Chapter 45
Where is He?
WORD ARRIVED AT the Grand Republic through Captain Pease, who gathered the men together for the announcement. “Men, we received some disturbing information about the General Slocum—we lost her. She went up in flames on the East River and went aground on North Brother Island. Many people died, but the entire crew survived—the employee list shows everyone accounted for. The bosses fear hundreds may be dead and Mr. Barnaby himself identified the cause of the fire—someone tossed a match on some bananas left on the deck. Our men did their best to fight the blaze.”
One of the men raised his hand. “Sir, I always worried about the fire gear on the Republic and the Slocum. Did it work?”
“Mr. Barnaby assured me that all of our hoses and preservers worked perfectly and the
