New-York tribune., 1901-06-15
CONING TO THE RESCUE.
RIVER MEN DESCRIBE THE WORK OF
SAVING THE PASSENGERS.

the second boat to render assistance 10 tne
Mortified. gave q Tribune reporter an account
of his experiences.
| when We started for the Mortified she
| slowly drifting up the river making for shore
| he declared Captain Slater gave orders to
| cast off and help the Mortified. and in a few
| minutes we were on the Brooklyn side of her.
| helping to get her close to shore. She was un-
Ger her steam, and was making as good
| progress possible when her condition was
| considered. The water above her main
| deck. and the people were all on the promenade
| deck. AS soon we got alongside, our crew be-
! gan hauling the women and children off the
Mortified on to the Unity. Some of them were
| pretty roughly handled in the rush. but 1 guess
| was seriously injured. The men passen-
| gers the Northfied. those that 1 saw
| brave and cool. They were willing have the
| women taken off first. The Unity is pretty high
| in the water and pulled the women right off
the upper deck to the Unty's deck
| II thought at first the Mortified was on fire
and before we came up to her I got the fire hose
all ready play her. As the North
| field struck bottom the deck hands on the hurri-
cane deck smashed in the skylights. in the
pectation of rescung people who failed - get
out of the cabin. Nobody was found under the
skylights.
TOOK WOMEN OUT OF THE WATER.
George Murphy. of No. 213 Monitor st. Jer-
sey City. captain of the barge Sister. of the
LehiEh Valley Railroad Company. rendered as
sstance to several people who jumped fell
from the Mortified she sank at Pier 10.
When last night ne said:
"Our barge laid up at Pier 10. whore
we had been working. About the same time the
accident occurred the tug Catasauqua. of our
line up to the pier to take back TO
Jersey City. Young Frank Hendrick was on tho
barge with me. and he saw the Mortified as she
came within range. soon after she was struck.
Hendrick jumped up. and after he had got a
good look at her he said she sinking. We
the upper deck crowded and the Unity ana
the Hewitt taking the people off. ran down
to the end OF Pier 10 and at the same time
the Catasauqua swung In close 10 the pier.
jumped into the water and swan to the side OF
the Mortified, where three women. They |
up to their waists in water and In dan |
gerous position. l grabbed one and pulled her |
over the rail into the water. and deckhand |
OF the Catasauqua threw me n rope and pulled |
the woman deck.
Then / did the same thing with the other |
The last was an old person. |
end she scared that she wouldn't let |
loo Sc of the stanchion Of thu Northheld. She |
would have been drowned in a minute more |
and W. almost had a fight in the water up 10 |
necks before she would let loose. Finally |
she went down with yell. and then grabbed /
her by the hair, and soon had her on board |
the Catasauqua. Altogether we got about twen- |
ty-fve women off the Northfed board the |
Catasauqua. They mostly wet and |
asked to he taken Staten Island. We wanted |
to land them in New York. but they begged so |
lard to be taken Staten Island that our |
captain finally took them there
SAW ONLY TWO PANICKY MEN
Michael J. Kenney. deckhand on the Unity |
said:
I'VE had just tied up at Pier 10. after |
being at the Boston Dry Dock where there was |
an accident to the Ingalls,. Our captain got |
right out and helped TO push the Mortified in |
toward Pier 10. The only panicky 1 |
saw were two who looked like Italians. When |
the deckhands on the Unity were busy taking |
off the women. these Italians crowded forward |
and tried to get ahead OF the others. They |
pretty nearly got their heads knocked off for |
their trouble The deckhands saving the |
women and children, and they wouldn't stand |
for having any men saved first. We have |
lad over hundred women and six children on |
the Unity before the Mortified went down at
the pier We landed them all safely at the pier.
ard they went home"
Policeman Michael Walsh, OF the Old slip
station. and Richard Keely. OF the tug Unity
rescued Anna Shannon. forty-fve years old of |
two years old of Anchor Park. both of whom
jumped overheard from the North1eld Mrs |
Shannon taken to Gouverneur Hospital and |
Kutcher TO his home.
Policeman John NJ. Waters, of the Old Slip |
station. reported by the police there TO
have saved fifteen unknown persons who |
jumped from the ferryboat. Some were taken |
on an unknown boat and some went home.
The tug Jack Hewett, commanded by Captain |
Peter Peterson. of Brooklyn, and owned |
by Captain Briggs. was the first boat TO |
reach the sinking Northield. She was tied |
up at the end Of Pier IA when the captain |
heard the ferryboat whistng for help. At 6:2O |
o'clock she alongside just the water |
coming the deck The frantic passengers |
made every effort to get off Some jumped from |
the upper deck. some climbed. others were pulled |
of the water The little tugs deck was
packed, and she in imminent danger of |
sinking when the larger tug Unity came along
side the Eewett and relieved the pressure
Charles E. Miller. of No. 46 Williams St South
Brooklyn. fireman on the Hewett. told the
story of the tugs work to Tribune reporter
last night.
Northheld, he said. but did not get there
In time to keep a number OF people from going
overheard They rushed on our deck from everv
direction. We only measure seventy-ffve tons
We would If the Unity hadn't come alongside |
Ihen people passed in a stream over our decks |
TO the other tugs
The tug Present. Captain Randall took one
hundred and fifty people off us, and landed them
at Pier IL. Some Brooklyn tug took off |
big crowd and landed them across the river
Some of the Erie tugboats also carried passen
gers on we kept sharp lookout for people
VINO feH overheard, and pulled in every one we
saw. 1 do not believe any one was drowned
CARRIED REsCUER INTO THE WATER
Manuel Fernandez, forty-two years old, of No.