June 15, 1904

Here is the story of the news item that appeared in a Dublin newspaper June 16, 1904 ( Bloomsday) as reported by Jame Joyce in Ulysses.
The 'General Slocum' was an excursion tour steamship which caught fire
and over 1,000 people, most women and children, died.
This is the second reference quoted from section 217-218...it sent shivers upon first reading:
"He ( Father Conmee, Catholic priest) passed Grogan's the tobacconist against which newsboards leaned and told of a dreadful catastrophe in New York. In America those things were continually happening. Unfortunate people to die like that, unprepared. Still, an act of perfect contrition. "
Further on Joyce's characters suggest that graft was the cause- "palmoil"
paying someone to look the other way on matters of safety.
Just too eerie for me.