Death Remembered

Our story of the fiery disaster aboard the General Slocum in 1904 (“The Flames of Hell Gate” by William Peirce Randel, October/November, 1979) has brought us a shared memory from H. L. Goldsmith of Doniphan, Missouri: “I read the article on the General Slocum with a great deal of interest. My father was a member of the Sunday school at St. Mark’s church at the time, aged thirteen, and planned to go on the excursion that day. He came down with an upset stomach, and his oldest sister, with whom he lived, would not allow him out that day. So he lived until 1959. Among his memories were the coffins piled up on the sidewalks in front of the storefront funeral parlors, as high as the second story (first floor). The horror that struck the community these people lived in was such that many of the survivors moved away as soon as possible.”