River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1900-07-05
AN AWFUL DISASTER.
Fire Sweeps Away Big Docks and
Ocean Steamships.
Three Vessels Burned at Hoboken,
\. J.-Men and Women on Board
Find Escape Cut OG-Fully
200 of Them Perish.

lost Saturday afternoon in fire horror
that in many respects is unprecedented.
Many of the unfortunates were
burned to death, more were drowned.
Over a thousand people were strug-
Cling in the water at one time, and how
many of these were lost is only con-
lecture.
The same fire destroyed three great
ocean steamships, the immense wharves
Of the North German Lloyd Steamship
company, the amburg-American
Steamship company and the Thing
yalla Steamship company, vast stor-
age warehouse in Hoboken, II canal
boats and six barges.
The ocean liners destroyed were the
Saale, the Bremen and the Main. All
three of these ships belong to the North
German Lloyd company.
The Kaiser Wilhelm der Crosse, the
fastest and one of the largest passen-
ger ships in the world, was damaged
and had narrow escape from total de-
struction.
There were hundreds of men on each
of the destroyed steamships and a few
women. There were crowds of dock
laborers and employees on all of the
piers. There were men, women and
children in the canal boats and men on
the barges and lighters.
Escape Quickly Cut on.
So quickly did the fire spread that
escape for all of these hundreds was cut
off almost before they knew the fire
had started.
Men working in the holds of the
three steamships were shut in by walls
of flame. 1t was impossible to reach
them in any way Men on the pier
jumped into the water to save them
selves. Many were saved; others sank
before help could reach them.
Loss of Life Estimated at zoo.
The North German Lloyd Steamship
company estimates the loss of life by
the fire at 200. The company took the
crew lists, checked off those members
who are in hospitals or reported safe,
and believes the others to be lost.
Among the dead are a number of Off
GERS. The body of Capt. Mirrow, of
the Saale, has been found, burned so
as to be unrecognizable. Fortunate
ly the number of visitors on the pier
and boats was unusually small, be-
cause no steamer was due to sail ex-
cept the Saale, and she only for Bos-
ton, where she was to have taken on
a load of Christian Endeavorers, bound
for the convention in London. No pas
senger was lost on any of the boats. A
number of Christian Endeavorers were
visiting the Saale, drawn by the In
terest taken in the boat, because of
her charter by the Boston Endeavorers.
Some of these visitors were reported
lost The German consul general
cabled to Berlin placing the death list
at 200.
1t is estimated that from 300 to 400
persons were injured and taken to the
different hospitals in this city, Jersey
City and Hoboken. Many of them were
found to be not seriously hurt and were
discharged Sunday. Many others are
believed to be so seriously injured that
they cannot recover.
May Be Larger.
One of the officers of the steamship
Bremen said that there were fully 200
visitors on board that vessel when the
fire touched there the majority of
them being women. A boat was lowered
from the Bremen shortly after the
alarm had been given, but the craft
capsized as it touched the water and
all hands were precipitated into the
water, and none of them was saved by
those remaining on the vessel. This
in itself would indicate that the list of
~,
thought to be.
Eighteen bodies Found.
Up to II O'Clock Sunday night Is
bodies had been recovered. Eleven of
these were placed in a row al the
morgue in this city and numbered, this
being the only means the authorities
have of maintaining any sort of iden-
tity over the corpses, as they are so
badly charred and dismembered that
Identification will be made only by
trinkets or pieces of clothing that were
found about the bodies.
The loss of life will probably prove
greatest when the wreck of the Ssale
has been searched. Already a number
of bodies have been taken off her, and
as soon as the fire in her hold has been
subdued enough to allow anyone to go
down in her there is every proba blity
that many bodies will be found below
decks. as various tugboat captains
claim to have seen 30 or 40 persons in
one compartment just before the Saale
went down. Some of those penned in
by the flames were alive when the
steamship was towed to the Jersey flats
6 I'll 1,
open headlights or portfolios the poor
creatures appealed for help several
times before the vessel was scuttled in
the hope of putting out the fire which
WINS raging in her upper works. The
| portfolios being less than a foot in di-
ameter. it was impossible TO save them,
and one after another the people in
side succumbed to the smoke and
/ flames.
OF the 266 persons who are reported
missing it is believed that some will be
found safe in sailors boarding houses
/ in this city, Jersey City and Hoboken.
The North German Lloyd officials
! deny that any passengers were lost; de-
/ clare that few, if any. visitors persisted,
and that the loss of life was almost en-
| tirely among employees of the company.
May Have PerIshed.
1t is feared that some of the Chris
/ tian Endeavorers who were TO have
sailed from Boston Tuesday for South
ampton on the Saale may have lost
their lives. 1t was said that some of
these people had come to this city, TO
/ inspect the ship, which had been char
tered to take 500 of them to England.
and that they were on board of her
/ when the flames broke out on the pier.
/ Officials declare positively that
/ there were no members of the Chris
I tian sEndeavor society aboard the
/ Saale.
As many people, to avoid being roast
4 ed to death on the three steamships and
! the docks. jumped overheard and were
4 drowned, searching parties kept up
/ close watch to-day along the shores
Of the North river. Brooklyn and
Staten Island. As the tide was on the
turn when the people were lost in the
wafer, it is believed that their bodies
were carried up stream and when they
/ rise will come TO the surface above
i Twenty-third street. unless they drift
/ e6 into the central current and caught
/ the flood tide running out. They are
1 likely to be discovered mostly in the
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