The daily silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1903-1907, 1904-06-18
A HALF THOUSAND
STILL MISSING
Latest Details Concerning the
Most Appalling Disaster
in History

New York, June 17.-Forty- eight
hours after the burning of the steam
er General Slocum the exact number
of victims is still unknown. Up TO
the present time the total number of
bodies recovered is 532. With no more
arrivals at the morgue for several
hoursf hope began to he felt that the
it was soon shattered by a report tha;
divers 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 it is still appalling
/ ly large. the number being somewhere
/ between 4uU anu 0uV. lie NdIiouS oHi-
/ cials whose position brings them into
touch with the disaster still adhere to
4 the belief that when all is told it will
! be found that between 900 and 1000
persons perished.
The sad task of burying the dead
began today. A meeting of the Ger
man Lutheran ministers or the city
was held and a program of services
arranged. While in many instances a
joint service will be held over several
bodies. nevertheless the clergymen of
task before them in administering the
lat rites over the dead of their .aith.
The distressing concentration of the
blow of the disaster is shown by the
fact that in one compartment house
III Eight street there are thirry-five
dead. while in a Rivington street house
sixteen 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
orner's office and by the district attor-
ney. The coroner's inquest will begin
on Monday next and Captain Van
Schaick of the Slocum and six of the
crew lie in a hospital with a policeman
al the bedside of eacn. They are at
present detained as witnesses.
The authorities are, rapidly gather
ing such evidence as will be needed
in aseertah,ing whether or not there
was neglect or carelessness in the safe
/ ty appliances of the vessel First Or
/ ficer Edward Flanagan, of the Slocum
/ is quoted in an interview as saying
/ that the steamers fire hose was rotten
and useless and that it burst in a
dozen places when he and his men
4
tried 10 use it.
The charge is also made that the
I life preserves on the vessel were old
! and rotten and i'm most instances
4 proved Inadequate when used. Sever al
papers today print pictu. es of preserv-
/ ers taken from the Slocum which bear
in black letters this inscriptions:
Passed by United States Steamboat
Inspector. June Is, 1891
William Thembley. a deck hand.
corrobo. ates Flanagans statement re-
garding the defective hose and 1t is
reported that evidence has been Sc
cued showing that som of the life
boats we.e made fast by wires, making
II impossible fcr them 10 be- cast Loose
and lowered. All the men who made
these statements will te called as wit
nesses by the coroner.
Poic, boats and other harbor craft,
still maintain their patrol of the vat
ers of the East liver in the vicinity of
the accident IN the hope Of recovering
bodies.
The proclamation issued by Mayor
4 Mcclellan was as follows:
ITO the citizens of New York: The
appalling disaster yesterday. by which
more than 500 men, women and child
ren lost their lives by fire and drown
ing. has schocked and horrihed our
city Knowing the keen sympathy OF
the psople 0t the city es New York