The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-17
BY THE OVERTURNING OF
CROWDED FERRY BOAT AT
CLEVELAND
ALL WERE DOCK LAB0RERS
HURRYING HOME FROM THEIR
WORK AT THE TIME THE AC-
CIDENT HAPPENED.
STRUGGLED FIERcELY FOR LIFE.
More bodies of Victims May be Re-
covered as Not all Are Ac-
counted For.

CLEVELAND, O., July 16.-Several
lives were lost in an accident which
occurred about 7:3O o'clock this even
ing, on the old river bed near the ore
docks of the Cleveland & Pittsburg
Railway company. The ore handlers
had just quit work for the day and
were waiting their turns to cross the
branch Of the river, on the fiat bot
toned ferry boat which they had pro-
vided for their own use. number
of the men had crossed. When the
ferry reached the dock the last time
at least twenty men crowded upon it.
The boat, which is about thirty feet
long and not more than four feet wide,
would carry safely no more than a
dozen persons. The stream is not
wide however, and the hurrying ore
handlers had no thought of danger
The boat was pushed from the shore
and was being propelled across the
stream. When it was about half way
over, 1t began to sink Then, as the
men rushed to the side, it turned over.
All the occupants were thrown into
the water. Those who remained on
the shore, alarmed at the accident, at
once threw life preservers and planks
to the unfortunate men, but most Of
them sank like lead. A few, however.
managed to swim ashore, while one
or two were picked up by tug.
The first report of the accident
placed the number of dead at twenty
two, but that proved to have been an
exaggeration. The life saving crew,
whose station is near the scene of the
accident, was summoned at once, and
the work Of recovering the bodies
from the river was begun. Within
half an hour seven corpses had been
laid side by side upon the dock, but
the life savers continued the work
Three more bodies were later re-
covered. Richard Masten, chief en-
gineer of the steamer Bessemer, which
the men had been unloading, was on
the ferry when it overturned He
thinks there much have been thirty or
more men on the fran craft The boat
was floating all right, he says, until
the steamer Aragon, big ore carrier,
came down the river. The swell that
| that vessel caused rocked the ferry
boat and alarmed the men, many Of
them rushing to the side and jumping
over. The wash from the Aragon car
ried them under the water and several
of them were drowned before help
could reach them.
THE men struggled frantically.''
said Masten, ''to save themselves, but
they seemed powerless When 1 saw
that the boat was going over, 1 de-
cided to stay with it. That is what
saved my life. I let the boat turn
over on me, and by putting my head
above the water underneath it. 7 es
capped the swell from the steamer and
came out all right
Two boys, Bernard Patton, aged
bfteen and Martin Corrigan, aged six
teen, were in the boat and both saved
themselves by swimming to the shore
After the ten bodies had been taken
from the water they were conveyed to
the morgue for Identification. None
OF the men who were drowned lived
near the place where the accident oc-
Cured, and although a great crowd OF
curiosity seekers had assembled no
pody who saw the bodies as they were
taken from the river was able to iden-
THY single one Of them. Following
is list Of the dead at the morgue:
william Saunder, married, one child:
august hasten, married, several chill
dren; Michael Lynch, married; Fritz
Bartel forty-dve, married, two chill
dren; Prokup, aged forty, married:
Carl Bohrmeister, aged thirty. mar
ried only three or four months: Julius
Erke, married, several children:
Christ Gehren, married, several chill
dren; Charles Kraus, about thirty-fve.
widower, several children.
There were many pathetic scenes
about the morgues while relatives of
the dead men were Identifying them.
1t is believed at II o'clock that all the
bodies have been recovered, though It
| Is possible that one or two more vic
TINS may be added to the list.
Additional dead have been recovered
tonight as follows: Edward RYAN az
years old, domestic circumstances nm
known. Charles Spoerke, 40, wife and
children. Charles Mcqueen, about az
married, has several children. An nm.
known man at Hogan & Shearers NOR
que, who had not been identified up to
midnight. William Buelow, a press
man. went down to the river to see the
excitement, fell off an abutment near
the Detroit boat landing and was
drowned. The river is still being
dragged for more bodies.