mary;Schaefer, Augusta; Schmidt. Fred; Schmidt.Lu!a, child; Smith, Fred, child: Smith. Phll-llplna;Schlck. Henry: Scholting. Edward; Sky-rodt, Henry. Stranseld. Herman:. child;tha Infant: Streckman. Herman. » child;

Stcickel Henry: Stlckney. Mrs.; Stiekel. Mag-gie, child: Strangefeldt. Mrs. Christina: Stack-erman> , boy; Sudderman, Anna;. Sinner,Andrew, child. . \

V. \

Rice, Louis (child); Reina, Kate; Robinson,Edward, of crew, prisoner; Rose. John (child);Rosen. Grace; Rore. Wilhclmlne; Kumpf, Ada;itumv' Adna.

S.

VerdMwttz, Kurt: Pland. James: Podenwell,Gus: Porter. Joseph: Poner. Lewis; Post

—;

Proddick. Mrr.. Mary; Prandsicke, FranK;Prandslckfe Mrs. Lizzie.

Mahlstedt. Anna: Mayer, George; Michael.Georsc; Mclnhardt. Addie, child; Metter.Georpc; Miller, Walter, child; Miller. Samuel;Miller. Herman, chili. Miller. .Louise, child;Msltr. Minnie, child; Miller. Grosvenor, chlM;Miller. Err.est. «MKh MoWer. Louis, child;M.'.al. Mr». Marie: Mueller. Simon; Muth. John;.M*ndct Allies child; Mutz; Clustave.-

Mosewlll. Martin; Mohler. ¦ Annie; Mohler.Emil-

Oellrtcn, Henry (child); O*mer». Mary.

I. •

Iden. Anna (child).J.

•Jordon. Pauline; Joseph. Marsarette.K.

Koh!sh. child; Ko!sh. Magjrle: Kampflre,IMildred: Kol»h Georse; Kari. Emmi; KafTett-saum. Mrs. Nellie: KaffenberKh. Kate: Kaus-,man. JuMa: Kaurfman. Mildred. Infant: Ketch.Mrs. Elizabeth; KetehPr. Stac-y. child; Ko*p,jAnna; Kei(Y°l. K.lna. infant; Kruffe!, Anni°;Kruse, AJbertina; Krubseh. Martta: Kraus.Sadie- KrlnKler, Dora, child; Kllnster. chtM;Kler.ken, Marie: Klwer. William. child;Kruetter. Charles: Kruster. Mary; Knuster.|Mrs. Matilda; Kapf, John: Kubbera. William.

L.Lein Hairy.Lincoln. Mrs. Frederick ;Lucda. child; Lude-

nay. John; Luthjcn. Autust._

II.Heckert. Annie Hlller. Barbarallehl. George , Hcrway. JohannaHrrn.ann. George Hnnn. AnnaH^ml William Hardlneamp. MarylUrt*.Mr*. William (child)Holdfr. Mary Hartumr. Ksyir (child)Huffman Jlr». EMza-Heldencamp. Jamps .

beth Hermann, c'alherlne--Hortman. Mrs. Bophta Hlller. Sir*. ChriftlanaHardlnramp. MaryHeUs. Frank (chlM)

(child) Hells, Henrietta (chlhi)

I.Idsn. Grace (child) Iden, Kate

Jessler. DabctteK.

Ka^thlfr, Henry Klein, Mr*. Daniah.Kramer,—

(woman) Klein, Mrg. Emma•-..« i¦>. Mardalene

1j. 't.ar.n. Amllia Ix>effUr.

—. (child)Lutjens, Mrs. Kate Looblnger, HenryLwdwls, George

'Luedmann, Mrs. Hanna

Lander. Louis31.

Mnnh'eur. Mamie Motzer. Mrs. AnnaMay. Chariot;* Michael.

—. (ch!!d>Mchley. Mrs. Minnie Mueller, HelenaM«yer. Elizabeth Mueller. Mrs. ValearaMovrr Mr«. Louise Mueller. Helena (child)Mullen. Anna Mayer • Louisa.

..McUran. Michael Miller Elizabeth (In-Mucller, Martha -fant)

Ochs (or Knox), child Olfeth, Annie

(•ullman. William H.'

