June 15, 1904: The Steamer General Slocum Is Consumed By Fire At Hell Gate Killing Over 1,000 People, Mostly Women and Children

This year marks the 120th anniversary of a tragedy that has been mostly forgotten, the General Slocum Disaster.

If you are unfamiliar with the General Slocum and the inferno that killed over 1,000 people, we  previously wrote about it here.

Delving deeper into full length accounts of the General Slocum, you have several choices.

A total of eight books and two government reports are solely devoted to the tragedy and encapsulate the story thoroughly. While seven of the eight books are out of print, most titles are available through abebooks.com for anywhere from $10 – $75 depending on title and condition. We have provided links to five of the titles which can be read for free as they are in the public domain.

While the General Slocum story has been incorporated into works of fiction, we will highlight only the eight non-fiction books, three of which were written immediately after the event.

Days after the disaster on June 18, 1904, three titles were filed with the copyright office for upcoming publication later in the year.

Incredibly the first book about the Slocum was in stores on June 29, 1904, just two weeks after the fire by author and publisher J.S. Oglivie.

The next two books published about the Slocum were sold by subscription, meaning that sales agents would go around and take orders from the public rather than the book being sold in bookstores.

1) History of the General Slocum Disaster by Which Nearly 1200 lives Were Lost :
By the Burning of the Steamer General Slocum in Hell Gate, New York Harbor, June 15,1904 : illustrated – John Stuart Ogilvie, 1904  J.S. Ogilvie Publishing Company.

For a book that came out so quickly it does provide a very good summary of the events. The book is available online here.

The second  book has a doozy of a title and was published August 3, 1904:

2) New York’s Awful Excursion Boat Horror, Told by Survivors and Rescuers; the Ghastly Story of the Heartrending Tragedy at Hell Gate Vividly Portrayed by Pen and Picture. Every Harrowing Detail of the World’s Most Appalling Holocaust Accurately Described by Eye-witnesses. The Self-sacrificing Heroism of Mothers. The Wholesale Cremation of Little Children. The Noble Deeds of Brave Life-savers. The Thrilling Scenes on the Flameswept Decks of the Ill-fated Pleasure Boat, General Slocum, Truthfully Delineated. – John Wesley Hanson, 1904, self-published

An excellent contemporary account of the fire. Very readable. Full of pictures and for the most part an accurate portrayal of the events surrounding the fire and its aftermath. You can read the book here.

The third book was published September 26, 1904 has an even longer and similarly verbose title:

3) New York’s Awful Steamboat Horror : Hundreds of Women and Children Drowned and Burned to Death With Graphic Descriptions of Flames Sweeping Many Souls to Eternity with Resistless Fury ; Panic Stricken Multitudes Jumping to Sure Death, etc., etc. and Containing Thrilling Stories of this Most Overwhelming Catastrophe of Modern Times to Which is Added Vivid Accounts of Heartrending Scenes Where Hundreds Were Burned and Drowned in Their Efforts to Escape – Henry Davenport Northrop, 1904 Memorial edition D.Z Howell Publishers 432 pages plus 59 unnumbered pages of plates

Northrop’s book is the best of the three contemporary accounts because it was published last and he had more time to gather material. Available for reading here.

The next two accounts were official government reports

4) Report of the United States Commission of Investigation Upon the Disaster to the Steamer “General Slocum.” October 8, 1904. – Lawrence O Murray Washington, Govt. Print. Office,
1904 62 pages

The official investigation is a concise summary of the Slocum. The report describes what went wrong. It can be read here

5) General Slocum Disaster : Hearings Before the United States House Committee on Claims, Sixty-First Congress, Second Session, on Apr. 20, 1910. United States. Congress. House. Committee on Claims. Washington : U.S. G.P.O., 89 pages.

The official hearings published six years after the Slocum fire can be read here.

It then took over 50 years before another book was devoted to the Slocum fire. Historian Irving Werstein tackled the subject in a book written for adolescents.

6) The General Slocum Incident; Story of an Ill-fated Ship – Irving Werstein 1965, New York, John Day Company, 159 pages

A simple book, written for a juvenile audience but it covers the disaster adequately and is a very quick read. Can be difficult to locate a copy that is not ex-libris.

7) The Burning of the General Slocum – Claude Rust, 1981, Elsevier/Nelson Books, 148 pages

The most personal account as author Rust had relatives aboard the steamer. Although the book is short at 148 pages, this version is the best for a reader who wants to understand the circumstances of the fire and get a personal flavor for the toll it took on the community of Little Germany in Greenwich Village. This was the first book I ever read about the General Slocum and it still holds up as compelling story-telling.

8) Fire on the River : The Story of the Burning of the Steamer General Slocum – Werner Braatz;  and Joseph Starr, 2000 published by Werner Braatz;  Joseph Starr

I have never encountered this self-published book which is over 300 pages long. Maybe one day I will find a copy.

9) Ship Ablaze : The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum  – Edward T O’Donnell, 2003 Broadway Books

By far the best and most thorough telling of the disaster. Well-researched and written with emotion. O’Donnell’s work is eminently readable and a real page turner. If you only read  or buy one book about the Slocum, this should be it.

10) Angels in the Gate : New York City and the General Slocum Disaster – Karen T. Lamberton 2006, Heritage Books, 385 pages

The only other book about the Slocum I have not read so I cannot supply any information.