Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1904-06-24

NtAi ulohltuA eAt hhN lNhiNa AAs
not even waiting 10 slip OF her skirt. /
and was swimming out in the full run
OF the current where the bodies were |
drifting thickest. She brought In i've
children in all. two OF whom were
brought back TO life.
Here are some stories told by sur
vivors of the disaster:
Michael Brannigan. a walter on the
General Slocum, swan TO shore with
two children. so young they were I'M
able to identify themselves. The man
performed this act of heroism despite
the fact that he had suffered frightful
burns about the face and hands, says
the New York American.
In trying TO speak Brannigan had TO
clutch at his throat in order TO secure
control of his voice.
"My own two little children were
burned to DEATH" he said. Il tried 10
get TO them. They were upstairs.
fought and fought, trying TO get up
that stairway TO them. | got trampled
on, and guess | trampled on others.
| could not reach them. When turned
back | saw the two little children
somebody elses children. They were
pretty little things. Just as | caught
sight of them man, yelling and way
ing his arms, struck one of the little
girls and knocked her down. | ran
to them then and took them In my
arms and jumped.
"As long as / couldn't save my own,
l made up my mind to try to save
others. It's hard, though, that my own
little ones died"
At this the agony of Brannigan's
burns and mental suffering became so
intense the physicians had to give him
an injection of morphine.
William r. Trimbley, deck hand on
the General Slocum, told story that
was substantially as follows, says the
New York Times
I'VE left the Third street pier on
schedule time-I think 1t was 9:30
o'clock. We We're going soon after we
started at the rate of about twelve
miles an hour. l do not, know the ex-
act place where the fire was first dis
covered, but they tell me that 1t was
opposite the Sunken meadows.
There had been smoke noticed on
board for considerable time before
the alarm of fire was given. l was
below deck when the first assistant en-.
| gineer came to me and told me that
there was a fire on the forward side
of the ship. My first impulse was to
go for the life preservers, and l pulled
about four of them down. l put one
of them around me, grabbed two chill
dren and jumped into the water.
There is a place under the paddle
wheel-a sort of shetland | made
for that with my burden. There were
others trying to get there as l wa:
struggling in the water. My life pre-
server was pulled from me, and severa
who were struggling near me grabbed
my arms and sunk their teeth int
them.
81 noticed that child was dangling
about my head. 1t was being lowered
into the water by string that, in tn
glance l got as | looked at it, seemed
like the strips of a skirt, torn ant
tied together About that time I nc
ticed some kind of float near me
and l got my two children safely o
that. l then swan back for the chill
dangling at the string, pulled 1t of
and also got it safely on the float o
which I had put the two others.
81 should have told you that befor
began to pull down the life pre-
servers l extinguished the dress of
woman, who was burning, with m
cap. Oh, yes, there were lots aroun
me that were burning" He shut hi
: eyes for a moment and stopped.
can't describe tit was hell, that's a
, | hell.
nj myself struggled for awhile lol
, ger in the water trying to land 0
t some floating thing. Then l lost col
, seriousness. When l awoke l was
the cabin Of a tugboat."
Dragged from the water by the ere
of a tugboat only to be stripped of HI
q Jewels and cast again among the deS
g and struggling victims of the Gener
q Slocum Is the remarkable story of Mi
' Martha Wieri Of New York. After h
e first experience she was rescued by
q deck hand of second tug and taken
4 her home, says the New York Anne
|. lean.
e She said: 81 was swept from the sc
q ond deck of the boat when the re
n gave way, and in falling my he's
i struck timber, and was dazed for
X few moments. l cannot swim, b
somehow kept my head above waite
4 Il grabbed rope and was pull,
a aboard tug. A man who looked Iii
: cook tore the rings from my burn'
fingers He also took medal and
q diamond studded gold heart fro
e around my neck. l saw another m;
take a pocketbook from a woman wi
q lay unconscious on the deck.
n "The man who had taken my jewel
n came back and, giving me kick, sal
:. You're too far gone to be any goo
/. pleaded with him to let me lie whe
s was, but he showed me off the de-
o into the water. l grasped piece
n driftwood and kept above the wat
n until a rope was thrown to me fro
another tug and was saved"
A ERAGRAMT DANISH