| Show J1o llUNDR PERKSIL I Men nd Women Meet Death by Fire or Drown in the Waters of the f Hudson River four Greahcean Liners and Many Smaller Craft Destroyed by Fire ch Began on Pier at HoboKen N Property Loss lCT ion Dollars Many People are Injured and at Least t 1500 LW Imperiled by a Great Conflagration NewYork JUno Almost 10000000 worth of PlOPO was destroyed many lives were loslniany persons werc injured and at lU 1500 liveswere imperiled im-periled by a filthat started among cbllon bales un pier NOt s oC the North German ivd steamship company com-pany in HobokeVN jt aL j 0clocl this afternoon less Ulan flftocn minutes the flamlcovered an area a T quarter of a mileng extending outward out-ward from the aci shore line to the bulkheads from Gto 1000 feet away and had caught foUcat ocean liners and a dozen or rfc smaller harbor craft in its grasp I LOSS OF Li HEAVY > Stories in rcgardV the loss of life are conflicting theknbcr being variously va-riously estimated aUni fifty to 200 > Up uTmldnlght tweLfive bodies had been recovered butcy all vere so badly burned and bllened that den tification was impost WOUNDED IN ISPITALS The hospitals in NeV0rJr Hoboken and Jersey City are dded with the woundQd and men areu brought In yso1des Ic Those who gathered ips the shores of the Hudson river witness the great conflagration saa spectacle that they can never fW and one that always will have conspicuous place In the histoo of 3 York f T SIGHT AN APPALLS ONE Biver and bay were eUOped In a pa1l of llack smoke tlg which 1 angry flames bursting dfrom vol canos on the Jersey shorUd in the 1ater Itself leaped like reSjrjtes Into 4 the sky The surface oC tltater was 1 covered with floating a blazing masses of freight thrown mste from the doomed vessels all xmndjd in the mad race to rescue morja P0us human hu-man life threatenedor belnhcrificeti p in the great ships Arid tW the pallof smoke a great cnmsVunj en larged to thrice Its sizd byfe haze glared like an enormous jt slowly sunk In the west SCORES OF LIVES L s i Such was the tremendous 1taclo presented on the surface of river asiC It had1kn irncll1a pageant It was made tragi the realization that in that fsmo and beneath the turbid waters SC < L oc lives had been lost or were V ju their last desperate struggles inst death THOUSANDS WITNESS FI The spectacle was wltncsstby thousands and thousands fromUh shores and by other UiousandsSlo crowded upon every ferry boat Uy excursion boat upon every river t that could be secured for the pur gThe crowd Upon the banks of the V 1 AvaS almost as great as that v formed to witness the triumphant I turn of Adimral Dewey I GREAT SHIPS IN FLAMES U Looking up the river toward 11 burning ship and piers the scene 1l 1 y awonderful and tragic one of grai QUT Jjie snip ouiiiu uuu ut cv 1 Iv kf down the river until she was just rt ri Jjort Liberty where she had githerd Th about her a ring of lIre boats and tt 1ltun all fighting to iMve at least the hull iiner the doomed steamer Flames still went I leaping from Her portholes and rushing out of her cabins jp J SMALL CRAFT BLAZING ta jt < > At vaiying distances about the burning burn-ing ship lay coal and cotton barges all I ablaze cadi with one or more tugs F vplaying streams of waterupon it Some JG thcHe barges and llghierrf were oided willi very inflammable stuff and iha flames leaped high in the air while the heat was so terrific that it was not possible lo use only the small hose of the lug Soon one by l one these altars al-tars of flro slowly consumed most of them burning down to the water line Along the Jersey shore small Jives were A blazing slartcd by the wreckage from lrthe great steamships PROPERTY IN DANGER On this side of the river the fire caused the greatest excitement as the drifting steamships and barges floated all aflame to the New York shore and nashed against the piers from Canal to y 14LOI1UII elO1 1 Murray Streets The fire department < i wascalled out at various points along the threatened sections and the spec f < k tucle was pesented of the firemen onshore on-shore trying to light fires and every i mlnut changing their situation V HUNDJjibDS ON THE VESSELS Tliere eic jiundrcds of men on each of the destroyed steamships and a few I t women Crowds of dock laborers and i also employees of the companies were on all the piers Men women and children were on the canal boats and r and lighters and men on the barges when the lire made Us quick descent upon them escape was cut oK before KV they realized their awful position The people on the piers jumped into the water to pave themselves and scores of men huddled under the piers clinging to the supports only to be suffocated by the flames or to drop backInto