The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-07-17
Were Crossing I'm n Ferryboat. When
the Wash from n steamer Cauxcd
Their Craft to Rock.
OCCUPANTS BECAME ALARMED
AND RUSHED TO ONE SIDE AND
OVERTURNED THEIR BOAT.
Thirty Thrown Into the Water. hut
Some Rescued-Fifteen Bodies Re-
cOvered-Other Casualties.

/ CLEVELAND O.,July 16.-At least fifteen
lives were lost in an accident which oc-
Cured about 7:3O o'clock this evening on
the old river bed near the ore docks of
the Cleveland e Pittsburg Railway Com
pany. Following is list of the dead at
the morgue:
WILLIAM SAUNDERS. No. 17o Lewis
street, married, one child.
AUGUST HASTEN, Gauge street, mar
ried, several children.
MICHAEL LYNCH. No. &c Hanover
street, married.
FRITZ BARTEL, No 43 Prim street,
twenty-one years old. single.
CHRIS GIRLACH. Sc Selden street. for
ty-five years old, married, two children.
- PROKUP, residence unknown, aged
about forty. married
CARL BOHRMElSTER. No. "a Selden
street, aged about thirty, married only
three or four months.
JULIUS ERKE, No. List Court, mar
ried several children.
CHRIST GEHREN, Selden avenue, mar
ried, several children.
CHARLES KRAUS, Selden avenue aged
about thirty-five years, widower. several
EDWARD RYAN, thirty-eight years DID,
Waverly avenue. domestic; circumstances
CHARLES sPoERKE, selden avenue
CHARLES NUQUEN, Elk street, Mary
street, aged about thirty-fve years: mar
ried has several children.
UNKNOWN MAN at Hogan & Shearer's
morgue. who had not been identified up to
midnight.
WILLIAM BUELOW. a pressman. who
went down to the river TO see the excite
ment and fell off an abutment near the
Detroit boat landing and was drowned.
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
bottomed ferryboat which they had pro-
vided for their own use. A number of the
men had crossed. When the ferry reached
the dock the last time al least twenty men
crowded upon it. The boat. which
about thirty feet long and not more than
four feet wide would carry safely not more
than a dozen persons. The stream is no.
wide. however and the hurrying ore han
dlers had no thought OF danger.
The boat was pushed from the shore
and was being propelled across the stream.
When ii was about half way over il began
to sink. Then the rlen rushed TO the
side it turned over. All the occupants were
thrown into the water. Those Who re-
manned on the shore. alarmed at the cap
sizing of the little craft at once threw
life preservers and planks TO the unfortu-
nate 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-five. 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 bod
les 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. Soon after three more
Richard masten, chief engineer of the
steamer BesSemer, which the men had been
turned. He thinks there must have been
thirty or more men on the frail craft. The
boat floating all right, he says until
the steamer Aragon, a big ore carrier,
vessel caused it to rock and the men be-
came alarmed. Many of them rushed to
capsized. 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. Ito save themselves, but they
seemed powerless. When L saw that the
boat was going over, decided to stay with
boat turn over on me, and by putting my
head above the water underneath it. / es-
capped the swell from the steamer and came
Two boys. Bernard Patton, aged fifteen.
and Martin Corrigan aged sixteen, were
in the boat and both saved themselves by
bodies had been taken from the water they
were conveyed 10 the morgue for Identified
ten. None of the men drowned lived near
the place where the accident occurred, and
although great crowd of curiosity seekers
had assembled. nobody who saw the bodies
as they were taken from the river was
able to identify single one of them. There
were many pathetic scenes about the
morgues while relatives OF the dead men
were identifying them. Late tonight five
more bodies were recovered, and the search
is still being continued