Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-08-28
Thirteen Hundred Souls
in the Steerage When
Flames. Break.
SECOND OFFICER DEAD
Furnishings of Magnificent Ship
Ruined by Smoke and Water
Origin a Mystery.

4
Imperator, the largest vessel afloat,
was swept by fire early today as she
! lay at the dock in Hoboken with her
crew and 1,131 steerage passengers
aboard
! Second Officer Cobrecht, who led
| the crew into the hold to fight the
| flames, was cut off from his men, en-
veloped in cloud of smoke and suffo-
Gated The body was found an hour
afterward, untouched by fire and
| brought ashore.
| A fleet of fire-fighting craft aug
mented by apparatus on shore, sur
rounded the ship and poured tons of
water into the hold. When the fire was
| checked at s o'clock thc great vessel
/ had listed 15 degrees The steerage
| passengers were aroused by cracking
| flames, and rushed panic-stricken for
the pier where most of them spent the
remainder of the night huddled in dis
comfort at the shore end on the pier.
! None of the steerage passengers had
been inspected by the customs OF
health authorities and because of this
armed guarded surrounded them. Later
they were rushed to Ellis island.
ALL ON BOARD ASLEEP
The great ship was dark and all
aboard were asleep save the officers on
watch, when smoke ascending from
the provision room was discovered.
Almost at the same moment the
cracking of flames was heard in the
steerage quarters. A quiet alarm was
sounded. Commodore Ruesser, COM
mander in chief of the vessel, was
among the first to respond. The crew
of 1,1S0 were in their places within a
few minutes. The complex ire-hght-
ing apparatus of the vessel was set in
motion. Every compartment was or
| dered closed except those necessart
to leave open for the steerage passen-
gers TO get ashore. stampede Of
steerage passengers toward the deck
was checked for a moment TO fight
against the flames The ships officers
and hundreds of the crew lined up in
two columns along the route TO safety
and guided the terror-stricken men and
women to the pier. With the ship
clear the entire force turned their
hands TO fighting the flames. For
three-quarters of an hour they fought
the fire with only the Imperator's own
| apparatus.
SEVERAL ALARMS SOUNDED.
! Then, despairing of success, the Ho-
| boken department was notified and
/ general alarm sounded. Second Officer
| Cobrecht and Seaman Stumpf, caught
/ in the whitening breath of a belch OF
| flames, were cut off from a door they
entered. When the fire was checked
both we're found. Cobrecht and
Stumpf, like the rest of the freight
/ ing force, were equipped with smoke
masks, hose and ropes, which served
as guide lines. The dining saloon of
/ the second cabin suffered the greatest
/ damage from smoke and the firemen
passage. The handsome appointments
/ Of the saloon are a wreck. Despite
| the reinforcement of firemen flames
/ gained headway.
Fire boats from the New York fleet.
tugs and other battery engines from
Hoboken rushed to the pier A dozen
tugs were ready to tow the vessel to
: midstream as the flames threatened
momentarily. With so streams play
ing, the fire lost heart and at o'clock
only two streams were on the blaze
which was gradually extinguished. The
walls and gilded fittings of the sec
ond cabin were smudged and the
costly rugs, carpets and furniture were
SCARED and broken.
4 DUE TO CARELEssNESs.
A thousand longshoremen employed
by the Hamburg line. the I'M
perator's owners, went on a strike As
hours before the vessels arrival.
Their places were filled by men from
Brooklyn and the men were told they
would not be taken back.
officers of the line said they believed
the strike had nothing to do with the
fire. Somebody's eoYelessness, they
thought, was responsible The Impera-
tor has suffered several mishaps, more
or less serious, since her launching
May %. 1912.
SEAMAN REVIVED.
Seaman Stumpf, thought to be dead,
when found, was revived at hospital.
He is seriously injured.
y Officials estimate the damage 10 the
: vessel will not be great Great guam
titles Of supplies are made useless,
however, by flames, smoke and water.
Nearly 1000, ,000 gallons of water were
: poured on the fire
The company announced the shin
would sail Saturday, as scheduled, and
that the damage would be repaired so
far as possible