The New York Times from New York, New York • Page 1

'4 i i i I i I t. I THE. WEATHER. m. "All the News That's Fit to Print" Partly cloudy, followed by 'showers light souta winas.

i. V. i VOL. LIII. 1C9S9.

XEW YORK. THURSDAY. JIJNE 16 PAGES. VTC Qrtattr Tw I Ui.ill V-UrflN Jeraer City RtwariblTWO CK.IT. liOOLRiiYMUISTlBDil St Mark's Church Eicursion Ends in Disaster in East 4 Riyer Close to Land and Safety.

606 bODIES FOUND HUNDREDS MISSING OR INJURED Flames Following Explosion Drive Scores to Death In the Water. FIERCE STRUGGLES FOR ThQ. Captain. Instead of Making for the Nearest Landing. Runs the Doomed Vessel Ashore on North Brother Island In Deep Water Many Thrilling Rescues Few Men on Board to Stem the Panic of Women and Children.

An total of a thousnd d-ad. tx-sldra ueveral hundred injured. In the record of tha fire disaster which yesterday -ylestruyed the bit pxcurRion steamer Gen-I ral Slocum. whii wu burned to the vafer'a ede before h-r Captain uc-drd in hf aching her on yorth Brother Island. Nearly all the dead and missing ar women and children and were members of an excursion rart' taken out by St.

Mark's (iermuii Lutheran Church of 3a East Sixth Ktreet. Tlie estimate that the number of lives lost be lound to reach was given by J'ollce Inspector Brooks at an early hour thin morni iu. Flro Chief Croker shared hif view, saying that at "east persons must hCve perished. At o'clock this morning 0i bodies 1.1 been recovered. The rarchert thtn were taklnj bodies from the reck of the Oneral Slocum at the aver-4 rate of one a minute.

The disaster stands unparalleled among those or Its kind. Whole families have besn wiped out. In many Instances a fathar is left to frleva alone for wife and children, and there was hardly a home In the parish, Whence but a few hours before a lauchin happy crowd went on Its holiday, that was st.ot In deep mourning last night. The scenes attendant upon the disaster have seared themselves In the brains or the survivors never to effaced. Women were roasted to death in sight of their husbands and children, and babes by the score lerlshed In the waters of the Kast River, -I Into which they had Iwen thrown by trended mothers.

With death by them, nundreds leaped to their doom In the river. Out of the awful record thre stands forth bright and clear the heroic work of the watermen, the police, nurses, and doctors, who saved hundreds at the risk of their own lives. tl i the opinion of those who witnessed th. disaster from the New York Bhore that Cnpt. Van Schaick.

who commanded the X'essel. kst his head. Instead running the vessrl aground on the S'ew Tork shore rear by. he Carried her. blazing from stem to sum.

to North Hrother Island, where the ran on a rocky Vore. Kour hundred and nlnety-elht bodies were recovered up to midnight. Hundreds nf charred remains are still in the hulk of the Slocum. which is now beached at Hunt's Toint. Survrvors say the life preservers were worthless and rotted away In the hands of those who attempted to use them.

Coroner O'Gorman said, late last night that had taken more than FJUO.000 in money, hank books, and Jewefry from the bodies of the dead. Frenrled thousands, who had lost thronged the Alexander Avenue sta-- tlon in the Bronf. the Morgue, the piers. and tl vicinity of the church all night. Among the dead is the wife of the pastor, the Rev.

George C. K. Haas, and his daughter is missing, it was reported early this morning that the pastor is in a critical contusion from shock. The Captain, two pilots, and some members of the crew are under arrest. It is believed that the fire started from the explosion of a stove in the galley on the lower deck, where chowder was being rooked.

i FATAL TRIP'S JOYOUS BEGINNING. With Mitaic and FUffs A-flutter the Slocum Steamed Up the River-" The annual excursion of St. Mark's Church i'ustor Haas's Church, they call It In the neighborhood ts an event long looked forward by the communicants INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS, Commercial World. Page 10. Arrivals at Hotels.

Page 13. Out-of-Town Enyen. Page 5. 'Business Troubles. Page IS.

Court Calendars. Page 10. lxtsses by Fire. Pag Marine Intelligence and Foreign Mails. Page IS.

