The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-01
FIRST CABIN FOLK GRUMBIE.
roo MUCH sTEERAGE FOR THEK
on THE K0ENIG ALBERT.
Immigrants Encroaehed On the Deck Epaes
In Person and the whole snip In smsii
Their Number wlfhan the Lnssi
Limit --Disin o an the Feed.

Lloyd steamship Koenig Albert, which
arrived here yesterday afternoon from
Mediterranean ports. and some OF than
said that il there was any way 10 get at TN
line they would have some sort OF satssfac-
ton for the way in which thsy had bssn
treated on the trip.
According to these passenge s thsre
were entirely too many in the stserags.
resulting in a state OF atmosphers In ths
cabins that was unpleasant, II not An
healthy. The o.icers OF the ship and ID
osscer OF the line who was returning on
the vessel declared that there was nothing
out OF the way and that everything wss
entirely within the law.
That may have been. the FIRST cabin pas
sengers said, but they could not get over
the fact that whenever they looked out OF
their cabin portfolios they were confronted
by sights that they had not expected were
in store for them when they bought their
tickets.
Two women passengers said that they
had been made positively Ill by the horrid
smells that arose from the unkempt pros
pective Americans and men said that the
air in their staterooms was so bad that
they had been compelled TO sleep in the
smoking room.
The passengers who complained most
we're those who had rooms on the promenade
deck, a part Of which was given over b
the use OF the steerage passengers becsuse
the Italian Governments officials insisted
that to the steerage passengers hs allowed
the deck space required, Is square cent-
metres to a passenger. The only way 10
let the teerage passenger have that amount
OF deck space was to encroach on the pao
tina the first cabin passengers had figured
was for their own use.
The Koenig Albert brought l,ess in the
steerage. She Is allowed by the United
States Government to bring i,5c7 adults.
and when children under s were figured
as q quarter OF an adult and those under
10 and above-s were figured a. half an adult
the ship had no more IN the Storage than
Uncle Sam permits within the three mile
limit, the captain said.
1T was an outrage said Frederick
Matthews OF 90 West Fortieth street, who
had been one OF those most concerned In
the petition sent to the United States Consul
at Gibraltar.
1T isn't so much for hat we suffered.
but I contend that the lives OF all on board
were endangered by the crowding Of the
ship. The line viii tell you that they we're
within the law, and 20 they were; there 10
no getting around that. The ship from .
legal view wa not o~vercrowded, but there
were entirely too many persons on board.
What would nave happened In case Of an
accident in midocean?
The agents on the other side will con
tinue to sell tickets until they have reached
the limit, and the limit in too high
Mr.. Matthews said. and he was backed
up by others, that women we're annoyed
by men looking into their statsrooms whiss
they were dressing. But tho actions u
the children we're most complained Of.
1T all looks very nice here now said .
woman who said that shs had been made
SO i'll that she was compelled to change her
stateroom. But you must know that for
the last two days the sailors have been busy
cleaning up and disinfecting the decks.
They used the disinfectants 80 thoroughly
that they got into the food-one day the
potatoes tasted so strongly Of disinfectants
that il was impossible to eat them.'
Mr.. Matthews spoke up to explain that the
smells had caused this woman 10 have
fever. No one, however, had an III word
for any one Of the ships officers. They
did all they could to make us a. comfortable
as possible, said one passenger, q went
30 far as to offer to make q rebate, but they
simply could not alter the conditions thss
were brought about by the ovsrsale Of
steersge tickets
The ships officers themselves were in
clined to take the matter a. somewhat Of
q Joke. Capt. Feyen, when asked what no
had to say to the allegations Of ovsrcrowd-
ing, declared that it was all a lot OF over
nonsense"
They couldn't expect to Hnd things
just as they would on board Of Q private
yacht, you know, said he. why, one day
a woman said 10 me that she didn't see
why the line carried so many stssrage
passengers. We don't want them In Ameri-
ca, I'm sure, she remarked
Capt. Feyen got out his license and showed
that the ship was entitled 70 carry the
number he said he had on board.
Because Of cablegrams from Gibraltar
telling Of the petition that the passengers
had made to the United States Consul there
Nevada N. S~tranahan. Collector Of the Port,
sent q special inspector to the ship TO look
into the case. After his Investigation tho
iubpcCJOE raiu to NapJ. mOSI6Es the nneN
marine superintendent. who was on board,
that he found that instead Of being over
crowded there was room for at least 800
more.
The petition that was sent to the American
Consul at Gibraltar. which resulted In his
coming on the ship TO see for himself, was
signed by most Of the passengers In the FIRST
cabin. IL was said. Consul spragBe, q
passenger said. after he had seen the ship,
congratulated himself that he did not have
TO travel in her. He said that he would
call the attention Of the Government TO the
C1Ise
Mensa ErnestO, the Italian naval surgeon
who accompanied the vessel, sAid that he
could not have wished for better conditions
for the steerage passengers. All had the
required deck space, though he admitted
that he thought that cabin passengers might
have been somewhat inconvenienoed.
Among those on hoard we're Rear Admiral
! +. u. Chadwick, u. =. N, retired, and Mrs.