The evening times., 1899-02-20
A DEATH STEAMER
WEDGED In PACK ICE
Carrying Pauper CO1pses to
the New York Cemetery.
Forced TO Return the Bodies to the
Morgue.
Exciting Experiences of Lighter
Laden With a Freight of Tn
claimed Dead.

New York, Feb. 2O.-With 161 of the
city's unclaimed dead on board, the big
steam lighter Columbia for more than six
hours made heroic efforts to reach the city
burial ground at Hart's island yesterday
Block ice. packing the sound from shore 10
shore, shook the big lighter, tore her stem
out and at one time threatened TO crush
and sink her with her freight of dead.
The Columbia could not get within six
miles of Hart's Island, and only with great
difficulty freed herself and returned to her
dock at East Twenty sixth Street shortly
after o'clock in the afternoon. The bodies
on board were returned TO the morgue
They represent an accumulation of two
weeks, and a state OF congestion prevails
at the morgue, where theye are 10 addi-
tional bodies.
Frank Callahan, the skipper in charge OF
the Columbia gave me thrilling account
of his experience in the ice foes with his
freight of dead.
I've been travelling the sound for the
last twenty years" said Callahan, but it
never was so bad as / saw ii today. We
generally take the bodies up on the Fideli-
ty. but she is disabled. So the Columbia,
one of the strongest ice breakers in the
sound. was chartered especially for the oc-
casion.
we left the dock here at 10 O'Clock in
the morning. All went well until We
reached Riker's Island. The three days
thaw had broken up the ice along the
shores and swept it into the channel.
Pack ice is the worst ice we have to
encounter. Two tides meet up there-the
ba ~, do hot =
what packed it in. The ice was heaped up
and sunk to the depth of the sound. 1t
stretched from the Westchester to the
Long Island shore. SO far as We could see
the sound was blocked all the way to Fort
Schuyler.
We churned slowly through the ice
until We neared Riker's Island, at Il 10
o'clock. a Port Chester barge had sunk
there and stranded beside her was the
tug Volunteer. 1t wasn't until 2:40 in the
afternoon that we got up to Old Ferry
Point. across from Whitestone.
Then il was back and fill and go
ahead every way you could The boat was
shaken about considerably and her stem
todn out"
The ice foes swept together by the op-
posing currents, repeatedly threatened to
crush the plucky lighter The craft
groaned and trembled from stem to stern,
and was finally wedged in, not able TO
move forward or backward For a time
il seemed to those on board that the 161
bodies would never reach Harts Island,
but would be buried in the waters of the
sound
We were six or seven miles from
Hart's Island" continued Callahan, 'and
we saw we could never reach it. Six Big
Eastern towboats were in the same pre-
diCament Then we sighted the Richard
Peck. of the New Haven line coming
down the Sound. She had left New Haven
at midnight
she had a hard time, and was finally
wedged in. And 1 can tell you when the
| Peck stops the sound must be bad. She
! was blocked quarters of an hour be-
tween Old Ferry Point and Hunts dock
above Oak Point. 1t took her an hour to
| pass us.
I'VE managed to turn in behind the
| Peck, but We had to stop time and time
again in her track on account of the ice
We left the six towboats strung between
| Riker's Island and Old Ferry Point.
According TO the morgue keeper, of the
161 bodies aboard in pine collins 81 were
those of adults and 110 of infants. There
are now 271 bodies in the morgue, and IL
is feared they cannot be removed for near
| ly a week.