The Miller sun. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 190?-19??, 1904-07-06
JURY FIXES BLAME.
sLOcuM OFFICERS AND DiREc-
TORS HELD.
Those C~riminalIy Responsible Have
Been Placed Under Arrest-Aotion Of
Mate Flanagan styled Cowardly and

After a full investigation the New
York ~coroner's jury found a verdict
holding every person directly concern
ed in the Gen. Slocum disaster crimi-
lives of the excursionists who persisted
Oh June Is.
Those directly blamed by the jury
were Frank A. Barnaby, president OF
the Knickerbocker Steamboat Com
pany; j.. X. Atkinson, secretary OF the
company; all Of the directors, Capt.
William H, Van Schaick, Mate Ed
ward Flanagan, and Henry Lundberg,
assistant United States steamboat i'm
spector. who approved the fire fighting
apparatus of the boat before IL was
placed in commission in May.
Flanagan was denounced for cow
ardice and for failure to perform his
duty. Lundberg was held to have been
incompetent, careless and Indifferent.
The jury found that the existing sys-
tenn OF steamboat inspection is inefil-
cient and recommended a radical
change by the Department of Com
merce and Labor.
Coroner Berry issued warrants for
the arrest of the directors and officials
of the Knickerbocker Steamboat Com
pany. Inspector Lundberg and Mate
Flanagan have been held in $1,000 bail
each.
The charge In each case was man
slaughter III the second degree. Bail
was fixed by the coroner In amounts
varying from $1,000 to $1,000.
Bail was fixed at $1,000 each for
President Barnaby and Secretary At
kinson and bonds were furnished at
once. Capt. Van Schaick is a prisoner
In the Lebanon hospital.
That over 1000 persons persisted In
the burning Of the excursion steamer
General Slocuin Is now certain. Accord
ing to an exhaustive report made by POI
lice Inspector Schmittberger. on the
number of dead, missing, injured and I'M
injured in the disaster, 1t appears that
OBS bodies have been recovered and that
93 persons absolutely known to have
been aboard the vessel are still unac-
counted for, bringing the total mortality
of the disaster up to 1,031. Those in
jured numbering ITO and Of the throng
Of fully 1900 who embarked on the ex-
cursion of st. Marks Church, but 236
escaped without injury. The report is
the result of a minute inquiry made by
a corps of 100 patrolmen under the d.
rection OF the inspector. In the course
of the Inquiry much valuable informa-
ton was secured from survivors which
will be used in the investigation by the
District Attorney to fix the responsible
iy for the disaster. A thorough exam
ination of the hull by Coroners O'Gor-
man and Berry and Inspector Albertson
resulted in the discovery In the locker
In which the fire started Of a number Of
barrels which had contained kerosene
and lubricating oil. -
The investigation prosecuted by the
coroner seems to make 1t clear that the
Slocum had been nothing better than q
death trap for years, The steamboat
company admitted that since 1895 not a
single new life preserver had been pur-
chased for the Slocum. Gen. Dunsont,
head of the United States steamboat In
spection service for the harbor Of New
York. asserts that the life Of the average
good life preserver Is six years. Presi-
dent Barnaby was accused Of bad faith
and of trying to deceive the coroners
jury as to the life preservers by his tes-
timony on the first day of the inquest.
Capt. John A. Pease, supervising captain
of the company, who put the boat into
commission. bluntly admitted that it was
impossible to purchase a proper fire hose
for IL cents a foot. That was the price
Of the cotton fire hose that was in use
on the Slocum. All testimony went to
show clearly that none Of the officers or
members Of the crew OF the Slocum had
made the least effort to save lives on the
day Of the disaster. 1t was shown also
that the only member OF the crew to
drown, Michael Mccain, the steward,
had put on one of the worthless life
prsssrye=s