The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-01
FIRE, DEATH AND
DESTRUCTION.
Continued from First Page.


the pier on which ii started. They got
their lines out on the two adjoining, and
even ran their apparatus out TO pump
from the river. When the flames spread
the hose on the pier was lost. Some OF
the apparatus narrowly escaped being
consumed. and as it was, one hose cart
and its horse were burned.
Later, Jersey City stripped itself of all
the hose possible and sent 1t to the HO-
boken fire in a wagon for use. With this,
streams were later gotten on the fire, but
it was then under control, having burned
itself out.
Hundreds in Hospitals.
All of the hospitals in Hoboken and this
city are crowded with the victims of the
IRE. There are scores of men burned
90 badly that little hope is entertained for
their recovery. Hudson Street Hospital
has every patient that it can possibly ham
die, as has also Bellevue, St. Vncent's,
and many of the hospitals further up
town. There were over 200 persons taken
to the hospitals up 20 10 O'Clock tonight,
and sufferers were still coming in by the
score. All kinds of vehicles were brought
into requisition as ambulances.
Saloons. stores and many other buildings
OH the river front of Hoboken were turned
into hospitals temporarily.
Burned the Dust.
The rapid spread of the flames after
they started in the cotton is largely as
cribed to the dust with which the pier
sheds and rotunda was covered. The dust
arising from the many different articles,
such as cotton. escends ordinarily and set
tiles upon the rafters and beams, and in
every crevice. Il is said to burn almost
as rapidly as finder and il is believed
IL was this which caused the first awful
rush of fire which engulfed the whole
land end of the dock property. 1t car
ried the flames to every portion of the
buildings in an instant, aud then the great
heat which developed made the work of
destruction rapid.
A Terrible story.
Sailor Paul Sternberg was one OF the
men taken from the Saale by harbor po-
lice. He was burned about the legs and
suffered greatly from exhaustion and
shock. He managed. however to tell
graphically what had happened
There were forty of US, he said. 1--WE
had just had our afternoon coffee and
lunch 1t was $3.50 o'clock when we sat
down. BY o'clock the boss shouted and
we went forward to work i'm the hold.
We had been busy five minutes when some
one shouted Get out everybody, the ship
is goner Then such a scramble followed!
Every man turned into a devil. We ran
frightened and clawing and scratching
anu sweating IOI tilt ldhuSi lCnhAh6 up
20 the deck. We found the matches bat
tened down. Great God! how the men
did cuss. Some climbed up the ladder
and pounded their fists against the iron
hatch. They pounded until the blood
ran. Through the iron grating we saw
the flames Fire was forward, fire was
in the stern. Everywhere was fire.
"Some of the men started forward, We
had TO pass over the coal bins. Part of
the way we could walk. Part of the
way we had to stoop. Toward the last
we crawled on our bellies. Think of for
ty men struggling like rats in that black
hole. There was no air, only everybody
was frightened and cursing to get out.
1--WE crawled through the machinery and
got upon the pumps forward. But there
were forty and on the pumps only room
for fifteen or twenty.
zone man tried to pull me from The
place. l kicked his face in and he be-
came still Ten men tried to climb up.
Others kicked them down. The man that
fell first was stamped on like so much
coal. | guess he is dead now. We knew
the firemen were working to reach us.
We could hear them shouting.
But we thought they could never reach
u.s. The men tore their clothes off ard
threw them away Then after while they
stopped cursing. The men down at the
bottom did not fight any more. One by
one they just fell down and lay still."
snaIe mt the Battery.
The steamer Saale drifted down to the
BATTERY about $50 o'clock. She was
'ablaze, and her crew was on deck. Capt
Smith of the police boat, put his men on
tug and ran to the burning ship. When
the tug reached the Saale, thirty-seven of
The latter's crew We're taken off Most
of them were conscious. Some suffered
were taken to hospitals. All appear TO be
foreigners. None could talk English and
not even their names were learned at the
pier.
The harhor police said the officials of
the steamship company feared the loss
of the Bremen's chisf engineer and six of
,lis assistants who were in their quarters
FORWARD at the time the fire broke out.
They thought the loss of life had been
greatest on the Saale. They placed the
number at from thirty TO fifty. and said
the majority of the victims were employ
ed as firemen and coal passers
The fire boat New Yorker devoted her
attention TO the Bremen, and took off more
than thirty members of her crew. AS
she steamed by the Saale, there happened
on the doomed ship terrific explosion.
Flames shot up forty feet and it seemed
as II the whole upper part of the ship
10 have had a large quantity of kerosene
and other oils aboard, and this is what
probably exploded.
A Fireman's story.
member of the crew of the fire boat
vanWyCk said: THE fire made II i'm |
possible to get to the steerage of the Saale |
We tried next TO get the people out
through the port holes. There seemed to
be forty or fifty of them. There were
men; women and children. One woman
in particular attracted our attention. She |
kept calling TO the others not TO give up |
hope, that we would save them.
Just before the ship went down tug |
drew alongside with Roman Catholic |
priest aboard. He called to the people, |
who seemed to be mostly of his faith, |
and with uplfted hands, impaired abso-
luton to them just as the ship sank and |
water, rushing in at the portfolios, drown
ed them like rats. During the time the |
steamship Main lay at the burning docks /
with the flames playing all about her, |
sixteen men lived on board of her. When |
she was hauled out from between the |
these men were still alive"
Burning Mt O'Clock.
At o'clock Sunday morning the FIRE Is
still burning and presents 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 recovered by divers. but the dozens