Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1900-07-11
.HOBOKEN HOLOCAUST
WILDLY PICTURED.
Great Fire Was Witnessed by Ameri-
Gus Young Man.
HIS STORY OF FEARFUL FIRE.
Joseph Johnson of Americas Witness
ed Hoboken Fire AID Writes of the
Great Loss of Life and Property.
$4,000. 600 Loss.

The following interesting letter was
written by Mr.. Joe Johnson, of Amer.
icus, a student of Stevens Institute, al
Hoboken, N. j., and tells in detail oil
the recent terrible confagration in that
city, the burning of the North German
Steamship docks, wherein several hun
dred lives were lost and property to
the value of $40, 900, 900 destroyed. The
letter is written to his mother, Mrs.
Henry r. Johnson. of this city, and is
as follows:
HoBoKEN. N. j., July 2.-My Dear
Mother:-No doubt you think it strange
[ have not written to you sooner, but
[ have been all stirred from excitement.
suppose you heard about the great
fire that Hoboken had on the 30th of
last month. 1t was simply terrific. I
have never seen such an enormous fire
in all my life. [ heard the fire de-
partment going down Hudson street,
but knew nothing about the fire. I
thought I had better look out to see, and
when [ did was dumb, for what did I
see but big black mass of smoke and
flames not 800 yards from my boarding
house. rushed back, got my coat
and went down. It was very close to
the Atlantic Boat Club and as I knew
few members of the club, I went
over. I could see it very plainly. The
large steamers were towed out to mid
stream, burning furnace. Very soon,
almost instantly, we could see men
jumping off the Thingvalla pier, next
to the Atlantic B. G. They were
drowning and all members and myself
rushed down and pushed out 10 save
them. We managed to save about
twenty by making several trips; after
that l managed to board tug boat
through the influence of friend. The
tug battled with the piers for short
time and when the Saale was pulled out
in midstream our tug went after her
and began fighting the flames. The
sides of the boat were red hot and after
fighting for long time we could see
heads sticking out of the port holes and
yelling like maniacs for help These
fremen were caught in this floating
furnace and couldn't get out You
know the port holes were not large
enough to let person through. Some
had their faces at the ports and some
had their arms through, begging for
help, but of course, we could do moth
ing. The Kaiser Welhelm du Crosse
was saved with the exception of about
800. 600 loss. Mother, never want to
see such a sight as I saw that night,
witnessed men roasting and could
smell the flesh burning; could see them
writhing in pain, begging to be shot,
eyes bulging out of their heads, pray
ing, begging for water and food. I
saw one poor fellow letting his overalls
down the river by means of strips of
cloth that he had torn from some part
of his body and after they were well
soaked in the water he would draw
them back up and squeeze them in or
der to get his mouth wet. Heads were
seen at the port holes with smoke and
flames pouring out of the same open
ing. You could hear the flesh cooking.
One fellow got half through and then
got stuck and could moye neither way,
and his feet and legs were burned off
while he was screaming for help. No
tugs could get close as the sides of the
ship were all red hot and danger of
setting the tugs on fire. This was at
one ship that saw with my own eyes.
Ladies and men were burned in large
quantities. 1t was heart-rending to
hear their cries. This boat, the Saale,
finally sunk and relieved all suffering
from their horrible death by fire. At
ter this boat sank we strained up to the
Main and fought there for hours, wit
Messing the same sights. was nearly
crazy when this tug began hauling in
roasted human bodies. I almost went
crazy from horror. Such sights,
some had no eyes, as they had popped
out while they were being roasted.
Crisps of men burnt to almost inhuman
shapes All this happened when they
finally landed wounded sailor and I
went ashore with him, as I was sick of
that awful sight. I came back only to
see more of it and hear women and
children crying for their husbands and
fathers. Bodies could be seen scorch-
ing, and smelt for miles. All four
piers of the Bremen line was burnt and
also the ThinRyalla line. A friend of
mine was on board the ship Bremen
and had his coat burned entirely from
his back. / send many papers to tell
-