Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-06-17
PACKED IN PADDLE WHEELS
WreCkerS Discover More of the Mutila- ted Bodies -Blunder at COrOner'S Off, flee Causes More HOrrOr--Num- bers on Victims Mixed Up--
 Stern Investigation is
 to be Conducted.

New York, June 17--Forty eight
 hours after the burning of the steamer
 General Slocum, the exact number of
 victims is still unknown. Tn the early / morning hours a few bodies were
 brought to the morgue, bringing the
 total up to 532. AS the morning wore
 on with no more arrivals hope began ] Co be felt that the awful total had been
 completed, but 1t was soon shattered
 by report that divers at work on the
 hulk of the Slocum had discovered a
 mass of bodies wedged in one of the
 paddle boxes. How many corpses
 there will prove to be in this place will
 not be known for some hours, as they
 will not be disturbed until the coroner
 is on the scene.
 One hopeful phase of the situation
 is the steady decrease in the number
 of missing, though 1t is still appallingly
 large. The various officials whose posi-
 ton brings them into touch with l4e
 disaster still adhere to the belief Inat
 when all Is told it will be found that
 between 900 and 1000 persons per
 ished. The task of burying the dead
 btAlu lO-udJ. HI kuG IOTSuOOn A
 meeting of the German Lutheran min
 isters of the city was held and a pro-
 gram of services arranged. While i'll
 many instances a joint service will be
 held over several bodies, nevertheless
 the clergymen of this denomination
 have herculean task before tnem in
 administering the last rites over the
 dead of their faith. x
 The distressing concentration of tue
 blow of the disaster is shown by the fact that in one apartment house in
 Eighth street there are thirty-five dead;
 while in Rivington street house six teen bodies await burial.
 Preliminary steps have been taken
 for three distinct investigations of the
 disaster. These are being undertaken
 by the federal authorities through the department of commerce, by the cor oner's office, and by the district attor- ney. The coroner's inquest will begin
 on Monday next. Captain Van Schaick and six Of his crew lie in hospital with a policeman at the bedside of each. They are detained as witnesses. The authorities are rapidly gathering such evidence as will aid in nscertain- ing whether there was neglect or care lessness in the safety appliances of the vessel.
 First Officer Edward Flanigan of the Slocum is quoted in an interview as saying that the steamers fire hose was rotten and, useless and that 1t burst in a dozen places when he and his men tried to use it. The charge is also made that the life preservers on the vessel were old and rotten and in most in- stances proved inadequate when used. Several papers to-day print pictures of preservers taken from the Slocum
 which bear in black letters this inserip- tion. Passed by U. s. steamboat in- spector June IS, 1S91." William Thembley, a deck hand, corroborates Flanigan's statements regarding the de- fective fire hose and 1t Is reported that evidence has been secured showing s that some of the lifeboats were made fast by wires, making 1t impossible LOT them to be cast loose and used. All the men who have made these statements will be called as witnesses by the cor oner. The police boats and other har- ! bor craft still maintain their patrol of the waters of the East river in the vi- cinity of the accident in the hope of IT. < covering bodies.
 It developed to-day that new hor- TOT had been added to the terrible conditions resulting from the Slocum
 disaster through the o7er-off1ciousness of some person at tho rnorgue. As a 4 result some of the bodies prob ably never will be identified. When \ the bodies were taken from the water each was tagged with a number. That number was recorded and the papers. I vaiuabIes and trinkets which would l kzve served to identify the bodies were removed and placed in separate packages bearing a number core
 spending to that on the body. These 4 packages then were placed in the cus- q tody of the coroner.
 When the bodies were taken to the
 morgue they were placed in numbered H boxes, but in many cases these num- 4 bers did not correspond with the fig ures the bodies had previously had I borne. As n result, the plans were
 completely upset, and the numbered l packages of valuables became prac- ! tfcally worthless as a means of identi- flcation.
 One case which came to the atten- a tion of the officials to-day was that of 4. T. Hill of Williamsburg. Mir Hill
 called at the morgue yesterday and I identified the bodies of his brother-in- law, William Richter, and the wife of the latter. Tn the afternoon the z bodies of Catherine and Lillian Rich- ter. and 4 years old respectively, also
 were identified by him. When he call
 cd at the morgue today with an under
 faker the bodies could not be found. The bodies were numbered 173 and 175 respectively and the authorities at
 the morgue have no record of any such bodies having been given to anyone, though they had record of the iden- I fifcation made by Mir Fill on yester- day. It fn thought that a0fnA uy1daF.