The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-03-19
LOSS.
Big Fire on the Phoenix Line
Pier at HObOken.
At Least One Person Killed and
Others Injured.
JUMPED INTO WATER.
Twenty or Thirty Sought Safety
in This Way.
Some Picked Up but Number
Some Picked Up but a Number
Believed to Have Drowned.

New York, March 19-No estimate
could be made today of the loss of life
in the fire that started last night in the
Phoenix line pier in Hoboken, and 1T
was thought the number of dead never
would be known. Patrick HuSsey,
longshoreman, who wasN burned while
trying to escape from the pier, died to-
day from the effects of his injuries.
Chief Engineer Scott of the steamer
British Queen is believed to have lost
his life on~that vessel. Third Engineer
Vericl1s of the same vessel says that
Scott, who was suffering from rheuma-
tism, went to his cabin to lie down a
short time before the fire started. YER
lex was in the engine room. when the
alarm of fire was given. He tried to
reach the engineers quarters to
awaken Scott, but was headed off by
the flames and had to leave the chief
engineer to his fate DR.. Heller, the
the men of the British Queen with the
exception of Scott have been accounted
for.
Besides Hussey four longshoremen
were taken to st. Mary's hospital and
are now under treatment there. All
were more or less burned Some of the
longshoremen who saved themselves b.
swimming ashore say they saw 20 or 80
men leap into the river
The estimated losses in detail are:
Piers, 100000; British Queen, $400, ,000;-
cotton and lighters, $25O0OO Seven
lighters are more or less damaged.
The scene of the fire was Seventh and
River streets, Hoboken- Together there
are the docks and basins of the Phoenix
line, the Holland-American line and the
Barber line. The Phoenix line pier was
a wooden structure 400 feet long, cover
ed with a frame shed. On this We're
many bales of hay and cotton, which
burned with the utmost rapidity. How
the fire started is not known. With
but the barest warning the flames burst
out quickly licking up the pier and the
cotton upon it.
The fire f1ared up from the steamer
with as great suddenness as from the
pier and since the vessel was made
fast to the pier and could not be backed
out, lighters and other water craft
which lay alongside of her, some of
them holding such inf1ammable stuff as
oil cake, quickly caught fire, too.
The stiff wind which has blown all
day gave impetus to the fire, whose
glare redeemed the North river for a
long distance. Cattle pens upon the
British Queen were for the most part
consumed, but presently her hull was
af1ame.
From the Phoenix line pier the flames
spread to the Sarber line and then to
the steamer Heath Burn, newly arrived
from Hong Kong, China, with cargo,
of tea.
Among the crew of the steamer Heath
Burn were 80 Cinnamon. When the
flames began to run over the vessel they
all scampered to the pier for safety and
began to make their way to the streets
of Hoboken. There was a large force
of customs officers on hand guarding
property. AS soon as these officials saw
the frightened Cinnamon they became
alarmed that the aliens would make an
illegal entry into the country, so with
drawn pistols they ordered the Chinese
to halt. The command was needed and
then surrounded by guards the foreign
ers were marched to a pier some dis
tance away and there locked up under
surveillance for the night.
Although some of those who jumped
into the water were picked up by tugs
it is feared that number sank before
they could be reached by the rescuers.
Many of the longshoremen are single
men and have no relatives who could
ing missing or having periShed in the
fire. The police say that no one except
Engineer Scott had been reported to
them as being missing. The British
Queen has been beached off Cummuni-
paw in the upper bay, and search will
be made as soon as possible for the
body of the missing engineer. Hussey,
the longshoreman who died today, was
40 years old. He leaves a large family.
Superintendent Mason of the Phoenix
line said that it would be impossible to
definitely state the loss by the fire in
less than two weeks. He was asked il
he thought 81, $50 000 would cover the loss
and he replied that he did not think it
would. The British Queen was worth
of valuable merchandise on that vessel
on the pier and on lighters that were
destroyed. This included cotton, hides
oils, grains and quantity of harvest
machinery. There was a rumor today
that the fire was of incendiary origin,
but Mr.. Mason said he was positive
there was no truth in it. He said he
thought the blaze started in a quantity
of Belgian wicker baskets on the Phoe-
nix pier and this was confirmed by
Charles Christensen who was at work
on the lighter -Castleson which was ly-
ing forward opposite the dock.
Christensen said the flames seemed
to burst forth from a pile of wicker
baskets that had been unlOaded from
the British Queen on Monday. He said
the fire spread in an incredibly short
time over the outer end of the pier. The
British Queen was soon ablaze and the
men on board had to leap into the wa
ter to save their lives. The lines by
which the vessel was mOored to the
pier were burned away and it was then
some of the docks lower down the river
and set them afire. In spite of the in
tense heat given out by the burning
steamer a tug run in under her stern
and made line fast to her rudder.
Lines were then passed from several
other tugs to the first one and in that
way the big steamship was hauled out
into the stream The ruins of the pier
were still smouldering today.
Those seriously hurt in the fire are
burning pier and struck his head
against a beam, and Peter Carroll, who
was badly burned.
The Cinnamon who fled from the
steamship Heathburn when that vessel
was endangered by flames and who
were captured by u. s. customs officers
were returned to their ship today. The
Cinnamon were arrested in'order to pre-