Victim of the General Slocum Disaster - age 15 years old, death cert # 2824, Bronx County, lived at 91 7th Street.
Doubling back to Second Avenue, we came to the former home of the Oettinger family, at #91 East Seventh. Kate (38) was one of the "lucky" mothers to secure lifebelts for her children in the struggle. William Oettinger (12) the only member of the family to survive described what happened next: "We saw the boat was going to burn up, when mama grabbed a life preserver and wanted to tie it around me, but I told her I could swim and to hurry and put it around one of my brothers. With that she said something like a a prayer and pushed me into the water." William, without a life preserver, survived. Kate, Emma (15) Charles(15) Andrew (7) and Arthur (5 - never recovered) all wore life preservers and all drowned. The life preservers, in some cases, absorbed water and acted as dead weight, as happened to the Oettingers. Their former building awaits restoration. - Jim Kalafus
Doubling back to Second Avenue, we came to the former home of the Oettinger family, at #91 East Seventh. Kate (38) was one of the "lucky" mothers to secure lifebelts for her children in the struggle. William Oettinger (12) the only member of the family to survive described what happened next: "We saw the boat was going to burn up, when mama grabbed a life preserver and wanted to tie it around me, but I told her I could swim and to hurry and put it around one of my brothers. With that she said something like a a prayer and pushed me into the water." William, without a life preserver, survived. Kate, Emma (15) Charles(15) Andrew (7) and Arthur (5 - never recovered) all wore life preservers and all drowned. The life preservers, in some cases, absorbed water and acted as dead weight, as happened to the Oettingers. Their former building awaits restoration. - Jim Kalafus
Victim of the General Slocum Disaster - age 15 years old, death cert # 2824, Bronx County, lived at 91 7th Street.
Doubling back to Second Avenue, we came to the former home of the Oettinger family, at #91 East Seventh. Kate (38) was one of the "lucky" mothers to secure lifebelts for her children in the struggle. William Oettinger (12) the only member of the family to survive described what happened next: "We saw the boat was going to burn up, when mama grabbed a life preserver and wanted to tie it around me, but I told her I could swim and to hurry and put it around one of my brothers. With that she said something like a a prayer and pushed me into the water." William, without a life preserver, survived. Kate, Emma (15) Charles(15) Andrew (7) and Arthur (5 - never recovered) all wore life preservers and all drowned. The life preservers, in some cases, absorbed water and acted as dead weight, as happened to the Oettingers. Their former building awaits restoration. - Jim Kalafus
Doubling back to Second Avenue, we came to the former home of the Oettinger family, at #91 East Seventh. Kate (38) was one of the "lucky" mothers to secure lifebelts for her children in the struggle. William Oettinger (12) the only member of the family to survive described what happened next: "We saw the boat was going to burn up, when mama grabbed a life preserver and wanted to tie it around me, but I told her I could swim and to hurry and put it around one of my brothers. With that she said something like a a prayer and pushed me into the water." William, without a life preserver, survived. Kate, Emma (15) Charles(15) Andrew (7) and Arthur (5 - never recovered) all wore life preservers and all drowned. The life preservers, in some cases, absorbed water and acted as dead weight, as happened to the Oettingers. Their former building awaits restoration. - Jim Kalafus
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