New Corporations. Page 10. Real Kstate. Pag 15, Society. Page Weather Report.

Pge 9. Tasurdajr a a ires. Page ft. CEIi. SLU1 i 1 ROTTEN LIFE PRESERVERS and their friends on the east side Of the city.

Only tlie tickets calling for. passage for adults are taken into consideration while the sale is on. and there were nearly. l.UH of these sold and. presented on board the boat before she staited.

The children are carried free, so that every mother either set took her little brood to tlie outing. Tlie General Slocum. which had been lately overhauled, started from her pier at Kast Third Street shortly after i o'clock. As she cast off and stood out Into the stream her flags were flying, the band was playing a lively air. and her three decks wen; crowded to their capacity with a haptv throng looked for a pleasant day's outing at Locust Point, on the Sound.

The party was to be landed about noon, and the return trip was to be made so that the excursionists would be at home by 11 o'clock. The excursion was in charge of the social committee of the church, headed by Miss Mary Abendscheln of 31 Kast Eighteenth Street. Miss Abendscheln and Fas-tor Haas, with the other members of fhe minister's party, were at the dock to welcome the pleasure-seekers. They were the pastor's wife and daughter. Miss Emma Haas, his sister; Assistant Superintendent Carl Anger.

William Slafer, and W. D. Tetamore of Brooklyn. The Slocum was under command of Capt. William Van Schaick.

who has been with the vessel for many years, and with him were" two pilots. Kdward Van Wart and Edward Weaver. The crew consisted of twenty-three men. Chief Knglneer George Conkiin was in charge in the engine room. He Is believed to have been burned to death at his post.

Accounts differ as to Just where the boat was when the fire started. Certain It is that it werit through Hell Gate without any evidences of panic being noticed, for the band was playing and persons on shore, remarked that the Slocum had a big party on Jpard that was apparently having a good time. With no thought of the coming disaster, no effort was made to keep any -ot ttie parlies together, and the children ran happily nil over the ship, while the mothers gathered on the upper decks and gossiped. They were nearly all German women, who knew each other, and had something in common to talk about. It was when the boat was about opposite One Hundred and Thirtieth Street In the river that the fire started; at least that was when the first warnings were sounded.

Some of the survivors say that they saw smoke coming from ielow before this, bat they thought It was from the chowder cooking on the lower deck and paid no attention to It. Vessel Made Wide Detour. North Brother Island is about opposite One Hundred and Forty-fifth Street. The vessel was not beached directly at this 1 point, but sallud around the end of the Island and ran on the rocky beach several hundred further on. The, fact is established that Capt.

Van Schaick took the Slocum a very long distance before he made any attempt to effect a landing. When the fire was discovered the boat was not more than 300 feet distant from the New York shore, Randall's Island was close at hand, and there were numerous coves and Tiers on the New York shore at which the 'I boat couid have been docked. The fire started forward. It Is believed that it began In the storeroom of the boat i on the lower deck. Here a lot of odds and ends of rope, canvas, oily rags, and other truck were stored.

In this Immediate vicinity, too. was a large stove, on which ts chowder to have been cooked and that he was seen to show signs of dls-in which the fire for the cooking had al- ready been lit The dread cry of Klre! sounded' through the boat about an hour after she left her pier. Almost immediately there was a muffled explosion, and a sheet of; jjflame enveloped the forward part of the 4 boat. It was then that the trouble was first seen from the shore, the boat being opposite One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Street. Immediately pandemonium broke loos on board.

The flames, spreading with incalculable swiftness, forced the passengers to the rear of the boat. Capt. Van Schaick was seen to run from the pilot house fetter turning the wheel over to Van Wart abd I i yell to beach the boat on North Brother Island. i The crew made no attempt to ret anything like order out of the frightful panic that was in progress. According to some who survive the fire dUll was sounded, and they went to their posts.

Some say they soon had streams playing on the flames, but even If they had it was like trying to drown out a' glazing caldron of oil with a gun. Other say that the pumps would not work, and that the lines of i hose were almost immediately abandoned. Some even assort that the hose was torn out of their hands by the frenzied women. Tt was only a matter of seconds until the entire forward part of: the boat was a mass of flames. The passengers had rushed aft and the boat seemed to be settling by the stern.

