WHY IS AMERICA NEUTRAL ON EARTH 14?
The General Slocum Disaster of June 15, 1904 (Earth 14)
Sometimes a single event can alter the timeline of a world, and the General Slocum Disaster was one such event.
It occurred on June 15, 1904 on most other Earths, but not on Earth 14. Traditionally the aftermath of the sinking of the General Slocum radically altered the German-American community of the Lower East Side forever, however it did not happen on this world and the fate of Earth 14 was sealed forever.
The PS Slocum (built in 1891) was a paddle boat: a sidewheel passenger ship. In other Earth timelines the ship was carrying 1,358 passengers plus crew when it was destroyed. Most of the passengers were women and children.
Chartered by the St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church for a day vacation for families, the passengers came mostly from the German-American community of the Lower East Side. Excitement and anticipation filled the air for the passengers, this would be a fun-filled day outside of the city, and as the ship departed, it would be enjoyable to watch the shoreline as the ship made its way out to the North Shore of Long Island.
As the ship made its way up the East River, good times turned bad very quickly. There have been varying accounts of how the fire on the General Slocum started, but it spread rapidly within a half hour of leaving dock around 9 AM. The panic was horrific among the passengers as they faced death by drowning or being burned alive on the ship. It was a safe bet that most of the passengers could not swim, and the heavy period clothing of the day worked against them. Most perished in the fire.
The Aftermath
For days afterward, many bodies would wash ashore. Only 321 passengers survived from a total of 1,358 passengers and the final death count totaled over 1,000. In most historical timelines, the next largest death toll in the United States would come many decades later, with 2,974 dead from 9/11.
There would be miracle stories of survivors for the lucky few and heartbreak for those who lost loved ones. It was widely reported that Captain William Van Schaick would not bring the ship to shore for insurance reasons. Instead, Van Schaick steered the burning ship to North Brother Island. Van Schaick would testify that gas tanks and lumber yards made landing near 130th Street, close to the Bronx, too dangerous.
Testimony and Partial Justice
Testimony that would follow in the days ahead established that there were few safeguards; life vests were rotten, lifeboats were in the same state, fire drills were non-existent, and the crew was untrained to handle the panic that followed on board the Slocum. Eyewitnesses from the shore could see the boat burning and wondered why the captain did not come to shore. Quickly, Van Schaick and the Knickerbocker Steamboat Company came under the crosshairs of an investigation. Frank Barnaby, the President of the company, foolishly defended the actions of the captain and the crew.
On January 27, 1906, justice was meted out to Captain Van Schaick by a jury of his peers. He was found guilty of criminal negligence that he had failed to maintain the fire drills required by law. Judge Ian Thomas, the presiding judge, sentenced Van Schaick to 10 years at hard labor. And what happened to the company that owned the ship and the director? Sadly, the Knickerbocker Steamboat Company and Frank Barnaby escaped justice. The company went bankrupt shortly thereafter and in most historical timelines, Van Schaick would serve only part of his sentence at Sing Sing Prison. He received a pardon (through the efforts of his wife) from President William Howard Taft in 1911.
German-American Community of the Lower East Side
Prior to the Slocum disaster, the German-American community was a vibrant and active neighborhood of the working-class and highly educated. The shock of losing so many loved ones devastated families. Suicides and depression resulted from such a loss and many residents moved away. Other communities were impacted as well, but none so severely as the German immigrants, which moved away en mass from the area in the aftermath. There was also loss of life among the Jewish and Italian communities that had family members aboard the ship but none were hit as hard as the Germans.
However, the General Slocum did not catch fire on Earth 14 and the resulting very strong German community in New York City and the US East Coast used their influence to keep the United States out of the Second World War until far too late, enabling the Axis powers to win the bloody conflict. To this day America remains weakened and neutral while the rest of the world continues to fall to fascist forces.