1904/06/15 - NYC Side-wheeler passenger paddlesteamer „General Slocum“ burns in East River, 1031 die.
The story provides a grim footnote to todays Bloomsday celebrations, because it occurred on the eve of June 16th, 1904, and so featured prominently in the newspapers of that morning. Immortalising the date in Ulysses, Joyce faithfully included a reference to the New York tragedy: albeit briefly, and filtered through the casual chat of Mr Kernan and the publican Crimmins.
„Terrible affair that General Slocum explosion. Terrible, terrible. A thousand casualties. And heartrending scenes. Men trampling down women and children. Most brutal thing. What do they say was the cause? Spontaneous combustion. Most scandalous revelation. Not a single lifeboat would float and the fire hose all burst. What I can’t understand is how the inspectors ever allowed a boat like that . . . Now you’re talking straight, Mr Crimmins. You know why? Palm-oil. Is that a fact? Without a doubt. Well now, look at that. And America they say is the land of the free. I thought we were bad here.“
- James Joyce, Ulysses