All this time full speed ahead maintained, and the flames, fanned fiercely by the wind. at4 t.heir way swiftly toward the hapless women and babies that were crowded on all astern. i Fought for Life Preservera. It was maintained by jthe survivors that while there seemed to be a good supply of life preservers on board. these were worthless when they came into play.

Women tore them from ohe another land they fell Into shreds, and any attempt to use them In sotne reasonable way was perforce aban doned when the flames jwere swept closer and closer toward the -rear of the boat, driving the frantic passengers before them. With sure death frori fire behind, the 1 hundreds of persons who otherwise would women there were nof men enough to have perished were rescued by these in-stim the tide even had they exerted them- trepid men. sejves waited until the; flames were upon I ne of the boatmen saw a heap of bodies them, until they felt their flesh blister, be- on the paddle box of the Slocum. A little fo-e they took the alternative of the river, a'rl. crying plteously for her mamma, was Babies shrieking with pain, many of them the only sign of life among the gruesome with their clothes on firei were dropped Into Pile.

After repeated attempts the child the water by scores, and; finally the women i was taken 1 she waa unscathed. She were forced over the rail and hundreds of them fell into the By this time the bout was opposite North Brother Island and was evidently still under control, for It rounded the point where the dock is located anil ran ashore in a little corve, where ihe Jagged i rocks Jut out Intd the water. An inspection of the island shows that -hardly a worse landing point could have-been selected, as the water Is d3ep there and there is Jno beach. All this time the shrieks of the Women and the cries the children, swelled Into a chorus fedr-ful to hear, could be ieard on the New Yprk shore, where hundreds of men employed in the various shops and lumber and marble yards hud gathered. i just as the vessel struck the rocks the supports of the hurricane deck burned an ay, and with a crash the upper works came down.

The vessel -'was then completely enveloped in flames. As the boat struck hundreds Jumped or were thrown Into the-water, and hundreds more were precipitated Into the blazing furnace beneath. These remain, a charred, unrecognizable mass, in the hulk of the burned vessel, which 'is now beached at Hunt's Point, more than a mile Rom where it first struck. iMeanwhile there were being enacted scenes of bravery, that will stand out as among the most heroic; iu the annals of the country. No men everbraved death more recklessly on the battle field to rescue wounded comrades than did these water-mien of the New York; river front to save flie lives of the women; and little ones who were struggling in the.

waters of the East River or who were sWl clinging to blazing portions of the wrejek. These men saw women and children toasted to death on the burning hulk of Siocum. The tug Wade, owned by John L. Wade, who acts as engineer on board and commanded by Capt. Robert Fltzgexald, saved persons.

The Wade was lying at the North Brother Island pier when the blax- i lng Slocum hove in. sight. She put off and waited to get alongside as soon as the Slpcum touched the rucks. As the vessels cume together the deck of the Slocum fell inj and dozens of women and children thjeir. clothing ablaze, were literally pitched c-rt to the Wade's decks.

The 1 deckhands threw bucket after bucket ofi water over these, and used every en deavor to make "them comfortable after I tlielr 'blazing clothing had been extln- gijilshed. fclreman Edward Carroll, frenzied by the sights around him. Jumped overboard and I tried to save some the children strug- gljing in the water. He succeeded in get- ting hold of three, but his- load was too mjuch for him. and he was compelled to abandon one to save, (the other two.

He kept, on swimming aboaf after he had got- ttjn the two children on board, and man ned to save half a dozen more. The struggling persons and bodies were then so thick Irk the cove that some were held above wlater by being Jammed so closely together. Saw a Policeman Drown. The crew of the Wade say they saw a I tlioemin drown while engaged in the work of rescue with them. jrhU policeman was 1 K.

amvU on th .4 had made eleven rescties. It was while tjrylng to save the twelfth person, a woman, i tress, and beiore neip rouiu reacn mm ne sank. They said the policeman's number was 3,123. sinan Thomas Cooney cif the Kast Klghty- eighth Street station. He was one of the Reserve policemen sent jup to One Hundred 'nd Thirty-eighth Street In a patrol wagon it-hen word of the disaster was received.

