San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-05-10
HORRIBLE OCEAN TRAGEDY.
Thirteen Persons Burned
To Death.
MALLORY LINER "LE0NA" EX-
PERIENCED TERRIBLE Ca
TASTRR0PHE YESTERDAY
Only Out From New York a Few
Hours When The Whole Low
er Part Was Discovered
In Flames Captail
Ar lU1l1.

New York, May 10.-The Mallory line
steamship "Leona," which sailed from
this port Saturday afternoon, return
ed at late hour last night with thir-
teen corpses of men, women and chill
dren aboard. They had been burned
and suffocated on Saturday night.
Ten of them were steerage passengers,
one was the ships butcher and two
were stewards. The dead are: Steer
age passengers
r. CATLANE,
MISS l. VALICK,
BRIDGET SULLIVAN,
MRS. c. GUZZA,
MISS GUZZA,
MARIA MADES,
SOPHIE SCHWARTZ,
HANNAH SOLOMONSON,
Two children unidentified.
SHIPS COMPANY:
H. HARTMAN, aged ETAOI ETAO
H. Hartman, aged p, New York,
butcher.
Alfred Howey, aged 40, steward.
ward.
Whether they died from smoke or
| flames is a matter for the coroner. 1t
is certain that their bodies were char
| red beyond recognition before they
were pulled out from the wrecked
steerage quarters. That was after the
flames had been fought under and the
Leona had headed again for New
York. While the fiercest part of the
fighting was going on, her cabin pas
| sengers watched the performance from
the deck of the "City of Augusta" one
of the same line, which they had pas
| sed at an oppOrtune moment.
An incipient mutiny among the Ital-
ian stokers, who fought to desert the
vessel and had to be beaten back to
their points, added to the vivid color
ing of the tragic voyage.
About one o'clock on Sunday morn
ing. when the "Leona" was off for Del
aware, Breakwater, a fierce swift fire
broke out in the forward cargo COM
partment, underneath the steerage, in
which twenty-three passengers bound
for Galveston, Texas, were asleep.
They had arrived from Europe on FRI
day. 1t was after ten o'clock when
the first mate, Wallace, as he patroll-
ed the bridge, saw smoke arising from
the forecastle. He aroused the cap
tain and the crew and immediate ef-
| forts were made to save the lives of the
steerage passengers.
With the first alarm of fire the ltal-
| ian stokers rushed upon the deck and
| tumbled into one of the lifeboats, and
were about to swing it off the da-
Wits, when First Mate Wallace saw
them. Calling the captain to his as
sistance, he pulled the Italians out of
the boat, after a stubborn fight and
they were driven forward to assist the
other members of the crew in fighting
the fire. The flames rapidly gained
Roadway. Capt. Wilder sent up sig
nails for assistance.
The sailors jumped down on the
steerage deck. but were forced back
by the overpowering fumes. The
steerage was filed with smoke and the
glimpse that the sailors got of it show
ed the unfortunates trying to get out
of their hunks, while some of those
who had gotten out were huddled up
on the floor unconscious. Capt. Wild
er and a couple of volunteers dashed
into the steerage, despite the smoke
and flames, dragged out as many pas
sengers as they, could and returned for
a breath of air. Then they started
again but saw that it would be sui
cidal to attempt another venture. For
three hours the officers and the men
battled with the flames. The cabin
passengers, who had been awakened
by the noise on deck, turned out of
their state rooms in their night clothes
and it was with great difficulty they
were quieted by the sailors. Rockets
were sent up every few minutes, but no
answering signal could be seen. OF
the loss of life that had occurred in the
quarters of their poorer fellow. passen-
gers, the saloon knew nothing. They
did not know that the entire forward
part of the steamer was a fiery fur
mace. But even the men who were
fighting the fire could only guess what
had happened to the missing passen-
gers. About daybreak the signals for