The silver star., 1900-07-06
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
600 worth of property was destroyed
many lives lost. many persons were in.
| jured and at least 1.5oo lives imperiled
| by fire that started among cotton
| bales under Pier No. 3, OF the North
German Lloyd Steamship Company. in
Hoboken, n. j., at 4 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 a doNen or more smaller
harbor craft in its grasp.
The losses sustained in the fire are
tonight conservatively placed at near
ly S1O.000.Oco. The loss of life merely
guess work at even this late hour. Will
reach probably rs 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 We're placed in row at the
morgue in this city and were number
ed. this being the only means the au-
thoriues have of maintaining any sort
Of identity over the corpses. a they
are so badly charred and dismember
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
approximaring the loss of life Is by
comparing the list of those reported
safe with the list OF the employees on
the steamships.
\ spectacular bur horrible sight was
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
and sInouldering beams. with here and
there remnant of high brick wall.
The three immense piers OF the North
German Lloyd line We're burned to
ia waters ripple. the Thinsyalla pier
lay smoulderlns and part OF the
Ham burg pier. which had
just been added TO their great piers
were ruins. -Four large store houses
Of the Palmer-Campbell company are
wrecked. and they, with the piers. went
to make up the appalling mass OF de-
bris- smoking. sizzling and steaming.
Il covers over four city blocks. and
reaches ouf into the river for over
thousand feet. Streams Of water are
being pumped upon the ruins and
workmen are pokine about for bodies.
This was the scene ~ the greatest
attraction to-day and thousands upon
thousands OF people went there. The
streets We're jammed.
- Il.
hawken, a great cloud of smoke rose
and tumbled. AT one moment on the
water and the next rising just enough
TO show the skeletons of two of the
great ocean liners. the Bremen and the
Maine. that rose like giant spires out
OF the smooth face OF the water. They
had been beached there. Around them
swarIned u neet OF small boats carry
Ing sightseers.
Far down the river. off Ellis island,
lay the smoking and steaming hulk OF
the Saale. almost total wreck.
The loss Of life will probably prove
greatest when the wreck OF the Saale
has been searched. Already a number
Of bodies have been taken Off. and as
soon "a the fire IN the hold has subsid-
ed there Is every possibility that many
bodies VIII De 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 2'ii persons reported missing
tonight ID Is believed some viii be-
found ia sailors boarding houses in
this ciry. Jersey Cry and Hoboken.
The North German Lloyd officials
deny that any Passengers were lost. de-
eleare that few. Il any, visitors perish
ed. and that the loss Of life was almost
entirely among employees of the com
pany.
The fearful havoc to life and proper
ty caused by the fire which broke out
at the docks Of the North German
Lloyd company In Hoboken yesterday
cannot be Appropriated with any de-
/ gree OF certainty. Conservative people
who have had experience along the
docks are Of the opinion that not more
/ than 200 lives We're lost. One of the
7 officers Of the steamship Bremen said
to-day that there We're fully 200 visit.
ors on board that vessel when the fire
1 touched there. the majority of them be.
Ing women. \ boat was lowered from
tine Bremen shortly after the alarm had
been given. but tue craft caps.zed ns Il
touched the water and all hands were
precipitated 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 II was at first thought
The property loss can simply be ap
proxlmated nj this time. None OF III,
officials around the docks could Civ,
anything like precise estimate oi
their losses and none was prsunreJ 1,
make statement ON this point. A con
servative estimate made 10y proml
nent fire underwater places the entire
damage AT less than Sio.0OO.OOO.