Salt Lake Tribune | 1914-09-27 | Page 8 | Flames Consume Cargo of Cretic

FLUMES COilf , CHOJF CRETIG Hundreds of Bales of Cot-. Cot-. ton Burned; Reservists Panic-stricken. M'W YOEK. Sept. 20. Sixteen hundred hun-dred bales of cotton, stored in the lower hold of the White Star liner Cretic, caught fire this morning as the vessel lay at her pier under steam and readv to weigh anchor for Genoa. Several Sev-eral hundred Italian reservists, crowded into the steerage over night, were routed hv smoke and fled to the pier. The fire gained headway rapidly. ; Within fifteen minutes from the time the first wisp of smoke curled up from the second hatchway, the hold appeared to be a roaring furnace and soon smoke hung in heavy clouds over the river. For nearly" an hour the fire raged practically unchecked. Then there came alongside the burning vessel two of the city's fireboats. These boats pumped thousands of gallons of water on the Cretic's dock, it was not until un-til a half hour later the firemen were ablo to play streams directly on the blaze. Meantime confusion on the pier among cabin passengers readv to embark em-bark was so great that panic seemed to impend. The hundreds there became thousands with the rapid rush to the scene, of pa -ers-bv. A heavy detachment detach-ment of polite reserves finally restored a Fern Ida nee of order. The fire continued con-tinued to burn steadily, and the volume of smoke spread up ami down the river. It was after 11 o'eloek when the fir1 was brought uiiiIt control. The ship herself, it was said, did not catch fire, and the damage was thiI'mW to the cottoi in the holt). This cotton was ! consigner to Naples. j Officers of the line !iid the Oetie ; probably would be unable to sail to-I to-I day. Tnp origin nf the f i r was nnt determined, deter-mined, but it was believed the blaze; 'was st a rted by a liph t rd c i garotte or 1 : cigar tossed into the hold. 1 j