Rocky Ford enterprise., 1900-07-06
IMMENSE FIRE AT
HOBOkEN DOCKS
rhrss Big Steamships Wholly Dsssroysd
with Great I.oss of Life.

"SDO1hALAN DoSAhc
rhrss BiG Steamships Wholly Ds.ssoysd
with Great Loss Of Life.
New York. July ALMOST $lO.O0O.-
900 worth OF property was destroyed.
many lives lost. many persons were In
jured and AT least 1900 lives imperiled
by 4 hre that started among cotton
bales under Pier No. 3, OF the North
German Lloyd Steamship Company. In
Hoboken, y. j.. At 1 o'clock. Saturday
afternoon.
In less than fifteen minutes the
flames covered IN area Of quarter Of
u 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 q dozen or more smaller
harbor craft In it's grasp.
The losses sustained In tho fire are
tonight conscrvativcly placed at near
ly xl0.OO0.OOO. The loss OF life merely
guess work mt even this late hour. will
reach probably as high as 20O.. and
there arc over 80 men In the hospitals
In this city. Hobokcn and Jersey City.
badly burned.
Up TO J.. o'clock tonight eighteen
bodies have been recovered. Eleven OF
these were placed In row at thc
morgue In this city and were number
ed. this being the only means the nu-
thoritics have of maintaining any sort
Of Identity over the corpscs. ns they
are NO badly chnrrcd and dismcmbcr.
cd that Identification Will bc made on
ly by trlntcts or pieces OF clothing that
were found about the bodies. The on.
1y way the steamship officials have OF
approxitrnting the loss OF life is by
comparing the list Of those reported
safe witt the list Of the employees on
the steamships.
A spectacular but 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 aud incoming com.
mcrcc. iny "a great waste OF burning
and smonlicrins beams. with here and
thcrc 3 rcmnnnt OF a high brick wall.
The three immense piers OF the North
German Lloyd line were burned TO
tn waters ripple. the Thinsvnlla pier
lay smouldcrins and n part OF the
Hamburg. American pier. which had
Just been added to their great picrs
were ruins. Four large store houses
OF III. Palmer. Campbell company arc
wrecked, and they. with the piers. went
to make up the appalling nnss OF de-
bris. smoking. sizzling and stcaminE.
II covers over four city blocks, and
rcachc. out into the river for over .
thousnr 4 feet. Strcams OF water are
being piuspcd~ upon the ruins AMI
workmcn are poking about for bodies.
This was the scene Of the greatest
attraction to-day and thousands upon
thousands Of people went there. The
streets were Janmcd.
Ear OF, up the North river ut Wee
hnwkcn. n great cloud OF smoke rose
and tumbicd. mt 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 bcachcd there. Around them
swarmcd n fleet OF small boats carry.
ing sightsccrs.
Far down the river. OF Ellis island.
lay the smoking aud stcaming hulk OF
the Sanlc. aimos; n total wreck.
The loss OF life will probably prove
greatest when the wreck OF the Sanlc
has been searched. Already number
OF bodies have been taken OF. and ns
soon us the fire in the hold has Subsid.
ed there is every possibility that many
bodies will be found below decks.
Various tugboat captains claim to
have seen thirty or forty persons In one
compartment just before the saalc
went down.
or the 2GG 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-
clcarc that few, IL any. visitors perish
cd. and that the loss Of life was almost
entirely among employees OF the COM
pnny.
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 Uobokcn yesterday
cannot be npproximatcd 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 wcrc lost. One Of the
officers of the steamship Bremen said
to-dny that there were fully 200 visit
ors on board that vessel when the fire
touched there. the majority OF them be-
ing women. A boat was lowered from
the Bremen shortly after the alarm had
been given. but the craft capsizcd as 1t
touched the water and all hands were
precipitatcd into the water. and none
OF them were saved by those remaining
on the vessel. This in itself would in
dicntc that the list of dead may be
larger than 1t was mt first thought.
The propcrt, loss can simply be ap-
proximated Mt this time. None of the
OFFICIALLY around the docks could give
anything like a precise estimate or
their losses. and none was prepared to
make statement on this point. A con-
servntive estimate made by promi-
ncnt fire underwater places the entire
damage Mt less than S1O.0OOOOO.
Ssrcvau NAV np Saved,