The Minneapolis journal., 1904-06-15
NEW YORK VESSEL
WITH 1000 BURNS
Fire Bursts Out on Crowded Boat
and Merrymakers Are
Killed.
VICTIMS IN PANIC
LEAP ONLY TO DROWN
Docks and Rescue Vessels Piled
High With Dead-Scores
Sink in Swirls.

clan Weston has notified the morgue-
keeper that 1o6 bodies are on the way
to the morgue on the Massasoit. The
superintendent of the Harlem morsue had
asked the charities department for 200
boxes In Whloi to put the bodies of
those who persisted In the disaster.
New York, June 15.-Five hundred
persons, mostly children. perished to-
day by the burning Of the excursion
steamer General Slocum, near He'll
Gate, in the East river. Ia'
The Slocum, with the annual Sunday
school excursion of st. Marks German
Lutheran church of this city on board,
was proceeding up the river to one of
the many resorts of Long Island
sound.
When near One Hundred and
Twenty-fifth street, persons on shore
saw smoke and flames spring from
the upper part Of the crowded
steamer.
A panic ensued on the boat almost
instantly. The crowds on the forward
deck began to spring overheard or to
crowd to the after part Of the boat.
The screams Of the terrified pas
sengers could be heard on shore and
hundreds Of small boats Immediately
put off to the rescue. Owing to the
rocks on either side Of the channel
at this point it had been impossible
to beach the ship.
The captain stuck to his post at the
wheel and headed the vessel straight
up the river for North Brother island.
where she was put aground In the
shallow water. Several hundred feet
of open water still lay between the
burning steamer and the shore and
many persons perished either in the
water or on the burning vessel after
she had been beached.
Carried Two Thousand.
1t is estimated the steamer carried
1000 persons. She was the largest eX-
cursion steamer in these waters and
could carry $500 passengers.
The Slocum sailed from the foot of
!, Twenty-third street, East river, shortly
after 9 o'clock. The exact point she had
| reached, when the flames were dis
boat, was off the "Sunken Meadows"
at the extreme east end of RandalTs
| island.
SO quick was the spread of the
| flames that the captain Of the Slocum
could not turn and was forced to make
head on for North Brother island un-
| der full steam.
BY the time the Slocum reached
| One Hundred and Thirty-fifth street
| the excursionists, driven to the rail,
many Of them with their clothing on
fire, began to jump overheard by twos
| and threes.
When One Hundred and Thirty
| eighth street had been reached the
| heat from the fire had become SO in
| tense that men, women and children
plunged overheard by the score.
There was a terrific crash when the
northern end Of North Brother island,
where she rapidly burned to the
waters edge.
It is said the fire started in the
lunch counter In the forward part Of
| the boat. When the alarm spread
among the passengers, the hurricane
| deck was crowded and when off One
Hundred and Thirty-eighth street this
deck collapsed.
| Many persons were thrown into the
water, but hundreds were precipitated
to the lower deck, which was itself a
mass Of women and children.
Unknown a Hero.
A tug Of the New York Central
railroad saved nearly score thru
| the heroism of some unknown man
| who stood on the paddleWheel box Of
the Slocum and passed women and
children to the tug until he was driven
back by flames and jumped into the
| tug. Neither police nor firemen,
when they arrived, waited to remove
coats or clothes, but jumped over
board and saved a great many who
| would otherwise have drowned.
! Many of the bodies recovered we're
horribly burned. Wreckers say that
it will be hours before the fire in tha
hold Of the boat is out and the bodies
there can be recovered. Both f1remen
and wreckers say that the greatest
loss of life, extending into the hum
dreds, will be found in the hold.
Many of those picked up alive ia
the river will die in the hospitals.
Most of them were frightfully burned,
having delayed leaping from the boat
until their clothing caught fire.
Some died in the improvised ann
balances in which they were hurried
from the shore.
Every man on board who coula
swim went overheard loaded down
with children. Many Of these heroes
lost their lives. Burdened as they
were they could not make headwaF
against the overpowering swirl Of
the tide as it rushed from .ne East
river into the sound.
Tale of Survivor.
John Edell, % years old, one Of the
survivors Of the disaster, gave the folh
lowing account of his terrible expert~
ence, his mother and little brother
being drowned before his eyes:
when we left the pier the decks
were packed to the limit of their
capacity. The band was playing, the
children were frolicking about and
we were all having fine time.
"As we neared He'll Gate children
+, were called down to the lower deok
were ice cream and soda water was
served. The children were falliR6
over each other in an effort to get
to the tables which held the refresh
ments. With my mother and my little
brother, Paul, went to the engine.
room to watch the machinery.
Suddenly, and without the least
/ warning, there was a burst of f1ansA
from the furnace-room that rushed
up thru the engine-room and flashed
out about us. The flames spread as