-¦•-

-K:•

Hhrtnger. Meta Hothman. Mrs. EmilyKoth. Lena Itolb, HelenaRoth, Mrs. Josephine

s. K>Schmidt. Kathertne Btlnz. Mrs. AugustSehnelzier, Mrs. Lena t'enmldt, A. T.Schwartz, Mr«. Loul?a Heh'ultz', Emma -and ai=!rri<r!n\ Lotta childSmith. Mrs Mary Rchultcr.

—.Sobel. Catherine Smith, MildredSto«hr. Susie -

¦ ¦ Keman.—. (child)

T.Tottebaum. Herman I

U.Unger, Kate Ullman, Mrs. Lena

V.Vollman. Mary Volkberg, Mary... r w. ..,.¦ .^.. .- , •

Walter. Elizabeth Weiss, Kmlly (child)yUedeman. Caroline .Welw, LewisVielss, Mrs. Tilly

Zeitler. Emily : ' .

Many of thg children picked up bysmall boats were lashed to camp stoolsand other light boat furnishings, show-Ing that some adult had tried to makethe little ones safc\ These precautionsproved inadequate in'the, terrific cur-rpnt and In the "whirlpools... .. •

Very few of trie children picked uphad on life preservers., Children cannotget at the life,preservers on excursionboats In this harbor.; They are lashedto the ceilings over the decks and canbe reached only by a tall person.

~

"When shu was grounded the flameshad spre.-id over IM. entire upper andlower decks. There was only a fewspots on the boat untouched by' theflames and in these were piled nionand,women who had. fainted and, fall-Ins, pinned others to the deck.

"The men from the tugs who couldget near the steamship- shouted forthose on board to Jump and then thesmall boats picked them up by thescore." , ;. ...'.. - .. ; •

"As we made for the shore the cap-tain blew his whistle in one continu-ous blast and soon. boats of nildescrip-tions were making for us from everyside of the, river. Iwas rescued bya launch just as the boat settled closeto th«? shore. "

"Iendeavored" for,a few minutes tobreak through the mad. crush and getto my mother and little.brother, but Iwas swept into one corner of the bqatand held there, unable to move.

"As the boat kept on her way thebreeze drove the flames toward thesifter part of the steamer, whsre thosewho In the panic had not Jumped over-board were huddled, together. - Itseemed but a Jew seconds before theflames had swe^t dowrf upon the chil-dren, who 'were struggling about theicecream tables, and set their cloth-ing'ablaze. They all clashed to theafter part of the steftmer. In a stam-pede that carried those who were nearthe, rail overboard against their will.At one time it schemed to me as if thewomen and children were pouringover the sides like r waterfall..

carried them toward the rocks on bothshores. . : \ '• .

BIRDPETK VIEW SHOWING THE c6tTRSE FOM^OWED HY THE l.'NFORTKNATE GENERAL 8I.OCUM FROM THE TIMH-SHELEFT HER pOCK WITH THE EXCURSION P\KTV ON .HOARD UNTIL.HEK CHARRED HULK WAS RUN AGROUND INTHE SHALLOW WATER OFF NORTH DROTHER ISLAND. . ,.

John Kdell. 22 years old. one of thesurvivors of the disaster, gave the fol-lowing account of his terrible experi-ence, his mother and little brother hav-ingb^en drowned before his eyes:

"When we left the pier the deckswere packed to the limit of their ca-pacity. The band was playing, thechildren were frolicking about, and wewere having a flue time. As we nearedHell Gate the children were calleddown to. the lower deck, where icecream and soda water were served.They were literally falling over oneanother In • an effort to , get to thetables which held the refreshments.With my mother and my lHtle brotherPaul, Iwent to the engine-room towatch the machinery.

"Suddenly there was a burst of flamethat rushed up through the engine-

room and flashed cut about us. Theflames spread with the rapidity of anexplosion, setting fire to the clothing ofthe women and children who weregrouped about the engine-room watch-ing the machinery. .

"There was the most terrible panic

as the burning .women* and childrenrushed out among t'.iose surroundingthe Icecream

"and soda water tables.

