Word: schaick
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1920-1929
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...flames reached Captain van Schaick but they did not kill him. He beached his burning boat 45 minutes after he had taken her out into the East River. Not quite 500 out of his 1,400 passengers were still alive; some of these had swum to safety...
That would have been the best day for Death to have waved a hand at William van Schaick. An investigation proved that despite a record of 40 years' service he had been guilty of criminal neglect in not having useful firehose, staunch lifeboats, life-preservers that would float; for allowing rubbish to collect in the store rooms; for having a crew made up, without apparent exception of yokels, cravens or imbeciles; for not giving this crew fire drills...
Before he went to prison Captain van Schaick, then 71, had persuaded a woman to marry him. When he arrived at Sing Sing he said: "Today, instead of being a criminal, I should be considered a hero. I hope for a pardon." This, when Mrs. van Schaick pleaded, U. S. President William Howard Taft despatched to Captain van Schaick...
After his release, which had cut six years from his ten-year term, the old man went back to his young wife. Soon they separated; Captain van Schaick, a thin, rickety man, his face always lighted with a tardy and now unnecessary diligence, went about from place to place...
Died. William van Schaick, 90, one-time Captain of the ill-fated excursion boat General Slocum; in Utica...