Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1904-07-01
saocuM A DEATH -TRAp.
Coroner's Investigation Seems to Show
Boat to Have Been Such.

| COroner's Investigation Seems to Show
Boat to Have Been Such.
That over 1000 persons persisted in
| the burning of the excursion steamer
| General Slocum 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, it appears that
| 93S bodies have been recovered and that
| 90 persons absolutely known to have
| been aboard the vessel are still u&uac4
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 di-
| 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
| ity for the disaster. A thorough exam
nation 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
and iubricating oil.
The investigation prosecuted by the
| coroner seems to make it clear that the
| Slocum had been nothing better than a
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. Dumont,
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
ard of trying to deceive the coroner's
| 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 16 cents foot. That was the price
| OF the cotton fire hose that was in use
| OH 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. It was shown also
| that the only member of the crew TO
| drown, Michael McGann, the steward,
| had put on one of the worthless life
| preservers.
Decl1hand John Coakley testified that
he worked on the Slocum for 1928 a
week Coakley never saw a fire drill on
| the boat and never was told by any Of
| the officers what to do in case of fire.
| This may explain his attempt to put
out the blaze by emptying bags of char
coal Oh it.
Deckhand O'Neill had never worked on
q boat before he went on the Slocum.
His usual line was driving, trucking or
most anything" He saw a life-boat filled
with people and jumped into it, although
the man in charge warned him that the
boat had all it would hold When O'Neilf
jumped in he capsized the boat, threw
all the people into the water and then
swan ashore without trying to save any
body. He explained that there We're
others doing that and he was not an
expert swimmer This hero had meyer
seen fire drill on the boat. IF rN>re
had been one I would have been ii it"
1t was shown that many victims who
might otherwise have escaped were
drawn to the bottom by the worthless
life preservers.
After all this one might suppose tpat
the General Slocum was a grotesque
freak among the craft of New York har-
Dor. On the contrary, there is every
reason to believe that she was safer than
most Of them That is what lends such
dreadful significance to her fate. Presi-
dent Roosevelt has recognized the mean
ing Of it by ordering that hereafter an
army and a naval officer shall be added
to the inspection board as experts.