Inthe terrible scramble my mother andlittle brother were swept away fromme and carried toward the. side wherethe children and women, with ;thelr

clothes :burning, had begun-' to JumpInto the water. The flames spread Inbursts that soon had the entire /deckenveloped. : ,'¦/.--'

"The crew was helpless to render anyassistance or make efforts: to check theadvance of the fire. We were just pass-Ing out through Hell Gate when the firestarted. The captain headed the boattoward North Brother Island and thepilots, whd were withhim, yelled fran-tically to us to stay aboard until theybeached the boat. . But in a momentafter the flames had burst from theengine-room jgreat .numbers began ;tojump overboard. -The women were wildwith fright, and picking up their chil-dren leaped into the whirlpools that

"Igot- my wife and daughter out onthe rail and then we went overboard.Iwas in such an excited state that Ido not remember whether we werehurled over or jumped.

'When Istruck the water I«ank andwhen Iarose there Were scores aboutme fighting to k-ep afir.at. ¦ One by one,Isaw them sink »iround me. But Iwas powerless to do anything.

"With a great effort Imanaged tokeep afloat, but my strength was aboutgone when a man on one of 'the 'tugspicked me yp."

Paul Lebenmv. one of the passengerswho was on' board, says a ferry-boatpassed near the burning steamship,but offered no assistance.

"I believe that'

the first that, fellinto the water were crowded over-board. After this there seemed to bea general Inclination to Jump. Thewomen and children went over the rail-ings like files.

-"In *ihe great crush many women

fainted and foil to the deck, to be tram-pled upon. Little children were knockeddown.

"When /the fire shot up to the topdeck and drove the crowd back thepanic wag terrible to witness. Thewomen and children clung to the rail-ings and stanchions, but could not keeptheir holds. I. with my wife anddaughter, was swept along! with therest. S

'

Rev. George C. F. Haas, pastor of thechurch, was saved, but his wife, Ger-trude, and his daughter. Anna, areamong the dead. Haas told the storyof the disaster.

"The fire started in the kitchen, Inthe forward part,' when we were oftOne Hundred and Thirty-fourth street,"he said. "Iunderstand that some fatthat boiled over started the blaze. Atthat time most of the women and chil-dren were Jammed in the rear end ofthe boat, where the band was playing.

"Why the captnln did not point theboat for tho Meadows Ido not under-stand. He kept on and the fresh winddrove the fire back on the decks. Inthr»e minutes from the time the fireEtaftfd ell the decks were ablaze. Suchscenes as followed Ido think were everwitnessed before! Iwas In the rear ofthe bo.it with my wife and daughter.Women were shrieking and clasping

their children in their arms. Someothers had as many as three or fourwith them.

the dock, where he and Van Tasselpulled a number of nejrsons out of thewater.

Patrolman Kilt had a similar expe-rience. He said he tried to quiet thepassengers on his deck, but could not,and when the decks gave way he fellInto the water with them, swimming to

"Igot on the side of the boat," hesaid, "and tried to quiet the people, Inwhich Isucceeded to some extent. Afew minutes later the upper deck gaveway and Iwas carried down with theothers into the water. Imanaged toswim to a dock on North Brother Isl-and." >*./'..

NEW YORK, June 15.—One of thefirst to go to the work of rescue wasRev. Father Oonlan of St. Jerome'sCatholic Church. On hearing the newsof the disaster Father Donlan gathered

other priests arid started for the water

front. Although they knew it Wa*s 'a.Lutheran picnk1, the priests felt thatItwas their duty to give religious con-solation to all whom they encountered.Father Donlan gave religious consola-tion to forty-five persons, forty-three

of whom died. •

When the news of the disaster be-came known there was a rush of tele-phonic and personal Inquiries at thehome of the pastor of the church,George A. Haas. Geoige A Haas, sonof the pastor,, was the only member ofthe family at home, and it fell to himto inform all those who Inquired thatthe reports were true.

As the news spread in the parishcrowds flocked around the church andthe parsonage and the scene was a pit-iful one. Large number* boarded theelevated trains and hastened to OneHundred and Thirty-eighth street,-Business practically was at a standstillin the neighborhood.

The two policemen on the boat wereWilliam Van Tassel and George Kilt,both of the harbor squad, who had beendetailed on the excursion. Van Tasselwas on the main deck, while Kiltwasstationed on the upper deck forward.Van Tassel was .one

'of the first to

reach the main land from North Broth-er Island. He said that he heard whathe believed to be an explosion. Every-body screamed, and some men assistedwomen to put on life-preservers, whileothers appeared to be excited and wereunable to do anything.

ing Details of Tragedy.Survivors of the Rlocnm Tell Harrow-

PRIESTS GIVE CONSOLATION.

