Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-05-10
SIXTEEN LIVES LOST
Mallory Line Steamer Leona Has a
Fatal Fire at Sea.
SFEERAGE PASSENGER SUFFERERS
Fire Thought to Have Started
Through the Crews CareIessness.
CAPTAIN WILDER ARRESTED

NEW YORK, May 1o-The Mallory line
| steamer Leona limped back to Ter dock late
| last night with the charred remains of thir-
| teen of her steerage passengers and three
| of her crew. who had lost their lives In
| fire which broke out In her forward hold
| early yesterday morning while the ship
| off the south coast of New Jersey. Her
| cargo is almost a total loss.
| Following is 4 revised list of those who
| lost their lives board the Leona:
Passengers-Brdget Sullivan. h. Cotrane,
| Maria Hardo ard her two children. Mrs.
| c. Guzza and daughter. Joseph Solomon
sens sister. one daughter of ]. Vlacikek
and Sophie Schmalz.
| Crew-Alfred Lang, waiter; c. Hartman,
| butcher, and II. Harvey, walter.
Bound for Galveston.
| The Leona left ner pier Saturday at
| pm, bound for Galveston, with eleven
! saloon passengers and 2hout twenty steer
age passengers. Sne carried general ear
| go of merchandise. Captain Wilder was IN
| command.
| The cargo in the forv ard hold of the
| Leona may have caught fire before she left
her pier in the East river. IL so. the fire
! smold, red for twelve hours under the closed
hatches but At , o'clock yesterday morlI-
! ing the fire burst forth so suddenly that the
whole steamer seemed doomed.
| She was then off the south New Jersey
coast, within thirty miles of Cape Hen
lopen. The fire was directly under the Sec
ond cabin where twenty-one passengers
we're asleep. This cabin was In the forward
part of the ship below the main deck.
Seven Hours to subdue the Flames.
1t took seven hours to finally subdue the
| flames in the ships hold so she could pro-
ceed back to her wharf.
Coroner II oeber arrived about 22o O'Clock
| this morning at the pier, and found Chas.
| II. Mallory, one cf the owners of the Ves-
| sci, in conversation with Capt. Wilder in
| the latter's cabin. Accompanied by Mr..
Mallory and the captain. Coroner Hoeber
vert to the steerage and viewed the
charred bodies Then he gave permission
| for their removal. The coroner told Capt.
Wilder that as matter of form he would
be compelled To have him placed under
rest.
He was Immediately paroed in the GUS
| tody of Mr.. Mallory, who was instructed to
| produce the captain when the INQUEST IL
held. The Witnesses were told to be the
corontrs office at noon today.
| A watchman guarded the vessel and re-
| fused 10 allow any person aboard without
| the consent of the captain or owner OF the
vessel.
At $50 O'Clock this morning two dead wa
gems drove OH the pier and passed aboard
| the steamer twelve pine boxes. in which
| the bodies of the victims were to be re-
moved the members of the crew refused
| to touch the bodies. and the work had 10
be performed by the wagon attendants.
| The thirteen bodies were placed in nine OF
the pine boxes. some Of the bodies being
those OF children. and others charred and
burnt 10 about half their natural size The
bodies were taken TO the morgue. where
| they will remain 10 await identification.
These who cannot be identified will be
buried in the potter s field.
SnmueI ScbtII.br,us.s S,or~
Samuel Schillchraut one of the pas
| sengels in the steerage of the Leona. He
| was his way to Columbus, Tex. IL.
had $3.50 with him, with which he was
| going to start in a small business I'm Co
| lumbus. He lost everything he had-bott
| money and clothing. He does not speal
English, but, through an interpreter, ht
| told the story.
THE fire occurred between and
O'Clock this morning. The first sensation
1 had was one of choking. and | scrambled
out Of bed and made a rush for the uppei
deck. There were ten other passengers in
| the compartment with me. one of whom
| was smothered; the others got out in
safety.
There was the widest excitement among
the passengers, and the steerage was COM
| plctely filled with smoke. l groped my
way TO the ladder leading to the deck and
found that there were number of people
ahead of me scrambling up the ladder.
| were frightful to hear. The crew made
effort to help the passengers and none of
| us was awakened by them They simply
| took care of themselves and left TO
our fate. A great many of the lives might
| have been saved if the crew had done any
thing to help the smothering passengers.
When We gathered on deck we found some
| life preservers, which nearly all of us put
on. Then the crew assured us that there
was no danger. and the excitement was
somewhat alayed.
Mr.. Schillchraut said the general impress
sion that the fire caused by a
lighted match dI Iopped 10y one of the
into the cargo. He declared that he saw
a number of the crew smoking and that
they were very careless in throwing away
their matches
No Effort to Stop Smoking.
The officers. he said. made no attempt &c
stop the smoking among the crew, which
he thought was very strange considering
the infiammabe nature of the cargo In III.
forward held.
Coroner Hoeber found one man who had
been one of the steerage passengers, whom
he ordered detained until after the inquest.
This mans name is Thomas Doyle He is
sixty-seven years old and lives at Paterson,
y. j. He was on his way to little place
about fifty miles from San Francisco, called
Vallejo. to see his uncle and aunt Doyle
is a veteran of the late war. He Will be
detained until the inquest is held. Doyle
said that he was among the steerage pas
sengers who occupied hunks on the star
board side of the vessel He said that
among the passengers who could speak En-
glish were two men whose names he did
not know, and young Irish girl named
Lizzie Sullivan. He said that he made the
acquaintance of the Sullivan girl and had
quite a talk with her on Saturday night.
She was On her way to Los Angeles. Cal.
She was about seventeen years old and
pretty. Doyle said that he had not made
the acquaintance of any of the other pas
sengers. He stated that he was lying
asleep in his bunk early on Sunday morn
Ing when he was awakened by a surocat-
ing feeling. He said his first thought was
that some one was smoking a bad cheroos,
but when he opened his eyes and saw the
apartment filled with smoke he jumped
from his bunk and made for the compan-
ionway leading to the upper deck.
This was only short distance from
where he slept. At the entraice of the
companionway he met the steward, who
was shouting Fire" He started up the
companionway, and found that two men
had preceded him. When he started up.
he fell back, having lost his balance. and
that when he started up again he was as
sisted by some one behind him. who pushed