Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-06-29
THE SLOCUM HORROR
Directors, Captain, Mate and
Inspector Guilty.
HELD FOR CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE
Jury Is of the opinion That the sys-
tenn of Inspection Is Improper
and Insufficient and Docs Not
Guard Life as 1t should.


tenn of Inspection Is Improper
and Insufficient and Does Not
Guard Life as 1t should.
NEW YORK, juno 29.-Aftcr a full
investigation the ~coroner's jury las
night found n verdict holding every
person directly concerned in the Gen
eral Slocum horror criminally RESPONSE
BILE for the loss of the lives of the eX
cursionists who persisted in the disas
ter.
Those directly blamed by the jury
were: Frank A. Barnaby, president OF
the Knickerbockcr Steamboat compa
ny; J. X. Atkinson. secretary of the
company; all of the directors, Captain
William II. Van Schaick, Mate Edward
Flanagan and Henry Lundberg, as
sistant United States steamboat in
spector, who approved the fire fighting
| apparatus of the boat before she was
placed in commission in May.
Flanagan was denounced for COW
ardice and for failure to perform his
duty. Lundberg was held to have been
incompetent, careless and Indifferent.
The jury found that the existing sys-
TEN of steamboat inspection is very in
| sufficient and recommended n radical
change by the department of commerce
and labor.
Mr.. Barnaby and Mr.. Atkinson were
not ON hand when the verdict against
them was read, so were not arrested,
but those who had remained in court
We're placed under arrest upon the pre-
urinary charge of m~anslaughter. They
We're Flanagan and L.undberg.
Captain Van Schaick, who is still in
n hospital suffering from severe
wounds, remained a prisoner in his
cot, but his status was changed from
that of n detained witness to that of n
person charged with crime, but still
under the same police surveillance.
w. ii. Van Schaick, captain of the
General Slocum when it burned at tile
entrance Of the sound. with the loss of
mere than a thousand lives, has testi-
fed at the inquest held by Coroner
Berry at New York. He was wheeled
into court in nm invalid's chair, and
his examination had to be interrupted
to allow him to recuperate. Other wit
ncsses testified In the interval, II of
whom, the Slocum's candy counter
clerk, contradicted the captain to the
extent of saying that he had never
seen or taken part in fire drills on the
Slocum. The captain said that he had
held three on the boat this year, but
when asked to say in what they con-
sisted replied that he could not tell ex-
actly.
Once under way Van Schaick an
swered most questions, sometimes aft
er temporizing, but generally as the
prosecutor wanted. He said that only
go new life preservers had been put
| on board the SBocum since 1891, and
all that he recalled by way Of repairs
to them was that new straps were put
on 500 last year He told Il whole lot
of things that Federal Inspector Lund-
berg of the steamboat bureau did not
do. He said Lundberg, who refused
last week to testify at the inquest on
the ground that to do so might tend to
incriminate him., boarded the Slocum
| this spring and examined maybe ten,
| maybe a hundred," of the Slocum's life
| belts. He did not inspect the hose,
Van Schaick said. nor test he life
| boats and life RATS.
When Van Schaick was told that the
| district attorney had asked all the
| questions he wanted to, the captain
turned to the jury and said:
II want you gentlemen to under
| stand that l did all in my power that
| could be done under the circumstances
| at the time of the accident. | could
not turn the boat and beach her any
| sooner than | did. / remained stand
ing in front of the pilot house until we
| struck. Then l started to go down
| stairs.
"A volcano of fire had broken out
! along the decks and was sweeping up
the stairways. l could not get down
the stairs. Some one yelled, lump fol-
your life, captain!' and then | jumped
overheard. l struck in shallow water
on the rocks and broke my knee. My
clothes had been OIL fire. | was stun
ned.
He said that he gave no orders to
the crew after he knew of the fire.
Tie witness said he had been on the
General Slocum since the boat was
built in 1891, that he vas fifty-threC
years old, that he had been a boatmqT
for forty years and master of vessels
for thirty years.