Capt, Fitzgerald sawia boy climb out' on the rail In the rear of the Slocum. His lotting was on fire, land ln some unac- i i founuu'" Pnr Sht OMea. I Hrerrda Add fliiusliate quiets and I rrrthn nm. w)v uum and sick ing pillar of flame. Fltsgermld ww him roasted almost to a crisp, when charred remains toppled over into the river.

The Wade had kept wo close to th burn-ins steamer that her deckhouse caught fire, and when she tried to put off to say herself from destruction It was found that several lines from the larger boat had become entangled In her paddles and she could not get away. Some of the men received had bums while cutting these ropes, and finally, after a bucket brigade had put out the flames on her and the Wade had taken on board a number of nurses and doctors who had meanwhile arrived on the island, she put off to the New York shore. The city tug Massasoit. which was also moored on North Brother Island, behind the Wade, ran as close as she-could to the blazing steamer. but the fierce blase and the heat made it Impossible for her to lie alongside, and her deckhands picked up Ootens of women and children who still showed signs of life in the river.

Mate Albert Rappaport disrobed, jumped Into a small skiff, and picked up a number of children. Capt. Parkinson cut adrift several small boats, into which he saw a number of persons scramble, who were afterward saved. Rappaport got out five girls, two boys, jrtl a woman, all of whom were revived when taken to the Island. Flotilla of Rescuing Craft.

From all along- the water front on the New Tork side rowboats and tugs put out to the scene of the blazing wreck, and she had seen her mother burned to death. She was taken to the Alexander Avenue Station, where she sat all day in the back room In sight of the rows of bodies on the floor. Mamma Is all burned up," was all she could say between her sobs. While, the vessel was racing up stream, enveloped in flames, the watchers on the New York shore all agreed that they were unable to understand why Capt. Van Schaick did not make a landing on the New York aide, from! which the boat was only a few hundred feet distant.

A watchman who was In the tower of the De La Vergne Refrigerating Company's plant, at the foot of One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Street, was the first to act on what he ay In the river. He noticed the blazing boafj several hundred feet away, and, running from his point of vantage which command- a view of the river for. miles, turned in an alarm and telephoned to Police Headquarters that a big excursion steamer was ablate in the river. When he returned, he said, he thought to see the vessel at one of the New York piers, but was astonished to see It rounding the point on North Brother Island. This man is only one of a great number who hold to the same view.

Capt. Van Schaick Jumped from the burning vessel to a tug Just as the Slocum struck the rocks. He was taken to the Alexander Avenue Station apparently unhurt, althoughj he complained of having strained his back. He and the two pilots as well as several of the crew were then put under arrest and were taken to the hospital as prisoners. Most of the deckhands were negroes and were apparently unmoved by the terrible sights fhey witnessed In the police station.

All of them had jumped into the water and swum ashore to North Brother Island. For hours after the disaster the waters around North Brother Island were thick with dead bodies, and these were pulled aboard all kind of craft as quickly as they could be and laid out in the awful rows on the pier. Later they were taken to the Alexander Avenue Station or the Morgue on various tugs. Burning Vessel Drifts AwayX The Slocum did not remain at North Brother Island more than ten minutes from the time she struck, but there did not seem to be a living person aboard of her when she drifted off down stream, and finally landed more than a mile away on the beach Hunt's Point. She was then, burned to the water's edge, but when the supports of the decks gave way hundreds of bodies were precipitated into the hold and lay on the lower deck, masses of charred embers.

inspector Broosj last night said that two diving scows had been sent to the wreck and that on these were six skilled divers, including John Rice, who recently reued the body of Bill Hoar in a New Jeney reservoir. As soon as word was received of the disaster help was' called for from every hospital in the city, and scores of uniformed nurses were soon on their way to the foot One Hundred and Thirtyighth Street. whence many were taken over to North Brother Island, while others remained at or ln attendance on ambulances to do their part as soon as any survivors were brought ashore. Every vehicle in the neighborhood was pressed into service as a dead wagon, and ln a short time wagons laden with bodies were on their way in a steady stream to the Alexander Avenue Station. There Coroner Berry of the Bronx was ln attendance, and he later had a conference with Assistant District Attorney Garvan.

who had been sent to take preliminary charge of the case, Mr. Garvan afterward went to North Raay tm lleasi Otiter Me. the Kves Hwr. Railroad leare New Tork at Jo. 12.

