The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-07-06
ST. Marks Church Excursion Ends in Disaster in East
River, New York City, Close to
Land and Safety.
OVER ONE THOUSAND DEAD AND INJURED

, on this fateful forenoon. At a fifteen
knot clip she steamed up the East
River, it being the plan of her captain
to reach Locust Grove, Long Island,
the destination of the eXcursionlsts,
shortly after the noon hour.
Everybody knew everybody else be-
| cause of church and neighborhood as
ISOLATION. Nearly all the children car
ried little American flags. which added
to the holiday aspect Of the big steam
boat.
Scarcely had the PROV begun to cut
through the He'll Gate waters when
| there was a flash of flame forward. 1t
was followed by a cloud of binding
| smoke. and the harvest of death began.
Fire! Fire." was the cry raised, and
| panic broke loose at once.
The high wind famed the flames into
instant fury. Efforts to check them
were futile. In five minutes the entire
forward deck was swept by a whirl-
wind Of fame.
Why Captain Van Schaick did not
at once head the General Slocum to-
ward some of the docks on either the
New York CO the Long Island shores
has not yet been explained. He sig
nailed to the engineer to go ahead at
full speed and pointed her bow toward
North Brother Island. which was a
good mile ahead of him. The wind
was blowing from the north, and the
swift progress Of the steamboat caused
a strong current of air, which drove the
flames aft into the faces Of the passen-
gers.
At the first cry Of fire the excursion
lists became panic-stricken. All Of those
on the lower deck fed to the middle
deck and then to the hurricane deck.
Mothers ran about the boat to find
their little children and get them to a
place of supposed safety. The crew
for a time did nothing but fight the
fire, which engaged all of their atten-
ton. Within a few minutes nearly
every n Of the excursionists was
crowded on the aft part of the second
deck and the aft part Of the hurricane
deck. The band made a feeble effort
to allay the panic by playing popular
airs. but the musicians o o became
choked with the smoke and were
forced to give up the attempt.
Within a few minutes the crew Of
the Slocum discovered that they could
not extinguish the fire. The flames
were sweeping down upon them with
resistless fury, and they were COM
PEELED to follow the passengers and
seek temporary safety on the decks
aft.
There the scene was II of terrible
confusion. Shrieking women, with lit
tie children clustering about them,
were trying to get life-preservers and
fasten them upon their little ones. The
men on the boat did their best to help
with the life-preservers. These, how
ever. proved in a majority of instances
to be death traps. Most of the life
preServers were so old that their can
a covering was rotten and their fas-
Jennings worthless.
Jacob Miller, an officer of the Sun
day-school, tried seven different life.
preservers before he found one whose
fastening did not crumble and break
when he put it about a mother of seven
small children. Other passengers had
the same experience.
When the boat had reached a point
opposite One Hundred and Thirty-sec-
ond street the flames were shooting
up eight and ten feet at the bow of the
vessel, and the heat was so great that
everybody was pushing and fighting
to get as far aft as possible.
Little children were thrown down
and trampled upon in the terrific crush.
Mothers, with three and four small
children to care for, were helpless. Pc.
liceman Kelk, coming on deck, did
panic, but his efforts were in vain.
Tantassel went up on the second deck
and tried to calm the people there, but
his work was useless.
Higher and higher mounted the
flames. bursting from the forward hold
and licking at the decks above, which
were crowded with frantic and terror.
stricken men, women and children.
Captain Van Schaick sounded his
whistle for assistance. At that time
| the Slocum was owe toward the Sunk
On Meadows. once the graveyard of
the ill-starred Seawanhaka. The fire
drill was sounded, and Edward Elan.
nagan, the mate. took charge of the
fire brigade. Difficulty was eyper.
fenced in getting the fire hose into ser
vice. The crew got it off the reels, but
the pumps refused to work and the
streams were not forthcoming. Every
second added to the peril of the pas.
sengers. The tongues of flame reached
for those who were furtncSt forward.
In terror they rushed toward the stern
of the steamboat.
Women tainted from fright and chill,
dren fell in the struggle. Few of them
arose again, because they were tram
pied under foot by the hundreds who
had succeeded in keeping their feet
| Captain Van Schaick rushed from the