The age-herald., 1900-07-01

hottest place where any human being works fell back from the work of fighting the flames, overcome by the heat
 Some of these, who went in the water and were rescued and brought out slightly injured, say that when others were caught between the fire and water they saw death coming and went insane. Men babbled of home and friends during the few brief minutes that they and the others faced death. The fear of the furnace which lay between them and the land bereft them of their senses. There were acts of cowardice as well as heroism Men clung to others and refused to let go, even though the act meant death to both. One of the survivors was seized by an- other man, who clung to him and refused to let go. The man, who was later saved, had to beat his companion intc insensibility before he could loosen his hold and plunge in the water The loss of the hose crippled the Hoboken Fire Department When they reached the fire at first they set out to con- fine it to the pier on which it started. They got their lines out on the two adjoining piers and even ran their apparatus out to pump from the river. When the flames spread the hose on the piers was lost One hose cart and it's hose was burned
 Later Jersey City stripped itself of all the hose possible and sent it to the Ho- boken firemen. These streams were later gotten on the fire, but it had burned itself out.
 The steamer Saale urnteQ QOWn to the battery about 6:30 o'clock. She was ablaZe and her crew was on deck. Captain Smith, of the police boat, put his men on a tug and ran to the burning ship. When the tug reached the Saale thirty-seven of the latters crew were taker off. Most of them were conscious.
 While the crew were being taken off Cap tain Smith noticed several bodies of men on the ships deck. When the tug made a second trip to the Saale all these corpses were submerged. The ship had in the meantime drifted to the Jersey shore and sunk in the mud off the flats. I The patrolmen worked with grappling | hooks for two hours in an effort to recover the bodies. They secured twenty-two. Cap | tain Smith said he thought there were d 1 number of bodies below in the Saale. When go to the Saale on the first trip with the tug," he said, "I saw several men | with their head out of the port holes. They | were stuck fast and the ship was sinking. | It was a terrible sight. Some of the men | called to us in their own tongue to help. | for Gods salxe.' !"
 "Their struggles were frantic. We tried | to get them through the port holes but the | holes were even smaller than usual. I | can even now hear the poor fellows shriek- l ing in despair as they saw us drawing | away.
 eve heard the cries of others back from | the port holes. They seemed to be strug- l gling for what little air the holes gave l those already there. It was terrible. We saw one woman at a port hole. The flames l were approaching her. She was said to be l @ stewardess A deck hand on the tug l handed heg small hose and she played it | about her state room for few minutes. l They were precious moments.
 She Fought for Her Life
 My God, how that woman fought for her l life. She might as well have poured a tea | cup full of water into a living volcano for
 all the good it did. As she fought the fire
 the ship sank and her struggles were stop- | ped"
 The harbor police said the officials of the steamship company feared the loss of the
 Bremen's chief engineer and six of his
 assistants, who were in their quarters
 when the fire broke out. They thought the loss of life had been greatest on the Saale. | They placed the number at 35 to 5O | Gustav Schwab agent of the North Ger | man Lloyd line said tonight:
 | Roughly estimating l should say that
 there were the Kaiser Wilhelm includ-
 ing officers and men, about 450 persons; or
 the Bremen, 300; on the Main, 250, and or
 the Saale, 450.
 'As to the dead, I fear there are quite g
 number, but have no more information al
 present than you have"
 At 2:30 o'clock this Sunday morning the
 fire is still burning and viewed from the
 New York side presents a brilliant sight
 No estimate of the loss of life falls below
 100 The bodies on the deck and in the
 hold of the Saale will probably be recover
 ed by divers, but dozens who jumped ir
 the river some will never be found at all. |