The sun., 1900-07-03


The bodies of two men were found at
the foot of Fourth street, Hoboken, near
the Thingvalla line pier There was
nothing on the bodies to identify them.
Two bodies have been found in the
river near float belonging to the Va
lencia Boat club. One body appeared to
be that of a fireman or an engineer, and
| the other man, from his clothing was
thought to have been longshoreman.
Both bodies were taken to the Hoboken
morgue to await possible Identification.
! A body Mt the New York morgue was
identified as that of August Weller, 81
years old, married, who lived in Bremen
haven, Germany He was boss ma
cllinist on the Saalc. The identification
was made by Wilhelm Schermeister, the
| first electrician of the Saale.
Schermcistrr said he went on the Saale
at 4 O'clock. Weller and his men We're
on the machine deck at work. The cleo
| tricians We're on the deck below him.
| When the fire occurred, Weller went up
| to see what ii amounted to. He came
back and reported that pier 3 was on
| fire and that the flames had communicate
| ed TO the vessel. He told his men to es.
| cape. They rushed to the upper deck and
| found their means of egrcss all cut off
| by flame and smoke They rushed back.
| Weller tried to organize his men so that
| they would act in concert and did so for
time. They rushed back to the hatch
way and found it battened down. They
| ran to another and found this also
| fastened. From place to place they
went, followed by the electricians and
others. Finally Weller told his men to
maka their escape the best they could
for themselves. The last Schermeister
saw of Weller was near the upper deck
right in the midst of fire and smoke.
The Main and Bremen are within IS
feet of each other and about 1000 feet
from the Jersey shore, off Weehawken.
The fire on the Bremen has been extin.
guished, but there are flames in the coal
bunkers Of the Main. The quantity OF
water in the Main caused her to settle
deep in the mud, and it will be difficult
to raise her.
The authorities at the New York
morgue believe that one OF the bodies
there il that of Captain Mirow of the
Saale. The captains notebook was found
on the Saale's deck near one OF the bod
les recovered.
Seeking Origin of Fire.
The marine underwriters. the authori
ties of Hoboken and the steamship ati
thorities are all making an investigation
to discover the origin of the fire. If they
have discovered the real cause. they have
not vet made it public in Hoboken. The
common report is that the bale of cottor
which was first discovered in flames was
! set on fire by spontaneous combustion, al
though it is possible that some one ma!
: have carelessly thrown lighted ciga
rette or cigar among the cotton. Smok
, ing, however, was strictly prohibited
among the workmen on the pier.
: Almost the sole topic of discussion II
marine and fire insurance is the hre
AS yet no definite idea is obtainable as t.
the extent of the loss to the insuranc,
companies, but it may be safely esti
mated that the marine insurance alon
: will not be below S5,0O0,0O0.
l Practically every one of the score o
more of marine companies is more o
4 less affected, the fire being almost al
a together of marine risk character 4
canvass was made of the following com
: panies and agencies, all of which admit
ted having written insurance to create
q or less extent on property and cargoe
: destroyed at Hoboken:
j. Atlantic Mutual Insurance company
n American and Foreign Insurance comps
q ny, British and Foreign Insurance con
:. pany, Frankfort Marine Insurance con
i pany, Indemnity Mutual Marine associa
a tion, Standard Marine Insurance CON
n pany. Insurance Company of Mort
II America, London Assurance corpor,
l. ton, New York Marine Underwriters
l. Thames and Mersey Marine Insuranc
company. United States Lloyds. SYltEe