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A MOST DREADFUL Over Six Hundred Men, Women and Children Lose Life in the Burning of ail Excursion Steamer. AWFUL Sunday School Picnic Par* ty Numbering Nearly 2,000 are Whelm ed by Flames and Die. Or.c of the mosi appalling disasters in the history of New York, tragic in its immensity, dramatic in its episodes and deeply pathetic in the tender age of most of its victims, took place Wednesday morning in the East river at the entrance to ihe Long Island sound, within a short distance of New York shore and within sight of sands of persons, the majority of whom were powerless io minimize the ex ten! of the catastrophe. The three decked excursion steam er General Slocum, with nearly two thousand people aboard, caught fire in Hcl] Gate, off 135th street, and burned to the water’s edge. The flames burst through the decks from the lower hold with such fury that before the steamer could be turn ed into the shore and beached six hun dred and fifty people had lost their lives. Following the discovery of fire aboard, the passengers, consisting principally of women and children, w'ere seized with panic. The scream ing passengers rushed to the rail and plunged overboard, others fled to the end of the vessel, were caught by the flames and consumed; still others stood riveted in their tracks, going down to death when the immense hur ricane deck collapsed and fell into the seething flames. « Such scenes of horror even stagger the imagination; they cannot be dc scribed. as the flames roared through the ship, men, women and children, crying piteously for help, which none could render, either jumped headlong into the water or were consumed by the flames. Many who were rescued reached shore insane, mothers crying in vain for their children; children calling their parents whose bodies were at the bottom of the river or in ash as in the sunken ship. Mothers fought mothers, believing their children had been claimed by mistake. Men, wrapped in flames, fought for places of safety, only to fail back into the roaring cauldron. Children, helpless and in panic, their white faces made whiter by the wall of smoke, peered into the faces of eye witnesses, who were powerless to aid them. Here and there a scream would Hie death of some unfortunate who been licked up in the fire. Now and then a pitiful, ing cry of terror rent, the nium as a mother saw her child to the flames. Wildly insane, people rushed side to side of the ill fated ship, praying others cursing as the 15 re w momentarily more intense torturing. MANY COMMITTED SUICIDE. Scores committed dehorn ate when they realized all hope was Pai-sengeis, seeing the flames proach nearet. dcliberatelj from their dizzy height into the current below, knowing there was help for them there, hut drowning to cremation. The tragedy canto with such suddenness there was no warning any one. A moment be To re the cry “Fire!” .the steamer echoed with laughter of children and the shouts of the party. The fire was first discovered 135tli street. The flames came a rush seldom witnessed for fury swiftness. There was not a to right about the ship. At the first outcry of alarm, and women sprang to the rail, a moment at the scene of ble peril behind, and then jumped the water. When the steamer hart 138th street passengers ere overboard by the scon- and a mom later by Hie hundreds. HURRICANE DECK COLLAPSES. ! At this moment the hurricane deck ' was crowded almost to suffocation. It | was here hundreds had rushed for j ! safety, hoping to escape the terrific tongues of flames that were sweeping the lower decks. Then came a crash, a dreadful noise of tearing planks and stifled screams of agony and indescribable woe—the great deck with its hundreds had col lapsed and all gone down into the seething furnace below. The fire is said to have broken out in a lunch room on the forward deck j through the overturning of a pot of grease. The wind was high and all ef , R)r ^ s sb bdue the fire were futile. At 134th street there are several , j lumber yards and oti J tanks, and _ as Captain Van Schaik, in command of the General Slocum, started to turn hm vessel towards , the shore , there, .. , he was warned that it would set fire to the lumber and oil. and so he changed his course for North Brothers island, one of the twin islands near the en trance to the sound, some half a mile I away, where the boat partially burn j ed, vsas beached. She sank near tins place at 12:2a I o’clock, hours and 25 minutes af two ter the fire was first discovered. When the police headquarters re ceived the first vague report of the dis aster every source of succor and aid was utilized. The hospitals were no tified by telephone and each sent all able and , aval surgeons, nurses lances to the scene. The police reserves of a half dozen stations were hurried out