The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1904-06-23
A PLEASURE BOAT BURNED
Over Seven Hundred Lives Lost By Disaster to
Excursion Steamer Near New York

owners of the Slocum, the number Of
passengers was S73, that being one
third of the vessels licenseI capacity.
The Slocum had reached point
uear the Sunken Meadows, off 135th
street, Manhattan which is at the ex-
treme eastern end of Randalls Island,
when fire broke out in a lunch room on
the forward deck. The blaze was
caused by the overturning of pot Of
grease. The headway of the vessel and
a high wind almost instantly famed
the insignificant flame into fury. Ef-
forts were at once directed to subdu-
ing the fire, but they were futile. The
blaze spread aft with almost lightning
rapidity. Captain Van Schaik, in the
pilot house, had been informed Of the
outbreak of the fire, and realizing the
danger, decided to send his vessel to
shore at 134th street. At this point
there are a number Of yards and sew
eral huge oil tanks, and the captain
was warned that to attempt to land at
this point would endanger the property
and perhaps further imperil the scores
of people, who had already been fright
ened into state of almost uncontrola-
BILE excitement.
Changing the big steamers courcs
slightly, he headed for North Brother
Island, half a mile away. BY this time
the flames were rushing by leaps and
bounds from the forward part Of the
ship aft.
The women and children began to
jump from the vessel into the seething
water below, and scores were drowned.
The upper deck fell in, crushing hun
dreds in its fall, and hundreds more
were suffocated by the heat The scene
was neart-rending in the extreme. The
blame has not been fully located.
The Number OF the Dead.
New York, Special-At midnight the
at the morgue made the Of
llcial announcement that $50 bodies had
been recovered. OF these SIT had been
identified and so of those remaining
were charred beyond recognition. Later
in the day Friday four bodies were re-
covered at North Brother Island by
rcscuers at work in boats and taken
ashore. They were removed to the
morgue and are included in the total.
The morgue officials only Friday
night discovered they had failed to ac-
count for the bodies Of twenty-six men,
women and children that had been
identified at the Alexander avenue sta
ton on Wednesday within two or three
hours after the accident and turned
over to friends or relatives. These
brought the list up to $50 recovered
dead.
Friday evening the body of girl OF
eight years which was declared by
reighbors to be that of the little daugh-
ter of Henry Heinz, of Front street,
vas washed up against the side Of a
per at the foot of Clinton street in the
East river, hardly block away from
the girls home. The tide by a strange
vagary had carried the little body from
the scene of the calamity of North
Brother Island down through the mar
row channels of the river to this point
so near her home. The girls mother,
Mrs. Annie Heinz, is among the dead.
There has been great difficulty in the
matter OF recovering and identifying
the dead
There are a number of places where
the living may have landed, and it is
believed that many now reported miss
ing are safe and eventually will be
heard from by the officials who have
the rescue work in hand. Indeed, to-
night surprising number Of persons
to these officials that they had