The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-06-21

search for over three days and nights
of 581 bodies of victims of the awful
disaster that befeH the great excursion
steamer General Slocum Wednesday.
Although this appalling number does
not represent the full extent of the
Caldr!it-, ECpes are expressed that
comparatively few bodies remain to be
recovered. There is a possibility that
when the charred hulk is brought to
the surface a considerable number of
cOrpses may be found within the tang
led mass of wreckage which has defied
all the divers attempt at complete ex-
plOration. Doubtless too, many bodies
have been swept away by the whirling
currents Of He'll Gate, and carried out
into the broad waters of Long Island
sound, or out past Sandy Hook to the
open sea.
The number still officially recorded
tonight as missing is 325, but many OF
these have been accounted for, whose
names have not been taken from the
list, and others are among the dead
whose Identified ton is impossible.
The region in the vicinity of ST.
Marks German Lutheran church in
East Sixth street was today the scene
Of ia funerals. representing the burial
of nearly 2G0 bodies, almost all those
Of women and children.
Enormous crowds thronged the
streets OF the quarter and large force
Df police was necessary to prevent
disorder and keep clear a passage for
the long lines of hearses and carriages.
Funeral services were held in no less
than 81 churches of various denOmna-
tiGHS in this section.
Sixteen more bodies, recovered during
ne day, were brought from the scene
uf the wreck to the temporary morgue
a. the foot of East 9th street this at
israOon. So great was the clamor for
admission to the pier that all control
Of the crowd was lost and on the en-
trance TO the pier being thrown open, a
rush >tOCk place, during which many
perSons were knocked down and tram
pied on.
Twenty-nine Of the unidentified deao
were buried today by the city, in the
Lutheran cemetery, leaving but eight
bodies still awaiting identification in
the morgue. The executive committee
of the mayor'S relief committee met
this afternoon at st. Marks church and
made arrangements for the relief prl-
yately to all the needy sufferers by the
disaster.
Mayor Mcclellan today authorized
Police Commissioner MeAdoo to con
tract with a wrecking company TO rats'
the hull OF the Slocum. a powerful
tug was dispatched to North Brothel
Island tonight, with orders to raise the
wreck as soon as possible and tow it t
shallow water off Ricker's Island
where il will be searched for any bodie
that may yet remain in IT. -,
So Glv "
begin Monday morning and ABOUT 2o
witnesses will be examined in the effor
to fix the responsibility for the disas
ter.
The unknown and unclaimed dead
numbering twenty-nine, were buried D.
the city this afternoon, a special plo
in the Lutheran cemetery having beel
provided. or the twenty-nine bodie
only one was that OF man, there be
ing eleven children and seventeen WON
en-. As the fourteen hearses carrying
these unknown victims of the disaste
passed, an, unusually large crowd stoo
respectfully on the sidewalks, MAXIM
a line extending several blocks TO tn
pier. whence the ferry carried them [
the Long Island shore. The men stoo
with bowed and uncovered heads, an
by far the greater portion of the wome
and children gathered along the street
knelt Even those who are ordinarli
phIegmatic and undemonstrative wer
affected by the sorrow that all seem {
feel and sobs shook the frames of tn
women while tears streamed down tn
cheeks of the men. Coroner Berry stat
ed today that more than two hundre
witnesses had been summoned TO az
near AT the inquest next Monday.
A diver who today renewed tn
search for victims of the steamer Ger
eral Slocum disaster, found deep no
in the bed of the river, practically nj
ed with bodies. With an hour after II
search was begun, eight bodies ia
been brought to the surface and whe
ne was forced to abandon work for
time because of the swift current
stated that between thirty and m
bodies still remained in the hole. tt
diver was searching along the riv
bottom and had reached portion ne:
the foot of the sloping lawn on Nor
Brother Island where the bodies
the first victims OF the tragedy we