Show FERRYBOAT CAPSIZED twenty laboring men drowned flat bottomed ferryboat overloaded Is capsized by an alarmed crowd of passengers and upsets cleveland ohio july 16 the most appalling disaster which has ever occurred in cleveland excepting only the viaduct horror last winter when a loaded car plunged cue hundred feet into the river occurred tonight at 8 while a flat bottomed ferryboat loaded with between forty and fifty laborers was crossing the old river channel it was capsized and all the men thrown into the channel and between fifteen and twenty drowned i the bodies fondd thus far are those of charles Spro eke married seven children william saunders married one child august hasten married michael lynch fritz bortels chris gerlach prokup charles Bo bermeister married julius berkhe married chris gehren married charles kraus widower three children edward ryan married unknown man also unknown man at and morgue the accident was due to a panic among the men on board the boat was loaded until the gunwale was only three inches above the water and a passing tug made wavea which came into the boat at once there was a rush to the other bide and the boat went under the men were members of a gang of ore handlers and were coming home from work th e scene in the river was one of a wild for life men grappled each other and arent down iff their fierce struggles while cries for help struck horror to the souls of witnesses lineer and life preservers were thrown from the tug and the steamer landfa which was also passing and many were pulled aboard others of the unfortunates were rescued by email boats and bome swam ashare the life saving crew was summoned and the work of searching lor bodies was begun a short ime seven of the unfortunates were brought to chore and taken to the morgue for identification those who escaped in every direction and it is uncertain just how many lives were lost twenty men are reported missing and the dragging of the channel is still in progress the crowding of the boat was due to the fact that the ore gangs pay just eo much per trip on the ferry and the more that got on the lees the cost to the passengers the men mostly lived on gauge street and selden avenues which lead down to the docks and ship yards and the scenes there were indescribable men women and children ran about screaming and much disorder prevailed by 11 toni glit fourteen bodies have been recovered and taken to the various morgues among those who were rescued was richard masten engineer of the new steamer sir henry bessemer which was lying at the ore docks when he saw the boat was turning he jumped ba was caught under the scow when it turned over and working his way underneath the boat getting air by rising in the overturned cratt be managed at last to dive clear of the wreck and swam his own vessel and was pulled aboard there was an immense crowd soon gathered on the banks of the river watching the work of the boats conducting the search among them was wm benlow a pressman in moving about he lost his footing fell into the river and was drowned the scenes enacted by the undertakers were disgusting in the extreme they almost came to blowe in their anxiety to gain possession of the bodies and the police had to interfere in the interest of decency |