Meanwhile the Slocum burned tothe water's edge. At 12:25 o'clock,two hours and twenty-five minutes af-ter the fire was discovered, she sank.It 13 estimated there were; then nearly100 charred bodies on her decks. Ju~tafter the steamship sank the waternear by was black with bodies. Thetug finally succeeded In picking upeighty-eight charred corpses in HuntsCove, off Rikers Island, and carriedthem into the sound. None of thesebodies, it is believed, can ever beidentified.

The scene was pitiable in fhe ex-treme as the livingand the dead werebrought in. Rows of bodies werestretched along the beach. Franticmen went along looking at one afteranother, searching for children andfriends. Women with disfigured faces,

their clothing partially stripped -fromthem, were carried to the Improvisedemergency hospital, crying for chil-dren who had been torn from themin the mad rush when the boat tookfire.

As the bodies of livingand the deadwere taken out of the water thosealive were taken to the hospitals onthe island or sent across the river tohospitals In Manhattan. Here ambu-lances from almost all the hospitals inGreater New York and every 'otherscrt of conveyance which could befound were put Into service.' ¦ .

For hours the bodies of the burnedand the drowned drifted ashore on theisfand and between One Hundred andThirty-f.rst and One Hundred andThirty-eighth streets in Manhattan.Some persons came ashore still alive.Many of these died, but others -willrecover.

The scene on North Brother Island,as described by the rescuers, was apitiful one. Body after body waswashed ashore or brought In by boatsand added to the long row on thebeach. Fifty-three persons died whilethe doctors were attending them.

The point where the Slocum beach-ed was Just off the scarlet fever wardon North Brother Island. The pa-tients who had ; been out on theporches and lawns watching the ap-proach of the burning vessel were or-dered Indoors and the physicians onthe island hastened to the assistanceof those who were being broughtashore through the shallow water.Many of those who leaped from theSlocum were carried away by the cur-'rent even after she was beached andwere drowned.

LOXG ROWS OF DEAD.

;¦•¦••

the crew of the Tracey,. which re-mained alongside until the tug's pilot-house took fire.

The policemen and the crew wereunable to release the bodies withoutfurther mutilating them and arrange-ments were made to hoist ihc hatch-way with the bodies to it to the deckof the Fidelity.

Amc-ng the boats that hurried to thesuccor of the stricken passengers wereseveral tuss of the New York Centraland Hudson Railroad Company, theauxiliary catboat Easytimes. theHealth Department steamer Massa-sert. These, with a swarm of rowboats manned by willinghands, ap-proached as near the blazing vessel2rs was possible and rescued scores ofpeople. The Franklin Edson went soclose to the burning steamship that herown palni was scorched. The crew ofthe tug, however, stuck bravely totheir work and saved many "womenand children from a terrible death.The fire had possession of the boatfrom stem to stern by the time shewas off One Hundred and Eightieth

street. The fire boat Sophar Mills wassummoned from its moorings at thefoot of East Ninety-ninth street andwas soon on the scene, its crew lend-ing valuable aid in saving life.

To-night a crowd is held back by po-

lice lines formed about the City

Morgue at the foot of East Twenty-

sixth street. The crowd began togather as soon as it became rumoredabout the city that the dead would bebrought to Manhattan, from North

Brother Island and other*- places where

at first the dead had been taken. Whenthe Massasert came to dock witheighty-five dead., the work of remov-ing the bodies from the steamer pro-ceeded slowlyuntil no more were foundand the autopsy-room was cleared and

the blackened and distorted bodieswere placed on the floor there. >j.v"

When, finally the Morgue authoritiesallowed the crowd to enter the Morguea scene ensued which was harrowing

In the extreme. In some cases Identi-fications first were found to have be«nerroneous, men laying claim to bodiesand afterward discovering that they

were not those of their relatives.At the entrance of the morgue the

crowd to-night tried to push past thepolice and a riot resulted. At theheight of the trouble a man who hadlearned that his wife was among Ik*dead tried to stab himself.

• All the while men in search of wives,

children or sisters were picking theirway from one covered forrr- to anotherand as a face was uncovered and thesheet turned bark upon it there wasrenewed hope that after all thosesought' might be saved." or, at thsworst, were only suffering at one orthe other of the hospitals.

