The San Francisco call., 1904-06-16

to a boa. which bore it to one or other
of the city morgues-
In a paper bag, with its correspond
ing number was laid away sucn Jew
eIry or other means Of identilcatlOfi %
could be found.
NO. ga. woman. one gold watch
one gold guard ring" was the char-
acteristic inscription for one OF these
bags. .
piled one above another in a basket
which followed the Coroner on MS
rounds, the bags accumulated IN m
creasing numbers as the first estimates
of the loss OF life had to give away 10
what at first had seemed 70 be absurd
and exaggerated guesses as 10 lhe
number of victims OF the dlSaslef-
When q few more than loo bodies nad
been recovered and the task OF num-
bering and tagging them was all un-
der way. it semed that the end was IN
sight though there were still nun
dreds of persons TO be accounted lot
Many were the pathetic sights VII
messed. Bodies of little chllareh WeIe
brought in clasped in each oJner ;
arms. So strong had death fastened
their hold on each other that when
lifted into the boat their arms were
still inteTlccked.
The work of recovering and tagging
bodies went on until more tnah 1CO nd1 %
beer. recovered, after it had been hoped
that the river had already zen up
most of it's dead-after the watchers
and workers had sighed with relleL
that the worst was over
All the while men in search OF wives,
children or sisters were picking tnelf
way from one covered fOrT- to another
and as a face was uncovered and the
sheet turned back upon il there was
renewed nope that after all those
sought might be saved or, at the
worst, were only suffering at one or
the other Of the hospitals
Now and then a searcher was sadly
rewarded. A man would be seen to
fall upon his knees beside a form under
the trees. but il was seldom that one
could hear more than a stifled grOan.
Most Ditiful Of all was The grief OF
one who found not one, but two or
three, of his family among the dead,
as happened or several occasions, for
many man was left not only a wild
over, but childless.
Boats are still patrOling the section
of the stream where bodies might be
found and many are recovered as the
search continues. 1t will be days be-
fore there can be any certainty that
no bodies still remain to be given up
by the river.
Many of the bodies cannot be iden-
tilted. Heads. legs and arms are
burned off and not a shred of clothing
is left on any of them
w nat looked ike a DlS udlCuWdAr
on which were five or six charred bod
les, was seen floating in the cove at
Hunts Point and tOwed carefully
alongside the Fidelity. The wood was
badly charred and bodies seemed to
stick to it.
The policemen and the crew were
unable to release the bodies without
further mutilating them and arrange
ments were made to hoist the hatch
way with the bodies to il to the deck
of the Fidelity.
| Among the boats that hurried TO the
succor of the stricken passengers were
several tugs of the New York Central
and Hudson Railroad Company. the
auxiliary catbOat Easytimes. the
I Health Department steamer Massa-
/ sert. These. with a swarm of row
/ boats manned by willing hands, ap-
preached as near the blazing vessel
as was possible and rescued scores OF
people. The Franklin Edison went so
| close to the burning steamship that her
own paint was scorched. The crew Of
the tug, however. stuck bravely TO
their work and saved many women
and children from a terrible death
The fire had possession Of the boat
I from stem 10 stern by the time she
was off One Hundred and Eightieth
street The fire boat SOphar Mills was
summoned from its mOorings at the
| foot of East Ninety ninth street and
was soon on the scene, its crew lend
/ ing valuable aid in saving life
/ Tonight a crowd is held back by po-
/ lice lines formed about the City
Moreue at the foot of East Twenty
\ sixth street. The crowd began TO
gather as soon as il became rumOred
I about the city that the dead would be
/ brought TO Manhattan, from North
Brother Island and other places where
at first the dead had been taken. When
/ the Massasert came to dock with
eighty-five dead. the work of remov-
/ ing the bodies from the steamer pro-
/ ceeded slowly until no more were found
/ and the autOpsy-roOm was cleared and
| the blackened and distorted bodies
were placed on the floor there.
| When finally the MOrgue authorities
allowed the crowd to enter the MOrgue
a scene ensued which was narrowing
/ in the extreme IN some cases identi-
| fcations first were found TO have been
erroneous, men laying claim to bodies
and afterward discovering that they
were not those Of their relatives.
At the entrance OF the mOrgue the
crowd tonight tried to push past the
police and a riot resulted At the
height of the trouble man who had
learned that his wife was among the
dead tried to stab himself.