and more than fifty patrol wagons were sent for ambulance purposes. North Brothers island, where the Slocum was beached, is occupied by municipal charity hospitals and a con siderable number of physicians and nurses were immediately available. Many of those picked up alive in the river will die. Every man on board who could swim weut overboard loaded , down with children. Many <> iese ,° S ( because, bun as it. . |tlieir li\es cam i were. they could make no headway | ; against the overpowering swirl of the ’ tide as it rushed from the East river i ;nt() ibe gound ,, U) Wednesday night four hun- 1 ^ had been dr (1 and f or tv-seven bodies ] recovered and divers were still at work taking bodies from the hold of steamer. The remains of many per wns who leaped into the river have ] ‘ u)L yet been {oimd and it will be some i time before the list of dead is any where near complete. The General Slocum left Third street East River, at 9:30 o'clock Wed nesday morning, having on board the ! ann ttal Sunday school excursion of • j gt Mark’s German Lutheran Church, J ' atevi j n sixth street. Her desilna tion was Locust Grove one of the many resorts on Long Island Sound, The excursion was in charge of the Rev George C. Haas, pastor or the ' ( . burcb The vessel was commanded by Cap j , ajn ^TlMam Van Schaik, one of i bPst - known excursion boat in New York harbor. He has rnanded the General Slocum for most the entire time since sfim built. in 1891. The number of cursionlsts on board is variously mated at from 1.500 to 2,000, but wording to an offlcial statement, | sued by the Knickerbocker j ship Company, owners of the the number of passengers was : being one-third of the vessels that | consed capacity. During her flame-enveloped tun j North Brothers Island the General , cuni’s whistles kept blowing for ! aD ce. but before the whistle b iow several tugs, the ,,f which had seen the outbreak of f trP> started after the vessel, joined a yacht, while row boats put out ( he shore. The number of these | constantly grew and not the dramatic incidents of the were the efforts of the people on ; boats to rescue those who had j overboard from the burning Men crowded to the rails of the and caught up the drowning they were borne by the There were many thrilling rescues this means. Captain Van Schaik *and his ‘pilots, Edward Van Wart and E. Weaver, have been arrested. At midnight the casualties were >mated as follows: Known dead, nj fired in various hospitals, 300; -. saved, 200 - number • sir, •175. UTTER ROUT Decisive and Bloody Battle Fought at Telliss, Hear Port Arthur. JAPS WERE THE VICTORS Result of the Conflict Eliminates all Hope of Relief for Beleaguered Stronghold. Advices from Tokio state that the . R UgS j an bope of relieving the pressure on Port Arthur by threatening the j rear of General Oku, the commander 1 of the Japanese forces investing the Russian stronghold, came to an end j Wednesday at Tellip.su, a point on the railroad * 50 miles north of Kin-Chou ; and T -‘ miles north of V afangou, when I the Russians were out maneuvered, en ! veloped and sweepingly ' defeated. They left over 500 dead on the field | and the Japanese captured 300 prison ! o«’s and fourteen quick-firing field ( g , mg The Ru8gians retreated hastily , to the northward j The Japanese charge that the Rus ■ j sians vio]ated the Japanese flag . Cer . rain offlcers aver tbat during the fight . j ing a body of RlJBian soldiers appear . . . Tananese flair -ind that j the >JapaneKe ' aiti!lerV( (i Reived by I the HsCg . ceftsed firing upon that ticular body of Rugglasss . official dis i patches from the Japanese command er ,, made spec5flc charges of this flag v j 0 i a ti on Early estimates of the Japanese losses at Telissu say that 1,000 men were killed or wounded. The Japan ese attacking force was divided into right unci left columns and began the advance on Tuesdav along both sides o{ (h<j railroad They encountered the Russians east of \ afangou and dro\e them back. At a late hom in the af ternoon the Russians held a line be tween Lung-Wang-Liao and Ta-Fang Cheng. The .Japanese artillery open j I ed on this line and ihe Russians re- 1 sponded. The shelling continued for two ; hours, and it was followed by the ad vance of the Japanese line to a posi , j ition extending from Lung-Chia-Tung 1 to Yu-Hotun. Darkness put an end j i to the fighting. The Japanese dis patched a column to the westward to j ward Fu-Chau for ihe purpose of cov er ; ng the Russiaji right wing and to j protect their left and rear. During the night it became apparent that the Russians were being retn j forced, and it was decided to make a general attack in the morning and force the Russians into a defile back of Telissu. When morning came it was discov ered that the Russians held a line extending from Ta-Fang-Shen to j ; ted Cheng-Tsu-Shan at