The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-07-01
The Great Piers Of the North
German Lloyd Line
Destroyed.
MANY PEOPLE LEAP INTO THE WATER
They Were Cut Off by the Flames.
One Man Says He Saw 80 Perish.
Loss Of Life Variously Estima-
ted From so to 200. IS
Bodies Recovered Up
to2O'clock This
Morning.
Morning.
(By the Associated Press.)


New York, July ALMOST $4,000, 600
worth OF property was destroyed, many
lives were lost, many persons were in
jured, and at least 1900 lives were imper-
illed by fire that started among cotton
bales stored on pier No. Of the North
German Lloyd Steamship Company in
Hobokcn, N. j., at 4 o'clock yesterday
afternoon.
In less than fifteen minutes the flames
covered an area of quarter of mile
long. extending outward from the actual
shore line to the bulkheads from 600 to
LOCO feet away, and had caught four
great ocean liners and a dozen or more
smaller harbor craft in it's grasp.
Stories in regard to the loss of life are
conflicting, the number being variousy
estimated at from so to 200. Up to 2
o'clock this morning twenty-five bodies
had been recovered, but they were all so
burned and blackened that Identification
was impossible.
There were hundreds of men on each
OF the destroyed steamship and few wo-
men. Crowds of dock laborers and also
employees of the companies were all on
the piers Men, women and children were
on the canal boats and men in the barges
and lighters and when the fire made it's
quick descent upon them, escape was cut
off before they realized their awful con-
dition. The people on the piers jumped
into the water to save themselves and
scores of men hudded under the piers,
Gated by 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
flame and it was impossible to reach
them. 1t probably never will be known
how many men persisted in the ships as
the flames would leave but few if any
remnants of the human body The great
est loss of life appears to have been on
the Saale. She carried $50 people and
was to have sailed for Boston this after
noon When the police boat captain went
out with his rescuing party he saw bodies
lying all around the deck. The steam
ship Bremen carried crew of 300 men
and the Main $50 and if as many lives
were lost as on the Saale, the numbel
of dead Will be very great.
alone is placed at $4,000, 900. The value
of the great quantities of cotton, oil
and various other mercandise on the
docks has not been estimated at this
time. The loss to the North German
Lloyd Steamship Company alone will come
close to $1O,0O0,00O and the Bremen, the
Main and the Saale were almost totally
destroyed. The Kaiser Wilhelm was
hot do Rro ctr
of the Campbell Company were greatly
damaged, the loss on one building alone
being placed at 81 800, 900.
The Thingvalla Pier was burned and
the dock of the Hamburg American Line
suffered greatly. A number Of small
buildings in Hoboken were destroyed at
one of the wharves with their contents
The rapid spread of the flames after
they started in the cotton is largely as
cribed to the dust with which the pier
sheds and rotunda was covered.
STARTED AMONG COTTON BALES.
From what can be learned tonight the
flames started among large pile of
cotton bales on Pier No. 2, of the North
German Lloyd Steamship Company and
spread with such remarkable rapidity that
in fifteen minutes the entire property of
lHc COMPANY, LdKlnB III over q Jnlrd~ OF
mile of water front and consisting of
three great piers, was completely envel-
oped in huge blaze that sent great
clouds of smoke high up into the air. The
names started suddenly and gained
such Roadway that the people on the
piers and on the numerous vessels locked
were unable to reach the street. There
were great gangs of workmen on the
piers, and these together with a number
of people who were at the docks on bust
ness and visiting the ships scattered in
all directions. AS all means of exit were
cut off by the flames they were forced
to jump overheard and no doubt great
number of people were drowned. AT the
docks for the North German Lloyd were
the Saale, single screw passenger
steamship of 1906 gross tons; the Bremen
a twin screw passenger and freight
steamer of 1926 tons and the Main. a
twin screw freight and passenger steam
er of 1920 gross tons. They all caught
fire and were burned to the. waters edge
The Kaiser Wilhelmer der Crosse, which
had just come in, was the only one of the