Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-06-17

IDENTIFICATION is, IMPOSSIBLE
BIunderns of Officials at coroner's
Office Renders Recognition Of the
Dead impossible in Many Instances
Three Separate Investigations to
Be Made-Funerals Today.

hours after the burning OF the steamer
General Slocum the exact number Of
victims Is still unknown. In the early
morning hours a few bodies Wee
brought to the morgue. bringing the
total up to 532. Late in the morning
work on the hulk of the Slocum that
they had discovered mass of bodies
wedged in one of the paddle boxes.
How many corpses there are will not
be known until the coroner arrives on
the scene. The number of missing 's
placed at between four and five hum
dred, but the various officials still
adhere to the belief that between 900
and 1000 persons perished. The sad
task of burying the dead began today.
While in many instances joint service
will be held over several bodies the
German Lutheran clergymen have j
herculean task before them in admin
istering the last rites over the dea 1.
The distressing concentration Of the
blow OF the disaster is shown by the
fact that In one apartment house in
Eighth street there are thirty five dead,
while in - Irvington street house
sixteen bod, await burial.
Preliminary steps have been taken
for three distinct Investigations Of the
disaster. These will be undertaken by
the federal authorities thru the de-
partment Of commerce, by the corr
oner's office and by the district at
torney.
Three Investigations.
The coroner's inquest will begin
Monday. Captain Van, Schatck of the
Slocum, and six of his crew, lie in the
hospital, with q policeman at the bed
side of each. They are at present de-
tanned as witnesses.
The authorities are rapidly gathering
such evidence as will be abdul in ascer-
tanning whether or not there was neg
lect or carelessness in the safety appli-
ances of the vessel. First Officer Edw.
Flanagan, of the Slocum, is quoted in
an interview as saying the steamers
fire hose was rotten and useless. and
that it burst in dozen places when his
men tried to use It. The charge is also
made that the life preservnrs on the
vessel were old and rotten and IN most
instances proved inadequate when
used Several papers today print pic
lures Of the preservers taken from the
Slocum. which bear in black letters this
inscription: Passed by the United
States steamship Inspector, June 1s
1891"
William Thernbly. a deck hand, cor
roborates Flanagan's statement re-
garding defective fire hose, and it is re-
ported that evidence has been secured
showing some lifeboats were made fast
by wires, making 1t impossible for them
to be cast loose and lowered. All the
men who have made these statements
will be called as witnesses by the cor
oner.
The police boats and other harbor
craft still maintain their patrol of
waters in the vicinity of the accident.
in the hope sof recovering bodies
Secretary of Commerce Cortelyou
said today he would give his personal
attention to the federal investigation.
He stated emphatically that If it was
found to be true that employees OF the
government had been criminally negli-
gent in their inspection of boilers the
public can rest assured that no one Will
be shielded, but the blame will be placed
where it properly belongs.
inexousabIe Blundering.
1t developed today that new horror
had been added to the terrible condi-
tions resulting from the disaster thru
the over -officiousness of some person at
the morgue AS a result. some of the
bodies of the dead probably never will
be identified When the bodies were
taken by hundreds from the water and
laid in rows on the grass at North
Brother Island each was tagged with
number That number was carefully
recorded, and papers. valuables and
trinkets which would have served pos
itively to identify the bodies were re-
moved and placed in separate packages,
each package bearing a number corre-
spending to the number on the body
from which the articles were taken
When the bodies were taken to the
morgue they were placed in numbered
boxes. but in many cases these numbers
did not correspond with the figures
which the bodies previously had borne.
AS a result the plans were completely
unset and the numbered packages and
yaluables became practically worthless
as a means Of Identification Of the un-
fortunate owners.
CtINNERS MAKE HIGH SCORES.