William van Schaick
William Henry van Schaick (born December 7, 1837 in Troy , Rensselaer County , † December 8, 1927 in Utica , Oneida County ) was an American captain .
As captain of the New York steamship " General Slocum " he was sentenced to 10 years for the fire that cost more than 1,000 lives on June 15, 1904 and destroyed the ship.
Although several members of the ship's crew and also a part of the board of directors of the steam shipping company had been charged, only van Schaick came to court. The trial began on January 10, 1906, before Judge Edward B. Thomas (1848–1929). Van Schaick was defended by Terence McManus and William Olcott (1862-1933), the prosecutors were Ernest Baldwin and US District Attorney Henry Burnett. On January 27, 1906, the court found van Schaick guilty of criminal negligence and misconduct. Judge Thomas said to van Schaick: “You are no ordinary criminal; I must make an example of you "(Eng .:" You are no ordinary criminal; I have to make an example of you. ") And sentenced him to the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. In 1908, at the age of 70, Schaick began his imprisonment in Sing Sing .
His wife, Grace Mary, fought for his release and received more than 200,000 support signatures for his pardon. The Republican President Theodore Roosevelt rejected this twice, but his successor, the lawyer William Howard Taft , supported the request: On Christmas Day 1911, Taft pardoned Captain Van Schaick, who had already served almost four years of his sentence. His retirement home was a farm in Fulton County , where he died at the age of 90. Although he was rehabilitated from all charges, he continued to be blamed for the disaster and was buried in an anonymous grave in 1927. Three quarters of a century later, a great niece of the captain ensured that a tombstone was placed in his resting place.
Web links
- William van Schaick in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved September 1, 2017 (English).
literature
- Chuck D'Imperio: Great Graves of Upstate New York , BoD iUniverse 2008, New York; P. 112ff.
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | van Schaick, William |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | van Schaick, William Henry (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American captain |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 7, 1837 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Troy , Rensselaer County |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 8, 1927 |
| Place of death | Utica , Oneida County |