The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-07
MALLORY LINE PIER BURNED.
4 MILLION DOLLARS IN PROPERTY
GOES UP IN FLAMES.

Completely Destroyed the Pier and
Its Contents-TwO steamers and
Several Dnrges Lying Along Side
the Pier Were ssaved-A Captains
Child Drowned while He Was Try
ing 10 Save His Wife.
New York. May GA fire that started at
the river end OF the Mallory Line steam
ship pier. at the foot OF Maiden lane and
the East river early this mo. ming. COM
pletely destroyed the pier and its valuab
contents
The police place the loss at $1,000
Several barges which were moored rear
the pier were also destroyed, and many
rescues of their captains and of the m M
bers of the families on board were ma 3e.
Only one life was lost The s-months-old
daughter of Capt. Charles Lochs of the
barge Sherwood was drowned.
The Mallory Line pier was 200 feet long
and so feet wide. The pier shed was fill
ed with valuable freight Of a miscel,ane-
Gus character, but mostly cotton On the
north side of the pier were moorei a num-
Der of coal and cotton barges, while on the
south side were the steamer San Marcos
and a number of barges.
No sooner had the work of fighting the
flames begun than the firemen and citi-
zens turned their attention to saving the
lives of those on the barges which were
lying within the line of danger. Nearest
to the pier was the barge Stephen b.
Elkins. Her captain, Frank Fox, and his
wife, his three months cd daughter and
a baby were on board and sleeping A skid
was quickly run from the pier to the coal
barge, the occupants of the boat were
awakened and were hurried from their
hunks to place of safety before the
flames lad reached them.
Wife Saved, Child Drowned.
On board the barge Sherwood were
Charles Lochs. the captain, 36 years old;
Ills wife, Lena, 90 years old, and their
daughter, Rosie months old. The Lochs
family was awakened by the flames Their
barge was already on fire at the time
that they were aroused from sleep. The
father took the 9-months-o.d baby in his
arms and with his wife jumped into the
water.
Capt. Timothy Boylan, formerly In COM
mand of the barge New Brunswick, whose
home is at Rondout, N. Y, plunged in to
save the woman. who had become ex-
hausted. Her husband, who still held the
baby In his arms. saw that his wife was
on the point Of going down. 1t became a
question to him as 10 which he should
save, his wife or baby. He therefore let
the baby go. In the hope that she would
be picked up by someone else, and went
to the assistance of his wife. He managed
f3a haId hAr-
Ian reached them. They and Boyan were
then landed by life lines.
on the coal barge Hand, which lay
alongside the burning barges, were the
captain, Joseph Plumb his wife and two
children. All were rescued by the police,
but Pa'rolman Jeremiah Cronin was bad
1y burned while taking one of the chill
dren ashore. All hands on board the light
er Arno got ashore safely. Michael Smell
don, OF that boat was compelled to jump
into the river from which he was res
cued.
Three large vessels were lying so near
the blazing pier that their safety was en-
dangered. The steamer San Marcos and
the steamer Nueces were towed into mid
stream, as was the bark James, the rig
sing Of which was burned before she
could te towed out Of harms way.
Exciting Scene on the water.
The scene on water was a most excit
Ing one, for the river was filed with
steamer craft engaged in towing the vari-
GUS vessels and barges to safely from
their dangerous positions. Four cotton
barges Others laden with corn meal and
some loaded with coal caught fire and
were destroyed. Some OF them were also
sunk to prevent the further spread of
the flames.
number of buildings on tSouth street
were scorched and several We're empued
OF their tenants, who feared thai the
buildings would be burned.
Henry Mallory said, regarding the fire:
II have no idea how the fire started.
and can form no adequate idea of the
loss The entire pier is destroyed, to-
gether with the offices and other build
ings on the bulkhead My brother.
Charles, sailed for Europe on the Teu-
tonic ten days ago, and he will remain
abroad two months, Notwithstanding the
catastrophe.
II cannot tell what our Immediate
plans Will be, nor when we shall begin
to rebuild. Our books and other docu-
ments were destroyed and cannot say
anything about the insurance at present.
The only positive Information that can
give at present is that, fortunately, at
the time of the fire, there was not the
usual amount OF freight on the per. as
the comal sailed at clock on Saturday
afternoon and cleared up most of the
overflow. / positively cannot hx the or
igin OF the fire, give the amount of dam