June 15, 1904, The General Slocum Fire

June 15, 1904: The PS General Slocum catches fire in the East River, in New York City, killing 1,021 of the 1,342 people on board.

The "PS" stood for "Passenger Ship." It was named for Henry Warner Slocum (1827-1895), who commanded the 27th New York Infantry during the American Civil War, including at the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg, July 1 to 3, 1863, and during General William Tecumseh Sherman's "March to the Sea" in Georgia the following year. He later served in Congress.

The ship was a paddlewheel steamer, launched in 1891 with a legal capacity of 2,500 passengers. The Knickerbocker Steamboat Company operated her, and, like the Circle Line established in 1945, offered rides around Manhattan Island, and to other nearby places, including Staten Island, Coney Island in Brooklyn, the Rockaways in Queens.

But she was plagued by problems. She around aground off Rockaway only 4 months after being launched. In 1894, she hit a sandbar. Later that year, she ran aground off Coney Island. Again that year, she collided with a tug in the East River, and needed serious repairs. In 1898, she collided with another boat near Battery Park. And in 1902, she ran aground once more.

The St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church, based in what was then known as Little Germany -- now the East Village and the Lower East Side -- chartered the General Slocum for their annual picnic at Locust Grove, in Eatons Neck in what's now Huntington, Suffolk County, Long Island. The majority of the passengers -- 745, as opposed to 613 adults -- were children, born to German immigrants, or the grandchildren of such. (It's hard to imagine in the wake of the 2 World Wars that would be fought in the ensuing 40 years, but, even 75 years after that, Germans are the largest ethnic group in America.)

The ship was launched from its pier at 3rd Street at 9:30 AM. It sailed up the East River, between Manhattan and Blackwell Island (later renamed for the man then President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt). Passing 90th Street, a fire was started in the forward cabin, generally believed to be caused by a discarded cigarette or match. The room had straw, lamp oil and oily rags, and this fed the fire.

By 10:00, as the ship was at Hell Gate, at Randall's Island, the passengers became aware of the fire. The Captain, William H. Van Schaick, ordered that the ship be beached on North Brother Island, which, like the smaller South Brother Island, is between the Hunts Point section of The Bronx and Rikers Island. When this was done, at 10:10, Van Schaick... abandoned ship like a coward, jumping into the water and swimming to the Island. 

The crew had never practiced a fire drill. The lifeboats were tied up, useless. The life preservers were old, and tore apart, equally useless. Most of the people on board didn't know how to swim, and most were wearing wool clothing that weighed them down once they hit the water. It wasn't fire, but water that caused most of the deaths. Two tugboats arrived, and managed to save over 200 people.

Many of the victims were buried at the Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens, and so the official General Slocum Memorial was erected there.

A federal grand jury indicted 8 people, but only one was convicted: Van Schaick, on the charge of criminal negligence. He was acquitted of manslaughter. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and served 3 1/2 at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining before being paroled. He died in 1927, more forgotten than disgraced.

The losses, especially of the children, essentially put an end to Little Germany. Demographics also had something to do with it: The 1890s and the 1900-09 decade brought in immigrants that changed New York dramatically. Italians poured into Greenwich Village, and Eastern Europeans, both Catholic and Jewish, turned Little Germany into the East Village and the Lower East Side that now occupies the public memory. In 1940, St. Mark's was converted into a synagogue.

Catherine Uhlmyer was 11 years old when she survived the fire. She died in 2002, the last person who could remember being on board. The youngest survivor was Adele Liebenow, just 7 months old. She lost 2 sisters, 2 aunts and 2 cousins in the fire. In 1906, just 2 1/2, she pulled the string that unveiled the monument in the Queens cemetery. She grew up in Watchung, Somerset County, New Jersey, became a public schoolteacher under her married name Adella Wotherspoon, and became the last survivor of the fire, dying on January 26, 2004, 2 months after her 100th birthday, and 5 months prior to the fire's Centennial.

The General Slocum fire would remain New York City's deadliest fire until September 11, 2001.

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June 15, 1904 was a Wednesday. Professional basketball and professional hockey did not exist, at least not openly. Professional football barely did. But a full slate of games was played in what would later be called Major League Baseball: 

* The New York Highlanders lost to the St. Louis Browns, 6-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Barney Pelty outpitched Long Tom Hughes. The Highlanders were limited to 5 hits, including 1 by Wee Willie Keeler.

In 1913, the Highlanders officially changed their name to what people began calling them in 1904, the Yankees. In 1909, Sportsman's Park was torn down and replaced with a new ballpark with that name, on the same site. It would remain the home of the Browns until 1953, after which they moved, becoming the Baltimore Orioles. The St. Louis Cardinals began playing there in 1920. After Gussie Busch bought the team in 1953, he also bought the ballpark, and renamed it Busch Stadium, and built its replacement in 1966. That stadium, and the one that replaced it in 2006, have also been named Busch Stadium.

* The New York Giants lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-2 at the Polo Grounds, about 4 miles west of the site of the fire. But the Giants would win the National League Pennant.

* The Brooklyn Superbas swept a doubleheader with the Cincinnati Reds at Washington Park, in what's now the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. They won the opener 4-0, as Ned Garvin pitched a 5-hit shutout. They won the nightcap 10-5. In 1911, they became the Brooklyn Dodgers.

* The Boston Beaneaters beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at the South End Grounds in Boston. The Beaneaters would go through a few name changes before becoming the Braves in 1912, moving to Milwaukee in 1953 and Atlanta in 1966.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-3 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Americans, 3-0 at South Side Park in Chicago. Nick Altrock, later to become known as one of the Clown Princes of Baseball, pitched a 5-hit shutout, defeating Cy Young. But the Americans, who changed their name to the Red Sox in 1908, would edge the Highlanders for the American League Pennant.

When the Giants refused to play the AL Champions in a World Series -- afraid of losing, especially to the AL's New York team -- the Series was canceled. The Red Sox could claim the 1904 World Championship on a forfeit, but don't. It would be a fairer claim than those they make for 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018.

* The Cleveland Naps beat the Washington Senators, 8-0 at League Park in Cleveland. Red Donahue allowed 9 hits, but kept the shutout. The Cleveland team was named for Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, their manager, 2nd baseman, and star hitter. When he left after the 1914 season, the team was renamed the Cleveland Indians.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 1-0 at Bennett Park in Detroit. Wild Bill Donovan pitched a 2-hit shutout, and Sam Crawford's RBI single in the bottom of the 9th won it. Ty Cobb's debut, with the Tigers, was more than a year away.