the water from exhaustion CAUGHT IN THE STEAMSHIPS V 2 len working in the holds of the fire steamships were shut in by Avails of flauin and it was impossible to reach I thorn It probably never will be known c V how many men perished in the ships asr the flames were so fierce they would 5 TCbut few if any remnants of the iVaiibpdy IVES LOST ON THE SAALE lTho greatest loss of life appears to he on the Saale She carried JoO pooplo and Wall to have sailed fur A Boston this afternoon When the polleo boat captain WMit aboard of her with c i Illsrescue party he saw bodies lying 1 all about the deck The ship Bremen t carried a crew of 300 the Main 250 Land ifas many lives were lost on the Jlrcrnen and Main as on the 1 Sjje the number of lives lost will I I ievory Bixat Then alHo many per hqilon the piers the canal boats and I Jigliteis riiL ADD TO DEATH ROLL t 0 Theburningof smoldering remains < j bC canal boats lighters and barges are scattered all the way down the river and bay to Staten Island and Governors Island Each of these craft will add something tr the list of the dead V j j The loss lo the North German Lloyd docks alone is placed at 2000000 The value of the gieat quantities of cotton j j I oil and various other merchandise on I the docks has not been estimated The loss to the North German Lloyd Steamship Steam-ship company alone will probably come close to 10000000 as the Bremen the Main and the Sanle were almost al-most totally destroyed The Kaiser Wllhclm der Grosse was somewhat xdamaged The five storehouses of the Campbell company were greatly dam aged the loss on one building alone being placed at SI500000 WHERE FLAMES STARTED From what can be learned tonight the flames started among a large pile of cotton bales on Pier 2 of the North German Lloyd Steamship company and spread with such remarkable rapidity that in fifteen minutes the entire property prop-erty of the company taking in over a third of a mile of water front and consisting of three great piers was completely enveloped in fire MANY WERE DROWNED The flames slartetl so suddenly and gained such headway that the people on the piers and on the numerous vessels ves-sels docked were unable to reach the street There were great gangs of workmen on the piers anti these together to-gether with a number of people who were at the docks on business and visiting the ships scattered in all directions di-rections As aH means of exit was cutoff cut-off by the flames they were forced to Jump overboard and It is believed a great number of people were drowned THREE BIG INERS BURN At the docks oT Ihe North German Lloyd was the Saale a singlescrew passenger steamship of 1965 tons gross the Bremen a twinscrew passenger and freight steamer of 10526 tons and the Main a twinscrew freight and passenger steamship of 10600 gross ¼ tons They all caught fire and were burned to the waters edge The Kaiser Wllhelm der Grosse which had Just conic In was the only one of the four big vessels at the dock that escaped Tho loss of the crews of these vessels is sajd loreach 300 DISCOVEREP 3Y WATCHMAN The lire was flrsl discovered by a watchman on the pier at 4 oclock He raw a small streak of flame shoot from a bale of cotton on pier No 2 at which was docked the steamer Saalc He Immediately sent In an alarm In a few minutes the flames had extended to the ship and were communicated to the adjoining pier on the north Here were docked the Kaiser Wilhclm der Grosse and the Main KAISER WILHELM DER GROSSE SAVED Tugs were immediately made fast to the big Kaiser WHhelm dot Grosse and she was gotten out into midstream mid-stream with safely although badly scorched at the bows The ship Main however was doomed as the flames had already become so fierce on the north hide Of the pier that no tug Could approach the vessel PHOENICIA CATCHES FIRE Then by a shift in the wind the es were sent in the direction of r No 1 which was to the south end lier NO 2 To the north of pier No Ia s the dock of the llamburgAmori line at which the steamship loonlclft a insercw passenger amor of 0701 gross tons was docked flames got a good hold on the loenicIa and she was towed out 0 midstream ablaze PIER BLOWN UP 1 ho i fire hud by this time become soc i so-c that the officials of tha Hamburg Mlcan line decided thai the only V 1 to prevent a total destruction of t I great pier was to blow up the lof the dock at whigh the Phue V lay and this was done A num bf barges dockqcl at the pier alho Mflre but in the effort to save Ine oVpipperly no attention was paid Mom and they were allowed loiS lo-iS OF LIFE FRIGHTFUL feared that the loss of life in thgd of the vessels was frightful as said that many of the crews Ahi e asleep ar the time were Im PiJu there