The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-06-18
Four Hundred and Ninety
NiLe Bodies Through
the Morgue.
MANY OF THEM KNOWN
All Day Long the Melancholy Search
for the Dead Went on and at Dusk
There Had Been Recovered Five
Hundred and Seventeen Bod
les Of Victims of the Gen.
eraI SIocum Disaster.
(By the Associated Press.)

StVthu SsSASASts
(By the Associated Press.)
New, York, June 16.-With unceas-
bodies of those who persisted yes
terday on the General Slocum. What
the list of victims will total scarce
one dare venture a guess, but what
ever the number may be, there is
hardly a parallel in the history of
disasters where death came to so
many in so brief a period of time.
Police and health department officials
have placed the number at figure as
high as one thousand and more, but
tonight it would seem that the maxi
mum fatality will not largely exceed
seven hundred.
MI day long, from sunrise until
darkness shut off even the melancholy
satisfaction of watching for the dead
anxious searchers kept uo their eter-
nal vigilance, and at dusk there had
been recovered $40 bodies, for the
great part women and children
mothers who, weeks ago had planned
that fatal outing for their children,
little ones who had longed for the
coming of the happy day.
Up to dusk 499 bodies had passed
through the morgue and of these
more than three hundred were iden-
tilted. The East Side has its human
sympathies aroused to the fullest ex-
tent, and down by the river. where
the boats unloaded their dead. thous-
ands gathered throughout the day.
Streets leading to the morgue were
blocked, and only with difficulty could
the police keep clear the passages
leading to the long rows of collins for
those who came to search for the
missing.
Graphing for Bodies.
Up the sound where the hulk of the
General SIocum lies submerged, show
ing only paddle box. scores of small
craft aided the tugs in graphing for
the victims. Divers went down time
and again, and when their work end
ed for the day, they declared there
were no more bodies in the wreck. A
score of times a diver reappeared
after his plunge with the body of
woman or a child. Two of them
coming to the surface together on one
occasion had in their arms two little
S-sisters-clasped in each other S
embrace and their mother. II was
thought whose dead hand lightly
clenched the skirt of one of them.
AS far as il was within their pow
er, the divers searched the wreck
from stem to stern, but there were
masses of broken timbers through
which it was almost impossible to ex-
plore, and it may be that some will
find a grave under these sunken tim
bers until the hulk is raised or the
waters of the sound wash away the
last trace of the wreckage
At this point, the water is deep and
the currents are swift. and beyond a
doubt many may have been borne
along with the tides to be given up
on later day at some distant poinl.
There are a number of places where
the living may have landed. and it is
believed that many that are now re-
ported missing are safe and eventu-
ally will be heard from by the officials
who have the rescue work In mana.
Indeed tonight a surprising NUMBER
of persons reported to these ofhclalS
that they had been saved, thus cut
ting the list of missing down consld-
erably as we'll as the probable mortal
ity list. Many persons were injured
in the panic that followed the preak-
ing ont of flames on the General Slo-
cum. and at least 200 persons were
taken to the hospitals. MOI ueatn
has occurred IS far among these ana
MANY of them have already been dls-
charged.
Back From the Deau.
Perhaps the most remarkable case
i'm many appalling experiences OF tnose
who were on the Slocum was that OF
Miss Clara Hartman, who was picked
mn for dead. towed behind a boat Tor
several miles, wrapped in tarpaulin
and tagged as dead, and then recover
ed consciousness at the Alexander Ave-
me notice station. 1t is now beneVed
she will recover.
Although many of the bodies taken
to the morgue were very paGiy mull-
lated and the clothing in many eases
almost, entirely burned off, valuabies
have been taken from them, and are
in the keeping of the city officials, to
the extent of $4,000 or more. Sew
eral of the men and women had the
savings of a life time on them when
they persisted. Much jewelry, 1T is re-
ported to the police. has been lost, but
an explanation may be Iouno IN the
fact that it was destroyed IN the nfe
rather than stolen by ghouls.
Mayor Mcclellan today after recelV-
ing messages of coincidence from
MANY sources. visited North Brother
Island and later visited the morgue.
He issued a proclamation to the cltl-
zens of New York, and appointed re-
lief committee of prominent men, ana
relief will be sadly needed in that lit
file East Side territory, which the vast
majority of those that perished were
accustomed to call their home. The
coroners Investigation to fix the re-
sponsibility of the disaster will begin
on Monday next. The Federal author
tiles as we'll as the district attorney,
also will hold an investigation, and
the society for the prevention of cruel
tv to children, through its counsel, has
signified it's intention to push the in
quiry to the utmost.
A Jam About the MOrgue.
The crowd around the morgue and