2. 4. amd a-clock, dartng the day. for Baltimore and Wash- tngtoo. Ttekei OrfWe.

4 sad I. Sou Broadway aa4 6 Aatsr Mouse. ailaa Street, fereoftira. Brother Island with ex-Firw Marshal Freel 'to make an Investigation. Coroner O'Gorman.

who went to the Island, said that he had taken from the bodies so far recovered upward of $200,000 In money, bank books. Jewelry, and various kinds of valuables. Scenes that beggar description were enacted around the Alexander' Avenue Station, the Morgue, and In the vicinity of St. Mark's Church. Strong men nearly went mad when they told of having lost whole famines.

One said his wife and six children had gone on the excursion, and he had received not a trace of any of them. Mrs. AJbertina Lembesk of 477 Bast Ninth Street, one of Pastor Haas's parishioners, her head and neck swathed In oil blindages, ran shrieking about the corridors of the Lincoln Hospital, bemoaning the fate of her five children. These were Herman, fourteen; Dora, eleven; Ernestine, nine; Henry, seven, and Albert, four. The frenzied woman had thrown Ernestine and Albert overboard when her clothing caught fire.

Tire other children became separated Irom her in the panic, and 'She never saw, them again. One little man, six years old. was brought Into Linccm Hospital hugging a toy hobby horse in his arms. There was not a scratch on him. He had Jumped overboard with the toy In his arms and when picked up was st.

11 hvgglng his treasured possession. Yacht Left Victims to Their Fate. In marked contrast to the heroic actions of the river men Isjthe story, vouched for by an engineer working on North Brother Island and by several watchers from the New York that a yacht, the pennant of the New York Yacht Club, followed the ill-fated vessel up the river from the time she caught fire, and when she saw her go on the rocks put about and steamed away. All reports agree that the yacht made no effort whatever to pick up any of the women or children who had Jumped overboard near her or to render any assistance at North Brother Island. From the stories of a number of survivors it appears that the fire may have been started from the oil stove In the galley on the lower deck, on which the chowder was to have been cooked.

This was one of the first theories advanced, and Pastor Haas also inclines to it. There are those among the survivors who say that while they were standing near this place they saw a puff of flame from the stove, heard a muffled explosion, and then saw a greater burst of flume that soon ran through the ship. It is worthy of note that hardly a survivor or a dead body picked up was found to have a life-preserver. It Is asserted by several survivors that they tried on a number of these appliances, and that the shoulder straps were rotten, making the so-called preservers useless. Capt Van Schaick told four different stories to a Times reporter in the Alexander Avenue Station.

He said that he had tried to put Into the New York Bhore, but had been warned off. Tills la denied by at least a score of persons who watched the progress of the burning vessel up the river. He said that it was not ever four minutes from the time he first heard there was fire on boord until he had run the vessel on the rocks. It was pointed out that this was manifestly impossible, and ther he said that It might have been, longer, but It dll not seera longer to him. He said that -e fire-drill had been answered and the hose was working, and a moment later contradicted this by the state, ment that the bose'had been torn from the hands of the men while they were en-dtuvoring to bring them into play.

Finally he refused. to make any further statement and was taken to the One of the mournful incidents of the disaster was that every dead woman brought Into the Alexander Avenue station wore on the third finger of her left hand a heavy gold wedding ring. Wives, all of them," said Coroner Ber- ry, and motners, too, don't doubt. It is the most awful sight I have ever seen." ONE THOUSAND DEAD. Inspector Brooks's Estimate of the Loss Finding; Bodies Fast.

At 1 o'clock this morning Inspector Brooks said the total number of recovered bodies was 48(1. At 2:30 o'clock it- was 011 He estimated the final loss at 1.000. In the night the Merrltt Wrecking Company was hard at work on top of and around the wreck of the General Slocum. tearing away decking and sending divers down after the bodies. Besides these workers, policemen dropped boathooks from launehes and pulled up two and three bodies at a time.