Tlorst tale will come from the MJVvliIch was unable to be towed froiyu pier The vessel had only arrilthls morning and some of the pas rs were still on board and whole cry of fire was raised a numpf them were seen to run to c the nlng decks Most of them Jumriverboard and save for the few Vwero picked up by the tugs not phs been licard from although cveryipital and hotel In the city of wijiii CrOWded with Injured RISHED IN FIRE Somlhe passengers of the Main I tried utapf to the pier and It was aluosttalu that they perished waa the Hail Theros a panic on each of the shp J l y persons 1 jumped overboard over-board aiip water for Rome distance along tttnkK was lined with peopIc They wringing to pler > and even lo tho nra of the burning vessels Some vyplckcd uj many were drowned I SAWHRTY PEOPLE DIB Voter Q1 a Justice of the Peaca in Hobokhl a story ot having see II i at least t people perish JIe sak I I was rng on the end of ono c ii the HamHArncrican line piers and saw aboufety people crowded under pjor No lpc North German Lloyd They werulng to seine of the passing pass-ing tugbouut their appeals were In I vain and vn the flames got near them theyil Into the water There was no aiince near them at the time arid move that every one cither drow or perished in the flameS ft About 2r0le were rescued at the I HainburgAbau iln pier They were nniih tpme from exhaustion but soon rcftvlth sLhrmhinlii MOUXN OF FInE vWhch the broke oul such head 4 way was gained by the lime the Ito boktn flre depart men I arrived lhat they were utterly Ifelplcss lo cope with the flames Calls were made to the New York flue department for assistance and flre tugs were will over They however had little effect on the great mountain of flame and smoke By 7 u oclock the three piers of the Herman Iilojd Steamship company had been burned to the ground GREAT WAREHOUSES BURN The souilr end of the Campbell Storage Stor-age company consisting of five live rlory structures caught flro and flames shot fiom every winduxv of the two floors In but a few minutes rue buildIngs build-Ings being fllled mainly with jute and whisky burned rapidly The firemen were unable lo go within fighting dis lance and the fire had pretty much Us J I own way there In these buildings I great loss viii be sustained CREMATED WIT1I SHIPS 1 The steamships Saale and Bremen Bre-men after being puUccl free from the docks were towed ablaze down the bay and bpaehod off Liberty Islnnd On the Bremen as she blazed out In midstream six men could be seen with their hpads out of portholes waving wav-ing handkerchiefs for assistance Tug boats and 3mall boats darted around the big steamships making every effort 1 10 save the men but the terrible heat from the flames kept them away HAD NARROW ESCAPE The saving of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was attended with exciting Incidents It seemed as If II would never be possible lo get her clear and the fire was spreading so rapidly that It threatened at almost any moment to break out on the big ship The great hawsers In the confusion could not be handled well and axes were brought Into use lo chop them releasing the vessel She was towed out Into midstream mid-stream and then far up the river Her bows were slightly burned LIFESAVER MEETS DEATH Five minutes after the fire broke out a woman jumped from one of the ships In a vain effort to reach the water The I flames drove her from the ship and she plunged heedlessly In the direction in which It seemed safety lay She leaped into a burning lighter alongside the ship and when an officer on board the ship who still stood by the doomed yes scli saw her and realized what would be her fate he plunged down after her hoping to drag her out of the burning lighter into the water He followed her within a couple of seconds and both went clown into the flames In the lighter light-er and perished FIRE SPREAD RAPIDLY The rapid spreading of the flre Is accounted for by the shifting of the wind When the fire broke out the wind was blowing strongly from the south This drove the flames across to the pier above the one on which It started Within a few minutes the wind shifted almost directly to the opposite point Under the great pavilion on tJi land end the flames wore soon in abso lute control Had not the recourse to dynamite been taken to destroy the HamburgAmerican pier the flames might have gone on All the fire boats and tugs in the harbor would not have slopped them HEAT WAS INTENSE The flames in hc cotton kept the fire at an intense heat and the flremen suf 1e1i greatly Agnjn and again it seemed asfcf they must abandon the fight The vantage points at which they could attack the flames were few and their efforts were necessarily