The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-06-21
The Stars and Stripes
Her Cerements.
DIVERS CHASTITY FIND
More Victims OF the SIocum Disaster
Brought Out of the Nav of He'll
Gate. Many Funerals. Wild
Scene at the
M0rgue.
(By the Associated Press.)

(By the Associated Press.)
New York, June 1S.-Unceasing
search over three days and nights has
resulted tonight in the recovery of 5Sl
bodies of victims of the awful disaster
that befell the great excursion steam
er General Slocum. Five hundred and
forty-one have been identified. AL
though this appalling number does
not represent the full extent of the ca
lamity. hopes are expressed that COM
paratively few bodies remain to be
recovered There is a possibility that
when the charred hulk is brought to
the surface a considerable number of
corpses may be found within the
tangled mass of wreckage which has
defied all the divers attempts at COM
plete exploration. Doubtless, too, many
bodies have been swept away by the
currents of He'll Gate and carried out
into the broad waters of Long Island
Sound or out past Sandy Hook to the
open sea. The number still officially
recorded tonight as missing is 525, but
many of these have been accounted
for, whose names have not been taken
from the list, and others are among
the dead whose identification is i'm
possible.
Over a Hundred Funerals
The region in the vicinity of st.
Marks German Lutheran church in
East Sixth street was today the scene
of ia funerals, representing the bur-
ial of nearly 200 bodies, almost all
those of women and children. Enor-
nous crowds thronged the streets of
the quarter and a larger force of po-
lice was necessary to prevent d1Sor-
der and keep clear a passage for the
long lines of hearses and carriages.
Funeral services were held in no less
than thirty-seven churches of various
denominations in this section.
Sixteen more bodies, recovered dur
ing the day, were brought from the
scene of the wreck to the temporary
morgue at the foot of East 9th street
this afternoon. So great was the clam
or for admission to the pier that all
control of crowd was lost and on the
entrance to the pier being thrown open
rush took place, during which
many persons were knocked down
and trampled on.
TWenty-nine Of the unidentified
dead were buried today by the city,
in the Lutheran Cemetery, leaving
but eight bodies still awaiting identi-
fication in the morgue. The executive
of the mayors relief committee met
this afternoon at St Marks church
and made arrangements for the relief
privately to all the needy sufferers
by the disaster.
Mayor Mcclellan today authorized
Commissioner McAdoo to contract
with a wrecking company to raise the
hull of the Slocum. powerful tug
was dispatched to North Brother
Island tonight, with orders to raise
the wreck as soon as possible and tow
it to shallow water off Wicker's Island
where it will be searched for any
bodies that may yet remain in it.
Inquiry Begins Monday.
The investigation will begin Mon
day and about 200 witnesses will be
examined in the effort to fix the re-
sponsi5ility for the disaster.
A diver who today renewed the
search for victims of the SlOcum
disaster, found a dcsp hole in the
bed of the river filled with bodies.
Within an hour after the search was
begun eight bodies had been brought
to the surface and when he was fore
ed to abandon work for a time be-
cause of the swift current. he stated
that between 80 and so bodies still
remained in the hole.
The diver was searching along the
river bottom and had reached point
near the foot of the sloping lawn on
North Brother Island where the bod
les of first victims of the tragedy were
laid last Wednesday, when he found
several bodies lying together and at
first the diver supposed there were no
more than half a dozen in the pile, but
upon recovering several he found a
great hole in the river bed literally
packed with dead. He says that no
less than thirty bodies will be found
when the tide again turns and permits
a resumption of work. This number
he says, may be greatly exceeded
One of the bodies taken from the wa
ter today was that of a woman,
wrapped or entangled in large Amer
lean flag.
Negligence of Officials.
General Daniel e. Sickles, Il member
of the Board of Aldermen today sent
communication to President Roose-
Welt. in which he says:
s'There is an impression here that
the Federal officials charged with the
duty of inspecting steamboats, have
been negligent and inefficient, and that
they are gravely at fault in not hav-
ing done what they might have done
to avoid what has happened.
s.Pray see that these steamboat in
spectors shall be competent and trust
worthy, and if further legislation is
necessary to provide safeguards, ask
us to provide them"
The relief funds will have a large
addition from the city treasury, a res
olution for the issuance for $4,000 in
bonds for the succor of the dis
tressed victims of the accident having
been introduced today, action being
deferred because of the absence of re-
uuired number of aldermen to pass
such resolution.