The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1900-05-10
BIG PIER IS BURNED.
Docks of Mallory Steamship Line in
New York Destroyed.

New York, May IA fire that start
ed at the river end of the Mallory line
steamship pier, at the foot of Maiden
Lane and the East river, early Sunday
morning, completely destroyed the
pier and valuable contents. The po-
lice place the loss at $1,O00,O00. Sew
eral barges which were moored near
the pier were also destroyed, and
many rescues of their captains and
of the members of the families on
board were made. Only one life was
lost. The nine-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 filed with
valuable freight of a miscellaneous
character, but mostly cotton. On the
north side of the pier were moored a
number of coal and cotton barges,
while on the south side was the
steamer San Marcos and number of
barges. No sooner had the work of
fighting the flames begun than the
fremen and citizens turned their at
tention to saving the lives of those
on the barges which were lying with
in the line of danger.
Left Baby to Save Wife.
Nearest to the pier was the barge
Stephen b. Eillins. Her captain,
Frank Fox, and his wife, his three
months'-old 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 hurried from their
hunks to a place of safety before the
flames had reached them. On board
the barge Sherwood were Charles
Lochs, the captain, SO years old; his
wife, Lena, so years old, and their
daughter Rosie nine 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 nine.
months'-old baby in his arms and
with his wife jumped into the water.
Capt. Timothy Boylan, formerly in
command of the barge New Bruins.
wick, whose home is at Rondout, n.
Y. plunged in to save the woman, who
had become exhausted. 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 to which he should save, his
wife or baby. He therefore let the
baby 60. in the hope that she would
be picked up by someone else, and
went to the assistance of his wife. He
managed to hold her head above wa
ter until Boylan reached them. All
three were then landed by life lines.
The half-drowned captain and his
wife were removed to the Hudson
street hospital, where later they re-
covered.
On the coal barge s. II. Hand, which
lay alongside the other burning
barges, were the captain, Joseph
Plumb, his wife and two children. All
were rescued by the police, but Pa
trolman Jeremiah Cronin was badly
burned while taking one OF the chill
dren ashore. All hands on board the
lighter Arno got ashore safely
Michael Sheldon, of that boat, was
compelled to jump into the river,
from which he was rescued. Three
large vessels were lying so near the
blazing pier that their safety was en-
dangered. The steamer San Marcos
and the steamer Neueces, which were
towed out into midstream, and the
bark st. James. the rigging of which
was burned before she could be lowed
out of harms way. The scene on the
water was a most exciting one, for the
river was filed with steamer craft
engaged in towing the various vessels
and barges to safety from their dan
gerous positions. Four cotton barges,
others laden with cornmeal and some
loaded with coal. caught fire and were
destroyed. Some of them were also
sunk to prevent the further spread of
the flames,