Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-06-24

iii.
Many were drowned through hoping
to save the money on their rerson'
One woman had $4,000 in notes
checks and cash on her body. The
purser went down, weighted by 4
thousand dollars IN silver.
Lying side by side were two women
who died clssping their infant babies
III their arms. A pathetic figure
among the searchers and watchers
was slxteen-year-old Fred Hartunp.
the sole survivor of a family of six
who went on the i'll fated excursion.
His mother and four sisters have not
been heard from since the Slocum
went down. The boy saved himself
by jumping to a tug.
Jacob Michsei identified the BODY
of his daughter Carrie, twelve years
old, late in the afternoon. He was
slowly walking along the lines of
collins when he suddenly halted, and
with a moan, fell to his knees in
several inches of water, and reaching
into a coffin, raised the head of \
child, aud began to kiss the cold lips
fervently. Earlier in the day the
man had been to the morgue and
identified the charred body of his
married daughter and that of his
year-old grandson. The bodies of
his daughter and grandson had been
burned almost beyond recognition,
but Michsel did not seem to be as
much affected by that awful sight as
he was when he saw little Carries
body in the coffin. lie had to be
dragged from the cofliu by the
police, and was forced to leave th
pier.
A baby carriage was found near
the wreck, its wheels twisted by the
heat, but, strange to relate, most of
the upper part was intact. On it was
found little red shoe that had
belonged to a very small baby. It
was slightly blackened, but other.
wise was in good condition.
A diver who had been at the wreck
staggered as he walked toward the |
hospital office. There he wept hyster-
ically, aud it was some time before
he could be calmed. He had been
in the hold of the vessel and had |
helped get out 10 bodies from the
wreck.
At one time three charred bodies
were taken from the wreck, two being |
those of children who were found |
clasped in each others arms. The |
third was but a remnant of human
flesh aud bone. Two little boys
bodies found were locked tightly in
each others arms, looking as if they
were asleep.
A white-haired old man made the
journey from end to end of the pier,
then went to a policeman, as though |
talking to himself: Il have found |
my boy; have found my hoy" lie
told the policeman that his seven
children had all gone on the excur-
sion and that this one dead boy was
the only one he had found.
Even more pitiful was the case of
Adolph Timms, \ little, red haired
German. His wife and three children
were on the steamboat and for long
time he was unable to find the bodies
of any of them. He walked up and
down the rows of collins, back and
forth, for over an hour, then suddenly
he dropped to his knees at the foot
of box which contained the body
of small boy. "There you are, my
son." he said; "I've got you, but
where are your brothers aud your
mother?" Then he got to his feet
again and resumed his walk, followed
now by policeman, for it was feared
that he would try to kill himself by
jumping into the water by one
of the sliding doors in the side Of the
pier. He turned to the policeman and
smiled. "This is dream" he said,
confidently.
Captain Henry, of the tug Golden
Rod, who took nearly 200 people
from the burning Slocum, told
pathetic story of a young girl who
met death after being rescued from
the doomed vessel. She begged pit
eously to be taken off and the tug
put back for her, and one of the
hands took her aboard and placed
her on the cabin roof. Just as
the tug was about to pull
away there was shrek, and man
leaped from the hurricane deck of
the Slocum and landed directly on
the head Of the child. She sank tc
the floor and when picked up was
dead, her skull being fractured.
After having been given up for
dead, Charles Debit, ten months and
two weeks old, washed ashore among
heaps of bodies, and lying on top of
one, was picked up for dead, but
found to be alive and taken to a hos
pital. Friends of the family saw
they saw the infant being carried
along between two boats, whose oc.
aupants were too busy resculng the
people who were begging and plead
ing to be saved to pick up babies.
The next known of his adventures
was when big policeman lifted him
out of a heap of dead washed ashore,
thinking he was dead baby, and
felt him wriggle protestingly in the
most lifelike manner possible. For
two days the baby crept about the
ward, kicking and cooling and really
winding himself about the hearts Of
the nurses by his baby wlles, while
his distracted father searched morgue
and hospital in vain.
Large sums have been donated TO
help the afflicted, the first to come
being $1,000 from Sir Thomas
Upton.
SOME CRUEL PEATURES.
Every person going to the morgue
was literally forced to hear about
rates of burial and cost of collins. as
the undertakers approached the rela-