hanv pered The smoke which poirreO dot of the flames and ascended high lnto the air blew directly eastward and main tained Its column for a distance of about seventy miles as 1L was seen clearly beyond Babylon L L STORY OF A SURVIVOR One man in the hospital with burned hands and face was rescued by another an-other man more severely burned than himself He said he was helpless In the water when the other threw an arm about him and buoyed him up The others face was fearfully burned and the others arm was useless but he treaded water and floated so skillfully that they floated down the river and a tug went to their rescue The man who told the story sold he fainted after be ing rescued and did not know If his res cuer had alto been taken out of the water MEN GO INSANE Some of thopc who went into the wa lerand were rescued and but slight v I Injured say that when others were caught between the fire and water and saw death coming they went insane Men babbled of home and friends dur ing the few brief moments that they and the others faced death The fear of the furnace which lay between them and the land bereft them of their sciises COWARDICE AS WELL AS JIT3KO ISM There were acts of rowardicr > as well an heroism Men clung to others anti I refused to let go even though the act meant death to both One of the sur vivors was seized by I another mon who lung to him frantically and refused to let go Ihe man iliO was later saved hart to beat his companion Into insensi bility before ho could loosen his hold and plunge into the water FIRE APPARATUS LOST When Mho Hoboken flrcmcn reachdd the fire at first they net qut to confine It to the pior on which It started Thev got their lines out on the two adjoining pier and even ran their apparatus out to pump water from the river When the flames spread the hose on the pier was lost Some of the apparatus liar I rowly escaped being consumed and as It was one hose cart and its horses were burned Later Jersey City stripped Itself of all the hose possible and sonl H lo Ho boken firemen in a wagon for use With this streams were later gotten on the fire but It was then under control havIng burned Itself out STILL BURNING THIS MORNING At 230 oclock UHs Sunday morn big the fire Is sllll burning brightly and viewed from the New York side pre I sents a brilliant spectacle No esll male of the loss of life falls below 100 The bodies on tho deck and in the hold of the Saale will piobably bo recov ered by divers at once but of the thor ens who jumped Into tho North river somo will never be found at all The steamboat men lost are nearly all Get mans and many have no friends or relatives In this country No attempt lies yet been made to compile a list of I the dead WAS A LIVING FURNACE Capl Smith of the police boat said he thought there were a number of bodies i below the Saab When I got to the I Saab on the first trip with HIP tug I ho Paid I saw several men with their heads at the port holes They were stuck fast and could get neither in nor i out The ship was gradually Hlnkiug 1 I It was a terrible flight Some of the i i men called lo UK In their own tongue to i help them for Cnds Hnie Their i struggles Aere something frantic We J 1 could do nothing for them The upper part of tho vessel was a living furnace i fur-nace We tried lo get the prisoners through the port holefi But the holes i weie even smaller than usual We gave a line to one man and tried to pull him Ihrough but it was a futile QfCorL I I can even now hear tho poorV fellows sleeking In his despair as he saw us drawing away from him WOMANS FIGHT FOR LIFE We heard the cries of othera back = of the porlhoMcH They sttmed lo be struggling for what little air amlioa piU 1 thin holes gave those already there It was terrible We saw one woman at a porthole The flumes were rapIdly rap-Idly I approaching1 her Sho uns said toe b to-e a gte ardPSJi A deck hand On the lug handed her a small hose anti she played It about her staterooms for a few moments They were precious moments mo-ments My God liow that woman fought for her life She might as well pouted l n tcaeupful of water Into a i Jiving volcano for all the good it did Sho had no possible chance As she fought the fire the ship sank rapidly steadily and her struggles were stopped by an Inrush of water as the port hole sank below tho surface The officials of the steamship think the Joss of life probably greater on the Sonic They place the number at from thirty foifty and say the majority ma-jority of victims were employed as firemen fire-men and coal passers ESTIMATING THE DEAD The World estimates the number of lives l lost at 0fl The Journal places thd loss nt 200 Othor papers plape the number of chad atjfrom 100 to ii50 |
