The Lamar register., 1900-07-04
IMMENSE FIRE AT
HOBOKEN DOCKS
Three Big Steamships Wholly Destroyed
with Great Loss of Life.

with Great Loss of Life.
New York, July almost $4,000
900 worth OF property was destroyed.
many lives lost, many persons We're In
jured and at least 800 lives imperiled
by fire that started among cotton
bales under Pier No. 3, of the North
German Lloyd Stean,ship Company, in
Hoboken, n. j., at o'clock, Saturday
afternoon.
In less than fifteen minutes the
flames covered an area of a quarter of
mile long, extending outward from
the actual short line to the bulk-heads,
from six hundred to one thousand feet
away and had caught four great ocean
liners and doxen or more smaller
harbor craft in its grasp.
The losses sustained in the fire are
tonight conservatively placed at near
ly $40, 1000, 600. The loss of life merely
guess work ut even this late hour, will
reach probably as high as 200, and
there are over 800 men in the hospitals
in this city, Hoboken and Jersey City,
badly burned.
Up to Il O'Clock tonight eighteen
bodies have been recovered. Eleven OF
these were placed in row at the
morgue in this city and We're number
ed, this being the only means the au-
| thorities have Of maintaining any sort
of Identity over the corpses, as they
are so badly charred and dismemDer-
ed that Identification Will be made on
ly by trinkets or pieces of clothing that
were found about the bodies The on
ly way the steamship officials have OF
approNimating the loss of life Is by
comparing the list of those reported
safe with the list of the employees on
| the steamships.
L,,, stUhf
presented to-day Where two days ago
piers reached hundreds of feet out in
| to the river and rose like great hills
alive with outgoing and incoming COM
/ merce lay great waste of burning
I and smouldering beams, with here and
there a remnant of high brick wall
| The three immense piers of the North
| German Lloyd line were burned to
! tn waters ripple, the Thingvalla pier
l lay smouldcring and II part of the
! Hamburg American pier. which hnd
i Just been added To their great piers
/ were ruins Four large store houses
/ OF the Palmer Campbell company are
I wrecked, and they, with the piers, went
| to make up the appalling mass of de-
Z bris, smoking. sizzling and steaming.
( II covers over four city blocks, and
I reaches out into the river for over a
I thousand feet. Streams of water are
[ being pumped upon the ruins and
Y workmeu are poking about for bodies
This was the scene of the greatest
/ attraction to-day and thousands upon
/ thousands OF people went there. The
I streets were jammed.
/ Far on, up the North river at Wee
! hawkeu, great cloud of smoke rose
Z and tumhled, at one moment on the
/ water and the next rising just enough
. -. al,a hn IL pf the
great ocean liners, the Bremen and the
Z Maine. that rose like giant spires out
Z of the smooth face OF the water. They
had been beached there. Around them
( swarmed a fleet of small boats carry
ing sightseers.
Far down the river, on Ellis island
/ lay the smoking and steaming hulk OF
the Saale, almost a total wreck.
The loss OF life viii probably prove
greatest when the wreck OF the Saale
has been searched. Already a number
of bodies have been taken on, and as
soon as the fire In the hold has subsid-
! ed there Is every possibility that many
bodies viii be found below decks.
Various tugbOat captains claim to
have seen thirty or forty persons in one
( compartment just before the Saale
/ went down.
! OF the 2ii6 persons reported missing
tonight ii is believed some will be
found In sailors boarding houses in
this city, Jersey City and Hoboken.
The North German Lloyd officials
deny that any passengers were lost, de
I cieare that few, If any, visitors perish
] ed. and that the loss of life was almost
entirely among employees of the COM
I pany.
The fearful havoc to life and proper
( ty caused by the fire which broke out
Mt the docks OF the North German
Lloyd company In HobOken yesterday
cannot be approNimated with any de-
gree OF certainty. Conservative people
( who have had experience along the
I docks are OF the opinion that not more
{ than 200 lives were lost One of the
/ officers of the steamship Bremen said
to-day that there were fully 200 visit
I ors on board that vessel when the fire
[ touched there, the majority of them be
| ing women. boat was lowered from
/ the Bremen shortly after the alarm had
| been given. but the craft capsiZed as 1t
| touched the water and all hands were
preclpltated into the water, and none
[ Of them were saved by those remaining
on the vessel This in itself would in
| dIcate that the list of dead may be
( larger than It was at first thought.
| The property loss can simply be ap-
1 proximated at this time. None Of the
\ officials around the docks could give
/ ANYTHING like a precise estimate of