The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-07-03
The Great Piers Of the North
German Lloyd Line
Destroyed.
MANY PEOPLE LEAP INTO THE WATER
They We're Cut Off by the Flames.
One Man Says He Saw 80 Perish.
Loss of Life Variously Estima-
ted From SO to 200. 25
Bodies Recovered Up
o2O'clock This
Morning.
Morning.
(By the Associated PreSs.)

New York, July Almost SO, 0O0, 600
worth of property was destroyed, many
lives were lost, many persons were in
jurcd, and at least 100 lives were imper-
illcd by fire that started among cotton
bales stored on pier No. 3 of the North
German Lloyd Steamship Company in
Hoboken, n. j., at 4 O'Clock yesterday
afternoon.
In less than fifteen minutes the flames
covered an area of a quarter of a mile
long, extending outward from the actual
shore line to the bulkheads from 600 to
1000 feet away, and had caught four
great ocean liners and a dozen or more
smaller harbor craft in its grasp.
Stories in regard to the loss of life are
conflicting, the number being variousiy
estimated at from 80 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 a 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 its
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 huddled under the piers,
clinging to the supports only to be suffo-
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
lame 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 a crew of 800 men
and the Main $50 and if as many lives
were lost as on the Saale, the numbe.
of dead will be very great.
The loss to the North German docks
alone is placed at So, coo, 900. The value
of the great quantities of cotton, oil
and various other merchandise on the
docks has not been estimated at this
time. The loss to the North German
Lloyd Steamship Company alone will come
close to $40, 900. 900 and the Bremen the
Main and the Saale were almost totally
destroyed. The Kaiser Wilhelm was
somewhat damaged. The fire stores house,
of the Campbell Company were greatly
damaged, the loss on one building alone
being placed at 81, 800, coo.
The Thingvalla Pier was burned ant
the dock of the Hamburg American Line
suffered greatly. A number of small
buildings in HobOken were destroyed a
one of the wharves with their contents.
The rapid spread of the flames aftc,
they started in the cotton is largely as
cribed to the dust with which the pic
sheds and rotunda was covered.
STARTED AMONG COTTON BALES.
From what can be learned tonight tn,
flames started among a large pile O
Gotten bales on Pier No. 2, of the Nort]
German Lloyd Steamship Company an,
spread with such remarkable rapidity tina
in fifteen minutes the entire property O
the company, taking in over a third Of
mile of water front and consisting O
three great piers, was completely envel
ored in a huge blaze that sent grea
clouds of smoke high up into the air. TIL
flames started 50 suddenly and game
such Roadway that the people on TIL
piers and on the numerous vessels docke
were unable to reach the street. Their
were great gangs of workmen on tn
piers, and these together with a numbe
of people who were at the docks on bust
ness and visiting the ships scattered i
all directions. As all means of exit wer
cut off by the flames they were force
to jump overheard and no doubt a grea