Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-06-16
HELL GATE HORROR CROWS.

accompaniment of, all great calRmfties.
 There has been no evidence of a character specific enough to fastea it upon individuals and permit of pun ishment, but survivors and eye wit nesses say that some brutal acts of selfShness and cowardice on the part of the SlOcum's crew were seen and that distress signals from the burning boat were disregarded by passing craft. One man ayers that a big white yacht passed the Slocum when the bodies of women and children were going overheard and did not even slacken speed. According to this man the yacht few the pennant of the New York Yacht club, burt she also flew the absent pennant, indicating that the owner was not on board. Af- ter passing the Slocum the yacht steer- ed over to the western shore and hove to, while on her bridge man in uni form with binoculars to his eyes watched the vessel burn
 Even more horrible than this and similar acts of incredible caIloasness is the story of Miss Martha Weirk. who says that while she struggled in the water boat drew alongside of her and the men in it after stripping her of .her rings and other jewelry pushed her back into the water. The body of the steward had been rified when found and of several hundred dollars he was supposed to have in his pockets not a cent was found.
 There is open criticism of the failure of the Slocum's officers and crew to meet the emergency, but as yet no formal action has been taken by either the municipal or federal authorities Captain Van Schaick and the two pi- lots are under arrest, but are held only as witnesses.
 That there was terrible failure to meet the responsibilities is undoubted No effort as far as can be learned was made to launch the life rafts or boats and no concerted attempt made tow ard equipping the helpless women and children with life preservers. But few of those rescued and few of the bod les recovered from the river had on life preservers and according to sew eral statements most of these SUD- posed instruments Of safety were prac- hcally worthless. either coming apart when attempt was made to use them or not possessing the buoyancy they are supposed to have
 There is very general criticism of the captain and pilots for their fail- ure to turn the vessel ashore the mo- mant they were informed that the fire had gained headway. Captain Van Bcha3ck has made several statements. varying in detail but none of them is considered as satisfactory.
 Pilot Van Wart. however, to-day said that he could not dock the vessel because all of her hawsers had been burned. He also claimed that 1t would have been impossible to beach the steamer sooner than he did be- cause of the presence of rocks all along the shore
 The preliminary investigation into the cause of the disaster, which was begun by Coroner Berry last night, was continued to-day. Every person known to have witnessed the tragedy or thought to have any knowledge that would be of value in fixing the cause or responsibility had been summoned to appear and tell their stories. Many members of the crew. all of whom, the coroner believes. could give much important testimony. have disap- peared, but subpoenas have been is- sued and detectives were making a thorough search of the city for theI missing ones.
 The coroner stated to-day before the examination of witnesses was begun, that nothing final was expected from this preliminary investigation. It was merely for the purpose of weeding out the material from the immaterial tes timony and reducing the matter to a firmer working basis. Separate inves- tigations also are being made under the direction of the fire marshal and the district attorneys office respective ly Both, however. were in the pre- liminary stage to-day and 1t was thought that some time would elapse before anything definite was devel- oped.