Shortly after midnight twelve bodies were taken out of the hold. One woman was found tightly clasping her baby around the neck. Another had her arm around a seven-year-old boy. (Many of the women and children were locked In one other's arms so that they could hardly be pulled apart. There were three divers at work constantly According to Inspector Brooks, the decking had dropped Into the hold, forming a V-shaped, immovable mass.

With Its fall It had pushed dozens of persons below and pinned them, to be burned or smothered to death. ISLANDERS SAVED SCORES. Doctors and Nurses Dashed Into the Water and Dragged Victims Ashore. When the Gen. Slocum swuna around the landing at North Brother Island, in an ef- frt to run ashore, she ran into a bank that drop" il de" 1 and employes from the Isolation Hospital ran to the water's edge, where, without thought of their own danger, they proved incniKiva yuMvaava ui iu srwesi cour- age- Using everything at hand ln their efforts I at rescues, two ladders, several boathooks, a hose, and themselves as a human chain, i they succeeded In bringing many people ashore, scores of them in Immediate need of medical attention, so that the force of rescuers was depleted of those who had to work over the unconscious there and then In order to keep them alive.

Nellie O'Donnell. assistant matron, was first In the water. She had often remarked i to the other attendants that she wished she knew how to. swim, as she believed everybody ought to know how to keep afloat In case of accident, but she had never had the necessary courage. When she saw i the people Jumping Into the water and many drowning before her eyes, she forgot all about the necessary courage and plunged in to save whom she eould.

To her subsequent amazement. I sough she thought nothing of It at the time, when she got Into the deep water she found that she could swim. Miss O'Donnell la strong, and when she Karwert'e Kxtrmet ef Vatalll Is the beet, yvrxectljr pare, highly coaceacrated. -A raHsd that he waa realtly iwlmminf aha towed htm ashore. Then she went bacK again and again to the rescue antll exhausted.

In alL she brought ten' persons to safety. Afterward she would take no credit saying that it was all a miracle. As to her new found art of swimming. It would be of no value to her. as, after what she had seen and heard.

she would sever again dare to venture: into water over her depth. i I Rescuers Formed Human Chain. James F. Gaffney. the! engineer on the Island, attracted by the blowing of whistles and seeing tho burning boat coming ashore, summoned the fire-fighting force and plunged Into the water with the hose, which had been quickly attached.

Seeing that the stream he had would be of no ue. he dropped it and swam to a woman struggling in the water. Coming back with her. he picked up a boat hook. He and the five men under him formed a human chain.

Oaffnev the outermost. He caught in all twenty persons, who were passed back to safety. In addition, these men recovered something more than half a hundred bodies. Dr. McLaughlin.

In charge of the tuberculosis patients on the Island, rushed to the float, and Jumping Into a small rowboat, rowed around the point, where he rescued six people. Landing with them he was about to put out again when he that a small boy of the party he had rescued needed his "attention. By the time he had brought the little fellow around there was no further chance at rescue. The Ill-fated Slocum had Uriftrd away, and there was much for him to do with the other doctors In rtu-toring those who had been brought ashore nearly drowned. George v.

Johnston of the Riverside Hospital, mate of the iKranklin Edson. whose day It was to be off. had gone to the island to see a friend of his. James Owen, a bricklayer. The two men were close to! the float when they saw the burnligboat found the bend.

They manned the lur-sest of the boats tied to the float, and pullWd for the steamer, running In close to her stern. They shouted to the terrified people there to jump, and when they seemed afraid Johnston, who Is a strong swimmer, to encourage them to plunge overboard. Jumped Into the river. This gave courage to tho passengers, and they commenced Jumping three and lour at a time. The boat was soon filled to the danger point, so Owen rowed ashore, several persons clinging to the side of the skiff.

He landed eighteen peoplei In all. In the meantime Johnston was swimming with a woman clinging to his broad back, while with his left hand he held the head of a small boy above the water. Owen met him and took charge of his load, and Johnston turned back and got two children. He was again met by Owen and climbed In the boat with his charges, as he was nearly exhausted. When they rowed back again there was none to save.

