THE " SLOCUM " DISASTER By the burning and sinking of the General Slocum, a steamboat of the Knickerbocker Steamboat Company, in the East River on June 15, 1904, 958 persons are known to have lost their lives ; 897 bodies having been identified, and 61 buried without identification.
The boat had been chartered for the day for a picnic by the Sunday school of St. Mark's Evangelical Church. The majority of those who were lost were of German birth or descent, communicants of the Lutheran Church, or their relatives or friends ; although, as tickets had been sold by members of the Sunday school to any who desired to attend the picnic, there was also a certain represen tation of other nationalities and of other religious faiths. The excursionists were mainly women and children, only nine male heads of families having been known to be lost, and in comparison with the appalling loss of life there was comparatively little loss of property. This was con fined practically to the clothes worn by those on board who were naturally in holiday attire, their jewellery, which was valued in one instance at $800, and the money and bank books carried on the person—a surprisingly large amount, estimated by the coroner to amount in the aggregate to $200,000. While in some instances the mothers or older children who were lost in the disaster were wage-earners, even this was the exception rather than the rule, many of the grown daughters in the families affected not being engaged in wage-earning occupations. Two-thirds of the This is the text of the report of the Citizens' Relief Committee to Mayor George B. McClellan, of which committee the author was Acting Secretary when the report was made in September, 1904, on the conclusion of the active work of the Committee.
445 families subsequently aided in the burial of their dead (255 families) carried insurance, and in 155 of these families the amount of the insurance exceeded the total funeral expenses. In the case of five other families there were bank accounts which supplemented or took the place of insurance, and in several cases the amount of life insur ance obtained was upward of $1000.
These facts indicate clearly that the families affected by the disaster were self-supporting and in many instances prosperous members of the community, not likely to be come dependent upon charitable relief even when over taken by unexpected misfortune.
Even before the full extent of the calamity had been made known, generous contributions to a relief fund for the benefit of the survivors and the families of the victims were offered, and on Thursday, June 16, Mayor McClellan issued the following proclamation : To The CITIZENS OF NEW YORK : — " The appalling disaster yesterday, by which more than five hundred men, women, and children lost their lives by fire and drowning, has shocked and horrified our city. Knowing the keen sympathy of the people of the City of New York with their stricken fellows, I have appointed a committee of citizens to receive contributions to a fund to provide for the fit and proper burial of the dead, and for such other relief as may be necessary.
" The following gentlemen have been asked to serve on the com mittee : Morris K. Jesup, Jos. C. Hendrix, Jacob H. Schiff, Thomas M. Mulry, Herman Ridder, George Ehret, Charles A. Dickey, John Fox, Robert A. Van Cortlandt, H. B. Scharmann, Erskine Hewitt.
"Until the Committee has had an opportunity to organize, I shall be glad to receive contributions at the Mayor's office.
" As a sign of mourning I have ordered the flags on the City Hall to be put at half-mast.