Now and then a searcher was sadlyrewarded. A man would be seen tofall upon his knees beside a form underthe trees, but it was seldom that onecould hear more than a stifled groan.

Mcfct pitiful of all was the grief ofone who found not one, but two orthree, of hi3 family among the dead,as happened on several occasions, formany a man was left not" only a wid-ower, but childless.

Boats are still ratroling the sectionof thA stream where bodies might befound and many are recovered as thesearch continues. It will be days be-fore there can be any certainty thatno bodies still remain to be given upby the river.

Many of the bodies cannot be iden-tified. Heads, legs and arms areburned off and not a shred of clothing

is left on 'any of them.What looked like a big hatchway,

on which were five or six charred bod-ies, was seen floating in the cove atHunts Point and towed carefullyalongside the Fidelity. The wood waibadly charred and bodies seemed tostick to it.

into one of the wagons and transferredto a boat which bore it to one or otherof the city morgues.

Ina paper bag, with its correspond-ing number, was laid away such Jew-elry or other means of Identification1 as

could be found."No. 64. woman, one gold watcn.

one gold guard ring." was the char-acteristic inscription for one of thesebags.

Piled one above another in a basketwhich follov.ed the Coroner on hisrounds, the bags accumulated in in-creasing numbers as the first estimatesof the loss of Hfe had to give away towhat at first had seemed to. be absurdand exaggerated guesses as to the

number of victims of the disaster.When a few more than 100 bodies hud

been recovered and the task of num-bering and tagging them was all un-der way. it semed that the end was insight, though, there were still hun-dreds of persons to be accounted for.

Many were the pathetic sights wit-

nessed. Bodies of little children werebrought fn. clasped in each other's:arms. So strong had death fastened

their hold on each other that whan

"lifted into the boat their arms werestill interlocked.

The work of recovering and tagging

bodies went on untilmore than 100 hadbeen recovered, after it had been hoped

that the river had already 1 "en upmost of its dead— after the watchersand workers had sighed with reliefthat the worst was over.

Itwas Just before she beached thather hurricane deck,. the supports ofwhich had burned away, fell with itsload of women, and children,: addingto the panic and horror of those onthe deck below. Very *oon the afterparts of the second and third decksalso caved *tn. Just before this oc-curred

vthe tug Walter Tracey had

come alongside and 'the burningsteamship had been lashed toItMany

of the passengers -were taken off by

Through all the wild panic, duringall that inferno, with fire and- smokesurrounding. them, the officers andmen of the doomed boat remained attheir poets, but they were powerlessto avert the catastrophe.

The Slocurn got within fifty feet ofthe northwest pier-of North BrotherIsland and there stopped in the shal-low water.

HEROISM OP THE.CREW.

Itwas an experience harrowing andterrible and that any escaped aliveseems wonderful. < -' . •

'

In the wake of the Slocum as shehurried up stream was a line of littleblack specks, showing the heads ofthose who had sought to escape theroaring furnace of the ship by throw-ing themselves overboard.

Few of those saved by the smallboats had on life preservers. At notime during the progress of the firewas there an opportunity to eitherlower the lifeboats or to get out thelife preservers. This, perhaps, gives anidea of the rapidity with which theflames swept the decks.-

' • —

On the' Slocum the first sweep ofthe flames cut off escape from the hur-ricane deck, where a great many ofthe women and children were crowdedtogether, and soon burned away thelight wood of the uprights, whichcame down with a crash on those be-low. Itis thought that most' of thoseon the hurricane deck were burned.

As the fire increased the struggleto rain a point of vantage at the stern"became frightful. Women and chil-dren crowded against the aft rail un-til it gave way and hundreds werepushed off into the river. After thisthere was a steady stream of personswho Jumped or were thrown into thewater.

FIHE CUTS OFF ESCAPE.

The steamship's whistle was blow-ing for assistance and tugs and othernearby craft answered the call.

'Be-

fore any of the boats coulrl reach theburning vessel, however, the fr.intic¦women and children began to jumpoverboard. The current was strongand there are many whirlpools In thechannel. The boats that alwaysabound in that vicinity picked manypassengers from ihe water, but thesev.-ere only a Email number of thosewho were seen struggling in the swiftcurrent.

