The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-07-06
Three Great Ocean Liners With
Their Crews Burn to the
Waters Edge.
PROPERTY LOSS s1O,OO0,O 900
Firemen Are Utterly Helpless
to Cope With the DeVour-
ing Element.
The Conflagration'S Progress
Finally Checked by Use
of Dynamite.


,eople-perhaps many more-lost their
lives in fire that destroyed steamships,
piers and warehouses to the value OF
$40, 900, 900 in Hoboken, and there are
over 300 men in the hospitals in this
city, Hoboken and Jersey City badly
burned. Eighteen bodies have been re-
covered. Eleven of them were placed
in a row at the morgue in this city and
numbered, this being the only means
the authorities have of maintaining any
sort of identity over the corpses, as they
are so badly charred and dismembered
that Identification will be made only
by trinkets and pieces of clothing that
were found about the bodies. The only
way the steamship officials have OF ap-
proximating the loss of life is by COM
pairing the list of those reported safe
with the list of the employees on the
steamships.
Started in Cotton Bales.
The flames started among a large pile
of cotton bales on pier of the North
German Lloyd Steamship company and
spread with such remarkable rapidity
that in 10 minutes the entire property
of the company, taking in over a third
of a mile of water front and consisting
of three great piers, was completely en-
veloped in a huge blaze that sent great
clouds of smoke high up into the air.
The flames started so suddenly and
gained such Roadway that the people
on the piers and on the numerous YES
sells locked were unable to reach the
street.
The Saale, the Main and the Bremen
of the North German Lloyd line were
burned to the waters edge. Three
piers of the Lloyd line and the five
great Campbell storage warehouses
were consumed. The Phoenicia of the
Hamburg American line and the Kaiser
Wilhelm der Crosse, pride of the Lloyd
line, barely escaped destruction.
Many Are Drowned.
There were great gangs of workmen
On the piers, and these, together with a
number of people who were at the docks
on business and visiting the ships, scat
tered in all directions.
AS all means Of exit were cut off by
the flames they were forced to jump
overheard, and it is believed a great
number of people were drowned. The
water for some distance along the docks
was lined with people. They were
clinging to the piers, and even to the
rudders of the burning vessels. Some
were picked up; many were drowned.
About 200 people were rescued at
the Hamburg American line pier.
They were much overcome from ex-
haustion, but were soon revived with
stimulants.
Huge Storehouses Burn.
The southern end of the Campbell
Storage company building, consisting
of five 5-story structures, caught fire
and flames shot from every window
from the five floors in but few min
utes. The buildings, being filled mainly
with jute and whisky, burned rapidly.
The fremen were unable to go within
fighting distance and the fire had pretty
much its own way there.
The fire gained such Roadway by the
time the Hoboken fire department ar
rived that they were utterly helpless to
cope with the flames. They were fur
ther handicapped by having several
hundred feet of hose burned.
Calls were made on the New York
fire department for assistance and fire
tugs were sent over. These, however,
had little effect on the great mountain
of fame and smoke.
Awful Havoc of Death.
The fire defied the efforts of engine
and hose companies and fire tugs, and
nothing could block its path until the
pier of the Hamburg American line was
blown up by dynamite.
The vessels attacked by the flames
were one after the other towed away,
but four of them burned so furiously
that they did not stop until above the
water line they were nothing but
charred masses. Sailors asleep in the
holds had no rescue. Passengers on
deck persisted by the score.
Tt is feared that some of the Christian
Endeavorers who were to have sailed
from Boston Tuesday for Southampton
on the Saale have lost their lives. 1t
was said that some of these peo-
pie had come to this city to inspect the
ship, which had been chartered to take
500 of them to England, and that they
were on board when the flames broke
ont on the pier.