The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-07-01

| Peoples Albany Line. Smoke and flames
! poured from every opening in the big ship
as sh" brushed against the pier \ number
| OF tugs wer" Yainly endeavoring 10 get her
| ons INTO the stream. Before the frerne1
| could get TO work the blazing ship hau
aiiited along the pier occupied by the New
| t"Tk Central River Railroad. The steam
! boat Dean Richmond OF the Albany Line
| loaded with passengers was just about 10
| !rsye the pie; when the burning steamer
| blocked the path. There some excite
:Eent among the passengers. but il subsidized
/ "heii the blazing vessel driftcd away with
out halIaing ANY property. Fire tugs went
| IN pursuit.
There were hundreds Of ,aen on each of
me destroyed steamships and a few women.
CrowGs az dock laborers and also employ :
| VI ~ the cothpahiss were on all the o'"fs
Men. women and children were the canal
boats and men on the barSes and lighters
a''G, wien ;hc IRE made its quick descent
upon them. escape was cut of before they
! 1sahzed their awful position. The people on
! ne piers jumped into the water TO are
themselves and scores of men. huddlcd I'M
der the piers, clingins TO the supports only
20 Ne Suitocatcd lay the flames or to drop
back into the water from exhaustion.
Men working in the holds of the four
steamships were shut in by walls of fame.
and !, was impossible 10 reach them. II
probably never will he known how many
men persisted in the ships. as the flames
were 50 fierce they would leave hut few.
!: any. remnants Of the human body.
The greatest loss of life appears to have
bsrn on the Saale. She carried $50 persons
bodies On Saalc's Deck.
When the police boat captain went
aboard of her with his rescue party ne saw
bodies lying all about the deck. The stsam-
ship Ere;nen carried a crer> of sao men the
Ai"in -. and If ms mary lives were lost on
tue bremen and Main as on the Saale. the
number of lives lost will re very great.
Then also many persisted on the piers, the
cana! boats and lighters
The burning or smoldering remains Of
canal boats, lighters and barges are scat
tered all the way down the river and bay
10 staten Island and Governors Island.
Zach of these craft Will add something
Rough Estimate of Loss.
TIE loss TO the North German LLOYD
docks oIore Is placed at S2.eN01.t The value
of the great guam tiles of cotton. oil and
various other merchandise on the docks has
not been estimated. The loss to the North
German Lloyd Steamship Company alone
Will probably come close TO $40 GO. Ooo, as the
Breinen. the Main and the Saale We're al
most totally destroyed. The Kaiser VIII
hclln was somewhat damaged.
The five storekouses of the Campbell
company were greatly damaged the loss
on one building alone being placed at ST.
$4,000 The value of the Hamburg-Ameri-
can steamer Phoenicia is not known, but
this will swell the amount Of damage
The ThinGvalla pier was burned and the
COCK or the Hamburg-American line suf-
Tered greatly. number of small build
lhss in Hoboken We're destroyed along the
OF the value of these can be obtained
The amount Of insurance carried cannot
De learned.
scenes Aboard the Saale.
Captain Smith of the police tug said he
thought there were number Of bodies be-
low in the Saale
When got to the Saale on the first
TRIP with the tug" he said, II saw several
men with their heads at the portfolios They
were stuck fast and could get neither in
nor out The ship was gradually sinking
Ii was terrible sight Some of the mel
cailef TO us in their own tongue TO helm
tnen Tor GODS sake Their struggles were
something frantic. We could do nothing for
tnsm The upper part of the vessel was
living furnace. We tried to get the pris-
oners through the portfolios but the holes
We're even smaller than usual We gave a |
through. but il was futile effort. I can
even now hear the poor fellow shriek.ng i'm
from him "'
I'VE heard the cries of others back of |
the portfolios They seemed to be strue-
Cling for what little air and respite the |
holes gave those already there. 1t was |
terrible.
We saw one woman at a portfolio. The |
fiameS were rapidly approaching her. She
was said To be stewardess. A deckhand 1
on the tug handed her small hose and she /
played II about her stateroom for a few
moments. They were precious moments. My
God, how that woman fought for her life.
She might as well have poured a teacupful 1
OF water into a living volcano, for all the
good it did. She had no possible chance AS |
she fought the fire the ship sank steadily |
and her struggles were stopped by an thrush /
of water as the portfolio sank below the /
surface"