Ey this time the flames were rushingby leaps and bounds from the forwardpart of the ship aft. The great opendecks, built for excursionists, offereda. clear sweep for the fire.

As the Slocum dashed forv/ard theflames caught stanchion and cabinwoodwork, eating and tearing theirway across the vessel.

The excursionists, but a few minutesbefore in the full enjoyment of anideal summer's day on Long IslandSound, were driven to the after partof the steamship to escape the h'jat.flames ard smoke that were constantlyIncreasing. Policemen and deckhandsaboard the boat struggled hard to quietthe panic, but their efforts were invein. The wild disc-rder increased asfrantic mothers sought their childrenwho had been at play about the decks.

Changing the big Fteamship's courseslightly, he headed her for NorthBrother Island, a half mile away.

FLAMES QUICKLY SPREAD.

The steamship after leaving her dockthis morning proceeded up the EastRiver, all three of her decks crowded¦with merrymakers. Bands played andthe great sidewheekr was decoratedwith flags from stem to stern.

The Slocum had reached a point nearthe Sunken Meadows off One Hundredand Thirty-fifth street. Manhattan,which is at the extreme eastern end ofRandalls Island, when fire broke outin a luncheon room on the forwarddeck. The blaze was caused by theoverturning of a pot of grease.

The wir.d almost instantly fanned theinsignificant flame into a fury. Theblare spread like lightning. CaptainVan Schaick, in the pilot-house, hadbeen informed of the outbreak of thefire and being aware of the danger,decided to send his vessel to shore atOne Hundred and Thirty-fourth street.

At this point there are a number oflumber yards and several huge oiltanks and the captain was warnedthat to attempt to land at this pointwould endanger the property and per-haps further imperil the scores of per-sons who had already been frightenedinto a state of almost uncontrollableexcitement.

NEW YORK. Jur.e 15.—The three-decked Fteamshin General Slocum ofthe Knickerbocker Steamboat Company

burned to the water's edge off NorthBrothers Island, East River, at the en-trance to Li.nc Island Sound, to-day,resulting in the death through burningor drownlns of at least 6U0 persons,mostly women and children. Four hun-dred and ninety-tight bodies had beenrecovered to-day' and divers were atwork taking bodies from the hold ofthe steamship. The remains of manyj.»-iKi.iisuho lea:»ed into the river havenot yet been found, and it willbo manyhours before the list of dead is any-

where near complete.The General Slocum, one of the

largest excursion steamships in thesewaters, left Third street. East River, atS:30 o'clock this morning, having onboard the Sunday-school excursion ofSt. Mark's German Lutheran Church,

located on Sixth street. Her destina-tion was Locust Grove, one of themany resorts on Long Island Sound.The excursion was in charge of Rev.George C. Haas, pastor of the church.

The vessel was commanded by Cap-tain W. A. Van Schairk. one of the bestknown excursion beat captains in NewYork harbor. He has commanded theSlocum for almost the entire time sincefhe was built, in 1S91.

ALL DECKS ARE CROWDED.

Mothers With Clothing onFire Seize Babes and

Leap Overboard.*

, H.Hackett' ¦Maggie (child): Haeff. . Aspics

(child)- Hanna. Caroline: Hartman. Clarachild)! HartW Minnie: Hencen. Lucr: Ho.*

£r 'jaioba;;H?At. Benamin (child);Hopmmn.Morris; Helckert. Mrs. Eva.

child; Graves,. Anna.Continued From Page \ 1, Column 6.

Frightful-

Panic Followsthe First Sweep of

the Flames.

Identification of Those Who Perished on the General Slocum Proceeds'

Slowly Throughout the Hours of the Night £

MAD STRUGGLEON THE DOOMED

VESSEL'S DECKS

GRIM ROSTER OF DEAD IN CORONER'S OFFICE GROWSHOURLY AS BOATS BRING IN VICTIMS OF DISASTER

THE.SAN ERANCISCO CALL; THURSDAY, JUNE, 1«, 1904

COLLAPSE OF HURLS HUNDREDS INTO SEETHING FURNACE VESSEL'S HOLD

G.GaRc. Grace '•

¦ ¦ Geotz, KatlierlneGallarr.er, Agnes (In-Grafflnga. Lillle¦fant) ¦ Grimm, Selma

Getscr. Kate Gelsler. EdithGtotz. Albert

2