New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-06-16
HORROR IN EAST RIVER
Continued from FIRST page.

boat and waited long she could before
.plunging into the river. Finally the flames and
smoke were swirling about her and she
| leaped over the rail into the water
| twenty feet below. AS she disappeared beneath
the surface she chung tightly to her infant
| charge. and still had the baby in her arms when
she arose again. Beside her. struggling in the
river. was a man in uniform. of the officers
of the steamer He told her to place one arm
| about him. that he would hold her up until help
came. She obeyed. but still chung TO her helpless
| little friend. III about five minutes they were
picked UP by somebody IN a rowboat and taken
| ashore The brave little girl and the baby whose
life she had saved were treated in one OF the
hospital wards on North Brother Island.
Another instance of childish heroism was that
OF Lucy Hencken. ffteen-year- old girl. OF No
162 South Second-st. Brooklyn. She was with
her mother Mrs. Lucy Hencken and her brother
Charles, nineteen years old. When the fire
| started she took her mother to the hurricane
deck believing that 10 be the safest place and
/ leaving her there went in search OF her brother
/ ON her way downstairs she found three babies
lying on the floor at the foot Of the companion
way and iu danger OF being trampled on by the
/ people who were running around on the main
| deck She carried the babies one by one to her
/ mother, in whose charge she placed them while
| she again went In search OF her brother. whom
she saw in the midst Of excited crowd Of
people on the main deck. Before she could reach
him cloud Of smoke, pierced by fame. inter
veued and she was forced 10 retreat to the upper
/ deck When she got there she could not find
her mother or the three babies. and. being IN
able TO stay any longer on the burning boat. she
/ jumped overheard. She was rescued by William
! Major. of the tugboa1 Theo
! LAWNS LIKE A BATTLEFIELD.
The lawns on the north shore of North
/ Brother Island soon looked like battlefield
after. n battle They were nearly covered with
bodies which were taken from the water and
| with persons who had been rescued and were
being prepared for removal to the hospitals.
Health Commissioner Darlington called all
the physicians of the Health Department avail
ahle the island. ana kept them at work there
! the rest of the day. More than three hundred
police were sent to the island to work under
the direction of Inspector Albertson- Coroners
! O'Gorman and Scholer soon began the task of
! examining the bodies removed from the water
AS rapidly possible the persons who we're
( 10 he sent to hospitals were removed in boats.
While the work OF rescue still in prog
ress. the burning General Slocum was raised by
the tide until she foated from the rocks ana
began TO drift in the direction of Riker's Island
( Several Of the boats which were engaged in
rescue work followed her until she sank, off
| Hunts Point. Before she went down the res
cuers could see many charred bodies Of women
and children who had been burned TO death.
Captain Van SchaicK and his pilot jumped
overheard as soon as the General Slocum
grounded Both We're burned severely before
they jumped, but they able 10 get ashore.
Most OF the members OF the crew had jumped
overheard sooner. There report that the
engineer had been burned at his post OF duty.
but It was learned later that he had Jumped
! overheard and had been rescued.
Peter Jensen. who owns naphtha launch
was coming out Of Little He'll Gate to the East
River when the blazing Slocum passed that
point on her way east. Jensen followed with
his launch, and the moment he was able he
ran her up TO the starboard paddle box and
snatched from certain death a little girl and
two little boys. Although burned himself while
making this rescue he ran his boat to the beach,
landed the children. and then, dropping fiat on
his face on top OF the wall, pulled forty
persons out OF the water.
AN UNKNOWN HERO.
man whose identity could not be learned
/ showed himself to be hero. He seen on
| the starboard paddle box OF the General Slocum
surrounded by q group or women and children
! Tug No I. OF the New-York Central Railroad
| Drawing the smoke and flames. up alongside
! the burning steamer. and the man the paddle
box passed the women and children down to the
| crew of the tug. The clothinF OF some Of the
passengers was burning, and the hero's own
| garments fire by the time he had
| handed the last person to safety. He was then
forced to jump into the river and SWAN ashore
SWIFT RECOVERY OF BODIES
Many small boats were manned by the police
| after the General Slocum drifted away from the
shore, and tho task of dragging for bodies was
| begun IN the afternoon the recovery of bodies
was rapid. For two hours at time in the
! afternoon the bodies being recovered at
the rate OF one minute
OF the bodies recovered before thirty
seven were taken to the police station at Alex
ander-ave. and One hundred and thirty eighth
St, about which large crowds gathered Later
the Charities boat carried two loads TO the
Morgue 1T Twenty-sixth-st
When 80 bodies had been carried to the
Morgue and Coroner OGorman told that
no more could be accommodated there. he
turned an old coal shed on North Brother Island
into an impromptu morgue. being aided by Dr.
Darlington.
~