over two divisions. with a force estimat ] Whi.e the mam Japanese torce was raoving north along the railroad, co - j j the nRht antl aU converged g at ' - ,he , Rns . I>osltlon . j “ oon ou mai ' 1 an ’ J The Ru8 this . position . were at sians m . | * disadvantage, but they held it until j 8 ° clock m the afternoon. At ,s ; tm,r they ««re routed. Ihe cavalry I ' i continued to pursue the enemy and i probably inflicted considerable punish ! tnent. The Japanese commander makes no ] estimates of the Russian losses, but j Ways they probably were great. MAY NEED EDNDS Al HOME. Alabama Miners Decline to Aid Brother Workers in Colorado. : At Wednesday's session of the j ted Mine Workers of America, district ^[ abama a t Birmingham, a : tion was offered authorizing a ] sentative of the Colorado miners | j n the district to solicit financial . |, Qr (, be c 0 j orado miners from i miners. A member, who lias j cpil fj y been j n Colorado, opposed s 3({ Uon ot the resolution, saying from present indications the j j miners might soon need all j available funds at home. On statement the resolution was j Panama io use ami rican coin. \ . ] Commission Atjrees Upon Sysieni of j j eucv (or the ( aunt Isthmus. A Washington dispatch says: ] commision charged with the tion of a currency system lor have reached an agreement which tablishes a coin equivalent in ness and weight to the dollars of United States as the standard, which also makes the United j dollar legal tender in Panama. i Under the terms of the j the Panama government will recoin convert the Columbian silver ! coins of the size of a sip er dollar. t FIERCE AND FURIOUS as Onslaught of Japs and Russians at Vafangou Witnessed by Asso ciated Press Man. The correspondent of the Assoeiat ed Press was present at the battle of v “ f “ 80u ; aml ? ys: The stern, dogged , « fighting at the t battle of Vafangou was like another i Borodino. The roar of the machine I guns ami the boom of cannon still j j three ring in days one’s of ,-orhbat ears. Throughout the officers and the ' mm vled witb wh ln >> ,u< * ” d heroism. They have added a glorious page to Russia’s military history. “The enemy’s advance originally in cluded the fifth, eighth and eleventh divisions, twelve squadrons of cavalry i and splendid artillery. About 200 j guns were belcTTing a continuous j stream of shot and shell. Large rein ! foreements enabled them to turn the ! Russian flanks. The division on ihe right precipitated the battle on the morning of June 15. Major General ! Gerngross. who was wounded, com mandod the- left flanK, and General i Lor.tchkavsky commanded the center includiag four battalions cone tied in a small wood whence they dealt death and destruction on the enemy. The Russian right was protected by Cos sacks, , dragoons and Siberian rifles, “While the i big guns were thunder | ing I made m.v way. ai about 11 a. m., to the Russian right flank and climbed a hill, where I could view the whole field of ba-ttle:” A dispatch from Liao-Yang says, During the night of June 15 the Rus sian forces under General Stakelburg, which had been engaged with the Jap anese for two days, slept in their po sition, four miles south of Vafangou, and on ihe morning of June 16 assum ed the offensive and attacked the Jap anese lines. The battle lasted all day and the Russians inflicted heavy loss on the enemy. No doubt was felt by the Russians of their ability IO' force the Japan ege blit heavy reinforcements f 0r enemy had been brought up rapidly from the south, arriving in time to turn the scale. An entire division of fresh Japan esc ! roups was thrown into line against the already tired Russians and ! the immense superiority in numbers j enabled r.hem to over-lap tfhe left j flank of the Russian;:, who had not suf- 1 ficient men to meet the turning move ment and were forced to withdraw WISCONSIN “SfALWARTS” WIN. , The Republican National Executive Com mittee ,, Decides .. a I . actional , hqht. f . j , the republican ... national .. , committer; .. ; at the ,, meeting , m Chicago Friday , j ; afternoon ... voted , to seat the , Wiscon- .... ' sni .... stalwarts, including ,, United i i i htales Senators ^ Spooner and Quarles. ! * j 1 he faction , headed by , Governor La- , holiette fighting ~ the ... tour del- , , was tor j egai.es , at , large, . Isaac , Stephenson, ... Robert Id. LaFollette. James B. Stout and W. D. Connor. The “stalwarts. so-called, were demanding seats for xfinite-d States Senators Spooner and Q„ arleg an<] Congressman Babcock i an<1 K,niI ttaenson ’ Each faction has a state ticket of I its own, as well as a state committer, , In{eregt in lhe resulI ot th( vviscon , j sin contest was more general, prob ; ab iy than that regarding ‘ any ' other : „„ e , lion b6{ore , he , ;omn ute A large likeness of the laie Mar cus A. Hanna has been hung in the coliseum and