The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-06-16
.GHOULS ON WATER:
NEGLECT ON BOAT
Continued from First Page.

children with life preservers. But
few of those rescued and few of the
bodies recovered from the river had
on life preservers and according to
several statements most of these sup
posed instruments of safety were prac-
tically worthless, either coming apart
when an attempt was made to use
them or not possessing the buoyancy
they are supposed to have.
There is very general criticism of
the captain and pilots for their failure
to turn the vessel ashore the moment
they We're informed that the fire had
gained Roadway. Captain Van Schaick
has made several statements varying
in detail, but none of them Is con-
sidered as satisfactory.
Pilot Van Wart, however, to-day
said that he could not dock the yes
sci because all of her hawsers were
burned.
The scenes at the bureau of inforna-
| ton which has been established in
were pathetic in the extreme. There
| Is q constant stream of people, and
now and again, as someone Is In
formed that the loved one for whom
he or she is searching is among the
dead, a cry of grief is heard.
One young man called at the church
to-day and was informed that his
|
was looking had not been found. He
had been to the morgue and to all the
hospitals and this was his last hope.
Satisfied that his loved ones were dead
he tainted and 1t was some time be-
fore he could be resuscitated.
Search for Victims.
| From midnight until long after sun
rise to-day the work of arranging the
| hundreds Of unidentified bodies which
were being brought down from North
Brother island all night, progressed
uninterruptedly. The sleepless eyes
of stricken men and women on the
dock at the foot Of East Twenty sixth
street watched every move Of the city
physicians.
The scenes about the morgue and at
the docks where the relief boats came
In laden with their CHASTITY freight,
were heart-rending and beyond any
possibility of description. Men and
women who had waited for hours
way to bitter grief, when at last the
bodies Of their loved ones were found
among the piles Of burned and
mangled dead.
Lying side by side were two women
who died clasping their infant babies
in their arms.
A pathetic figure among the search
ers and watchers was 16-year-old Fred
Hartung, the sole survivor of family
Of six, who went on the Inflated ex-
cursion. His mother and four sisters
have not been heard from since the
Slocum went down off North Brother
island. The boy saved himself by
jumping to a tug.
Frenzied Mother Sought Death.
A particularly sad incident during
the night was the attempt at suicide OF
a grief-stricken mother at the morgue
This woman, Mrs. Lena Reckanski
went there to find her little daughter
| Wanda. who was missing, and found
a body which she identified as that OF
her child. Wandering from the
morgue she walked down the string
piece Of the pier and attempted to
| throw herself into the river. She had
been watched, however, and police
men seized her in time to save her life
She was taken to Bellevue hospital.
| Pastor Haas of st. Marks Lutheran
church is completely FRUSTRATED. He
has been unconscious most of the
time since the disaster and under the
constant care of a physician. His con-
dition is critical. His son did not &c
on the excursion. He lost beside his
wife and daughter, his mother-in-law
Mrs. Carl Hanson, and his sister-in.
law, Mrs. William Tetimore. Mrs
old, is also lost.
Died for Her Grandchildren.
i Among the victims were Mrs. Kate
Birmingham, II years old, and hel
two little grandchildren, a boy of I
and a girl Of s. : The devoted grand.
mother lost her life in trying to save
those Of the children.
The grandmother gathered the two
little children in her arms at the frs
alarm of fire. AS the flames swept af
the aged woman dropped to her knee:
on the deck and wrapped her skirt:
about the children in an effort tt
shield them from the flames. '.'1si5<
Never mind me- she cried to thu
rescuers, 'it doesn't make any differ
ence about me, but come and get the
children"
At that moment there was a mad
dened rush to the stern of the boa
on the upper deck. The weight wa
more than the deck would stand ant
: it fell with crash. Mrs. Birnning
ham was struck by piece Of thu
wreckage and crushed to death, AM
her two little ones met the same fate
The men who jumped overboart
from the rescuing boats had fearful
experiences. Each one was seized b.
several women and children, and bu
for the help Of their comrades would
. have been drowned. Edward McCar
rell, fireman Of the Wade, was first t.
go overheard. He grabbed a youn
girl, passed her along to a man witt
a boat hook, who pulled her on deck
Then he seized two little children an