The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-06-17
cHARRED BODIES STICK
TO A BIG HATcHWAY

CHARRED BODIES STICK
TO A BIG HATcHWAY.
What looked like a big hatclAvay on
which we're five or six charred bodies,
was found boating in the cove at
Hunts Point and towned carefully
alongside the Fidelity. The wood was
badly charred and the bodies seemed
to stick to it. The policemen and the
crew of the Fidelity we're unable to
release the bodies without further
mutilating them, SO the hatchway
with the bodies on it was hoisted to
the deck of the Fidelity.
Several tugs and a swarm OF row
boats manned by willing hands, ap-
preached as near the blazing vessel
as was possible and rescued scores of
people from a terrible death. The fire
had possession of the boat from stsla
to stern by the time she vas off One
Hundred and Thirty-eighth street.
The freboat Zophar Mills was srrl-
moned from it's moorings at East
Ninety-ninth street and was soon on
the scene, it's crew lending valuable
aid in saving life.
Few of those saved by small boats
had life preservers.
At night a surging crowd was helj
back by police lines formed about the
city morgue at the foot Of East Twen-
ty-sixth street. The crowd began to
gather as soon AS it became rumored
about the city that the dead would be
brought to Manhattan from North
Brother Island and other places where
at first the dead had been taken.
When the Massassoit came to dock
with S5 dead, the wofk of removing
the bodies from the steamer proceed
ed slowly until no more room was
found inside the morgue and the au-
topsy room was cleared and the black
ened and distorted bodies were placed
on the floor there.
When finally the morgue authorities
allowed the crowd to enter the morgue,
a scene ensued which was narrowing
in the extreme. In some cases first
identifications were found to have
bodies they afterwards discovered
were not those of their relatives.
CLASH BETWEEN CROWD
AND POLICE ON A PIER.
At the entrance to the charities pier
at East Twenty-eighth street, the
crowd tried to push past the police
and a riot resulted. At the height OF
the trouble a ma who had learned
that his wife was among the charred
dead tried to stab himself.
Inside the pier the bodies are
ranged in three rows, the entire length
of the pier, about $50 feet.
st. Marks Lutheran church con-
tanned in it's membership nearly all
those Germans of the protestant faith
within a radius of ten blocks. The ex-
cursion was the event of the year for
scores of well-to-do German families
and had been looked forward to for
many months. Family parties OF ten
or more had been made up, including
In many cases the old grandfather, the
mother and children of all ages with
a sprinkling of men
A bureau of information was opened
in the church shortly after the catas-
trophe and there has been a constant
stream of agonized men, women and
children climbing the steps to ask for
news of their relatives or friends. AS
soon Is news is received as to SUI
vivors or victims, it is posted outside
and the information soon spread
throughout the neighborhood.
The wife and daughter of DR.. Haas,
pastor Of the church, are among the
identified dead. DR.. Haas is among
the rescued.
Captain Van Schaick, his two pilots,
Edward Van Wart and E. NJ. Weaver,
and the members of the crew of the
burned steamer are under arrest, and
an investigation will follow.
All of them had been overheard and
were suffering from exposure, and in
some cases. from burns.
Coroner Berry had them all sent to
lebanon hospital with the exception
of Pilot Van Wart, who is paroled.
STATEMENT OF THE CORONER.
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