Jkhn-ston. In describing the vain return, says: Oars Struck Bodies of Dead. It was simply awfulj The boat was drifting away, and we were impeded by the dead, our oars striking every now and then, and then, too, we would run Into them. The worst was the sight of the stern of the boat, where there was a small boy burning and In some way caught so that he could not free' himself. lie was quite dead, but close to him was a little fellow with long golden hair.

This was on ire. and was dofmr wk best 'to beat It out, The heat was blistering, but we tried to get to him. We were still some distance off when he fell back into the flames. I was almost gone with what I had seen and the struggle In the water. Poor Owen was crying like a buoy and the two kids in the bottom of the boat were shivering and pleading for their mothers.

We couldn't be of any more use, and It did not then seem worth while to try and pick up the dead, so iwe rowed back through them to the shore, There is one thing I want to say, and that ts that with the exception of the patients there wasn't a person on the island who did not do his duty. When Nellie O'Donnell was finding out that she could swim and was saving them like a man, five of the other nurses joined hands, and In this way, one of them lying down In the shallow water so that the rope 'would be longer, they pulled In a lot. Drsl Watson. Welsman, Ixrd, Cannon, and Halderson, by keeping out of the water and reviving those brought ashore, were Just as much heroes as anybody else. Without their aid many of those brought ashore might just as well have been left in the water.

And there is another thing. They, too, would have gone out in a boat like Dr. McLaughlin, but they were in the and by the time they got out and down to the water front there was work thee for them to do." Mary McCann, one of the measles patients, convalescent enough to be employed about the ward, was near the beach when the burning vessel came ashore. She waded In until only her head wa out of water and dragged several half-drowned people ashore. Miss McCann was credited with twenty rescues.

She collapsed as she dragged in the last one and was carried bkek to her ward, where everything is being done for her! The doctors cannot tell! how serious her exertions In the cold water may prove, especially as she had not fully recovered her strength after her illness. POLICE RESCUED MANY. Their Prompt Response to Summons Saved Scores of Lives. The police arrangements to handle the great crowds that congregated on the Manhattan shore yesterday, attracted by news of the disaster, could not have been Improved upon. As soon a4 Police Headquarters received information of the disaster Chief Inspector Cort right designated Inspector Brooks to proceed to the scene and asjnme command of the police The reserves from all the neighboring precincts were called out.

the 'number on duty being about five hundred, Inspector Albertson was among the first of the police officers to1 reachj the scene. With Capt. Geohegan jot fhej Alexander Avenue Station and a Squad of men. he boarded the flreboat Xophar Mills- and steamed quickly out to the burning vessel. As they neared the Slocum they found the water uteraiiy strewn with bodies, and Patrolmen David Goss.

Daniel Sullivan, and Oeorge Young Jumped into thej water and began the work ot rescue. These three men saved fifteen women, ail of whom were cared for on the Zophar Mills and stuck to their heroic work until it wa4 knoajn beyond a doubt that no mere living remained among the scores of bodies that filled the water. I Another patrolman who did great work was John Q- Sch wing. also of the Alexander Avenue Station, Sch wing went oat In a boat alone. He saved live people-Annie KJpp of tM Lexington Avenue, Barbara Becker of L157 Third Avenue.

Barbara, Dohefer of 121 Avenue and Andrew Bommer ot 17 East Sixth Street. Eye a up Braut overwork? fmetf-i Maldea Laos, wtii aU roe. Adv. GRIEF-CRAZED CROWDS VIEW LINES dF DEAD Scores Prevented from Thro ing ThemselYes Into Rirer. BOAT L0Ai)S 0P BODIES Immense Crowds I Weeping and; Struggling Seek to Identf Them.

