Some of those who went into the water and were rescued and but slightly injured say that when others were caught between the water and fire and saw death coming they insane. Men babbled of home and friends during the few brief moments that they and the others faced death. The fear of the furnace which lay between them and the land bereft them of their senses. There were acts of cowardice as well as heroism. Men clung to others and refused to let go, even though the act meant death to both. Une of the survivors was seized by another man, who clung to him frantically and refused toler go, The man, who was later saved, h d to beat his companion into insensibility before he could loosen his hold and plunge into the eater.
One man in the hospital with burned hands and face was rescued by another man more severely burned than himself. He said he was helpless in the water when the other threw an arm about him and ved him up. The other's fa ly burned and his arm was useless, but he trod water and they floated down the river, when a tug went to their rescue. The man who told the story said he fainted after being rescued and did not know if his rescuer also been taken out of the water.
Peter Quinn, a Justice of the Peace, tells a story of having seen at least thirty people perish. He said: "I was standing on the end of one of the Hamburg-American line piers and saw about thirt people crowded under Pier No. 1 of the North German Lloyd. They were calling to some of the passing tugboats, but their appeals were in vain, and when the flames got near them they dived into the water. There was no assistance near them at the time und I believe that every one either drowned or perished in the flames."
The North German Lloyd officials say that the combined crews of the four ships numbered 1,105, of whom 600 have been accounted for. It will be several days before a correct list of the dead can be had, if, indeed, an accurate account will ever be rendered.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.