it is the only portrait j j that will greet ihe eyes of ihe dele ! gates to the republican national con i ; vention. • Measuring 20 feet high and 17 feet ! wide, the huge oil paiting. mounted in a massive gjit frame, has been placed just back of the spectator’s stand, I RUSSIANS IMPRISON AN AMERICAN. j ^ Correspondent of 1 ar Indianapolis Paper I onquishes in Port Arthur Jail. A cablegram to The News, apolis, from Stanley Washburn, Spc i cial correspondent of The i News, at Chefoo. says that Hector Fuller, staff war correspondent, of The Indianapolis News, has been captured by four Russian sodiers and taken to • Port Arthur. He was blindfolded ami j placed in prj*nn. . --------- LOSSES DROVE HIM 10 SttCIDf. j Chicago Lawyer Slays Sell in a Jackson | ville, Florida, Hotel. Charles s. McCoy, a prominent at I torney, with offices in the city Vf! * j Chicago, committed Suicide in Jackson i Fla., Friday morning by cut ting his throat with a razor in a isath ! tub at a hotel. - is said, t it in the last few 1 days, had lost $10,009 by speculating in stock on Wall street through a lo :al firm. Mr. McCoy was in Jacksonville ook ing after a suit of John L. Davis, against the Seminole TtH’d Reek Pho- 1 phut,* Cowpimy. Barasrsi r I JL1V/1V GROWS APAC , List , Dead SIccum ol in Hoicca Thousand Souls u,1 , « j BODIES j BEING RECOVER! j Up to Thursday Night the Remi uu 536 Victims Had Been Ta From the Burned ;r. Stonier. j A New York dispatch sAys: Wi unceasing effort search is going on j the bodies of those who perished % nesday on the General Slocum Whj the list of victim:} will total scarj one dare venture a guess, h'h wh; ever the number may he. there hardly a parallel in th e history of dj asl>ils "’here death came to so maji brief a period, of time. Poll and hearth department officials l ‘ ia <p i aGPd a flgnre as high as ] ()() more, l *‘ iV b>ng l hursday, from $ rise until darkness shut off even t| melancholy satisfaction of watehij f OI . tba dead anxious searchers ki up the eternal vigilance, and at du Ibere had been recovered 536 bodij for the greater part women anti ci dren—mothers who weeks ago J planned that, fatal outing for thl children; little ones, who had Ion tor the coming of the happy day. Unlike the Iroquois theatre, and< catastrophes ol : recent er. years, wh the woe of the disaster read throughout the land, the blow oft Slocum’s mortality falls heavily u; one little neighborhood of a great ci St Mark’s parish, which furnish nearly every victim, lies within t crowded blocks of the middle easts] of New York, and there is hardW house there not in mourning. The race of the burning, stead from the moment the fire was disq ered until her hows crashed on shelving, beach of North Brothers land lasted little more titan fen a utes, yet that time sufficed for del of heroism which make the one bra chapter in the heartrending story. 1 credit for the greatest saving of I j is due to the hardy tugboat men J other fo5l °' wers of the river ’ braved flames and held the nosei their . boats against , he fire-wrapl J s steamer , until driven , , off „ , by the J u scorched , , ami , choking. , , . Dead , boi of , found with their J of women were J ed clasping , close , ,. the pi| arms J forms of „ little children, .... , and if were found, „ , their .. . arms enfolding ,„„J f other , in , the ,, stiff _ embrace of , deaf Cowardice Laid to Crew. But there is a darker side hii at along the river front, where iold stories that seem m be the to able accompaniment or all great ,amities of a character ’ Ther0 specific has been enough no . e ™J to ten it upon individuals survivors and and pennj m punishment, but nesses say that some brutal the| ad selfishness and cowardice on of the Slocum's crew were seen ■ that, distress signals from, the' ing boat were disregarded by I* Even, more horrible is the sto Miss Martha Weirk, who says while she struggled in the vat boat drew alongside her. and that after stripping her of her rings i other jewelry, pushed her hack the water, The body of the ste had been rifled when found, a several dollars he was supP 1 * have in his pockets, not a cent found, Mayor Takes Action. M ay or McClellan announced - day afternoon that he had de«« j proclamation asking ^ issue ______ a ^ scriptions for the burial of and for such other immediate as could be given, He said he ask ten of prominence id men on a committee! to take charts® Pbnrf. JUVENILE COURT ENCOllRA&tS ci More Youths are Being Arrested * i Than Ever Before ! assert t*> I The police of Atlanta juvenile court of tnai eit.v I s more harm than good, bum • They claim that, crime is tiplied by the establishment juvenile court. will sho 1 The police records for the past month m° rt 15 u ^‘ ^ : were arrested under - than for the six months P r j Outside of the crmr.ua ' ^ i boys are arrested on ni ’ ’ vocation,