MANY PATHETIC INCIDENTS Measures Taken by Of Iclal to Safeguard Interest of Relatives OVer $200,000 tn Valuables FjunT on the Victims. Scenes terrible, heart-breaking. IndescrtV able were witnessed yesterday at' the ho pltals. police stations, and khe': East Rive piers, where the Injured and dead of tho General Slocum i catastrophe: were 'taken, Fully lu.ouo men. women, and children seeking relatives and friends among the.

dead swarmed I Into East1 Twenty-stxta Street last night after o'clock, complete ly choking thai thoroughfare from First Avenue to the; water ifront. where New Tork's principal Morgue la located. It was a mad, etclted crowd, jfrensled with grief i to a point that meant self-destruction unrestrained: Men and woinen wept and cried aloud as they fought and elbowed their way toward the big pier at the foot of the street, where hundreds of charred and mangled corpses rented In rowt of rude pine boxes. The police reserves ett several precincts, who had been hastily summoned, bad all they could do ito prevent the crowd from -plunging madly Into the river. 'Those la the crowd who.

had been teld of the Identification of relatives among-the dead coaa-t pletely lost control of themselves. They forced their way to the stringplece at the-side of the pier, and would have leaped lnte the river had not they been prevented for elbly from so doing by the The constant! clanging of; the ambulance gongs told of shen and women, some taint lng. some temporarily Insane from grief, who needed medical attendance, aad'Wbxr were dragged (through the! hospital gates' of Bellevue, where' they got nnally, with great difficulty, at' o'clock, the -po lice auccmeded in establishing a line of waiting persons by the aid of ropes, and from that time on the work of Identification proceeded! with semblance of order. The facilities of the Morgue, which tm said to be the best In the United Stales, were wholly Insufficient to accommodate the number of bodies brought In by steamers which conveyed thera from Nerth Brother Island and other places ln the vicinity of the disaster. For this reason the bodies were laid in double rows along the big pier of the Department of Chari ties, which Commissioner sjsntes H.

Tulljr turned over for the purpose, all business of his department save 1 that iof attending te the results of the disaster Ming suspended. Only those bodies which we re badly burned or charred beyond recognition were takes to the Morgue proper! First Boatload Bodies. The first boatload of dad reached this Morgue shortly before 4 o'clock. This waa the Fidelity, the Potter's Field boat, and it brought thirty bodleaJ all of persons who died from flames, thelbodles being be- yond recognition except ffom the Jewelry and the few pieces iof clohig which still clung to them An hour later the Msssse-olt of the Department of Corrections docked at the Chajritlea Department pier, bringing ln more than eighty bodies, most of which had been taken from tho water in the vicinity of the diaasteii i All of the bodies brough te the Morgue) and to the pier were wrapped to blanket secured from some of the Tarioua boepltala -which sent aid. or else covered witn tar- pauUns or other coverings which were to be found on the steamers.

i Before the boat reached; the docks hvs- dreda of rude plnet coffins had. been se cured, the aisee ranging tfrom for babies in arm to and eaak body was placed ln one bf these oofOna before -being removed to the Morgue or to tho pier. On thej pier the bodle wet plaoed -ln long double rows, so that tho lino ot persons seelfihgr to identity these Hieing might pass up one side and down the other and thu see each body laid out: At one time lastj night more than two hundred bodice were lying! aide by side on this pier. Eaeb body had lean tagged with, a number, to aid Inj the werk of Identification, and by o'clock, when the waiting crowd was admitted, Coroners Scholar. Goldenkrana.

Jackson, and) Brown of Manhattan, and Coroner lO" Gorman of tho Bronx, with their clef ks and asslstanta. were liv-readiness to expedite the work of removing bodies a soon jaa i Identification had been established. I i i In a steady line, wo abreast, the waiting crowd then was admitted to the pier, paae- lng oot toward the river ba one side of a -row ot bodies and ombagfback: toward tho' land on the other side pf another row. The boxes in which the bodies Were placed were emergency affairs, the bodies thetn-selves being huddled tn ts best is snan could arrange theas tn, te space time they had to make the arraagementa. and it was hard work tn many casee for tho relatives and friend to pick out tho missing' one.

I ft Police were stationed pmry few feet, and theirs was thej try tag; task of restrain. tng husband and! father from throwing themselves la a frensr en the hod la of wive and ealldre as they finally found them in the mute and gruaeonrio lino before Every! few snlattto a man era, woman weald either hrtak agony and trr to throw himself or herself on a proetrato form, or else wonid eollapee entirely and have to be carried In a fainting condition tm the outer air. to be revived by tho hoanUnl aaa inaiueva ninuuii a0. Aar. i i..