Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-06-20
DEATHS IN STEAMER DISASTER NUMBER
PROBABLY 7OO--SEARCH CONTINUES


the river had on life preservers and &C.
cording to several statements most of
these supposed instruments of safety
were practically worthless.
Captains Varying Statements.
There is very general criticism OF the
captain and pilots for their failure to
turn the vessel ashore the moment
they were informed that the fire had
gained Roadway. Capt Van Schaick
has made several statements, varying
in detail, but none of them is consid-
cred as satisfactory.
Pilot Van Wart. however, yesterday
SAID that he could not dock the vessel
because all of her hawsers were
burned. His statement follows:
When I first discovered the pres
ence of fire on the steamer l decided
to make for the first dock that could
find, but in a moment | was informed
that all the ropes by which we usually
tied up had been burned. 1 then de-
cided to make for the first point OF
land where there was no rocks an0
beach the vessel and this I did. The
presence of rocks all along the shore
made it impossible for me to beach the
vessel any sooner than I did"
Living With the Dead.
Brought into the Alexander avenue
police station and tagged as one of the
unidentified dead, Clara Hartman was
revived while she was lying in the i'm,
prOvised mOrgue. A woman searching
among the dead for a relative noticed
that the girl was breathing and called
an ambulance surgeon, who found that
there were signs of life. After the
surgeon had worked over her for half
an hour she open her eyes and she was
then hurried to the Lincoln hospital.
Miss Hartman was picked up by one
of the fleet of rescuing boats which
was already filled with a cargo of dead.
There being no space for the body of
Miss Hartman, it was fastened to a
rope and towed astern of the launch
and was lifted to a pier on the Man
haitian side of the river. On the
wharf a man coming from a neighbor-
ing coal yard, carrying a tarpaulin,
wrapped Miss Hartman in the sheet
and helped to place her in line with
the row of dead.
Can't Be Identified.
So many of the bodies of the dead
yond all possible Identification that a
public funeral for all such persons and
interment in a single plot has been de-
Cided on.
Statement by SIocum's Owner.
President +. A. Barnaby OF the
KnickerbOcker Steamboat company,
the owners of the steamer Gen. Slo-
cum, made a general denial yesterday
of the reports that the steamer was
equipped with worthless hose and life
preservers, and that the lifeboats and
lifcrafts were dashed to The steamer
with wires.
THE apparatus for fire fighting on
board the boat at the time of the &C
cident was of the very best that money
could buy" said Mr.. Barnaby. 1.-The
boat was thoroughly overhauled early
this year and we spent over $4,000 on
her in refitting machinery, in hose, ex-
pumps and machinery, as
well as for life preservers. We did all
and more than the law requires. The
hose was all new this year and was
all right The fact that the vessel
was rated as an Al risk is the best evil
dence that everything was done that
human foresight could provide. The
story that the preservers and RATS
We're tied with wires, the former so
covered with dried paint that they re-
sisted a knife, is absolutely false"
Rich German Families in Disaster.
St. Marks Lutheran church con-
tanned in its membership practically all
those Germans of the protestant faith
within a radius of ten square blocks.
The excursion was the event of the
year for scores OF well to do German
families and had been looked forward
to for many months. Family parties
of ten or more had been made up, in
Guiding in many cases the old grand
the mother, and the children
of all ages, with a sprinkling of those
men of the families who could spare a
day from their work.
Many Valuables Found.
Although many bodies taken to the
mOrgue were badly mutilated and the
in many cases almost entire
" burned of, the valuables have
been taken from them and are in che
keeping of the city officials, to the ex-