A terrible fire broke out in the afternoon of Saturday,
June 30th, in the dock of the North German Lloyd at Hoboken, opposite New York. It began in some cotton bales, and everything being dry with the excessive heat, speedily destroyed three piers belonging to the Company, together with three great liners, the Main," Saale,' and `Bremen.' The ' Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse' was saved with difficulty, her bow having caught before she was removed. More than a thousand persons, including many women and children, are said to have been on board the ill-fated vessels, and more than a hundred of them were burned or drowned. The ports were jammed by the struggling fugitives, and as usual in a fire on board ship, discipline proved too weak to control human selfishness, and it may be insanity. Ghastly stories also are told of the inhuman greed of the boatmen, who refused to assist drowning men till they had been paid, but though a crowd of longshoremen is sure to include a pro- portion of ruffians, it must not be forgotten that New York reporters love to pile up the agony. The blow to the Cora. pany, which, it may be presumed, insures itself, is so severe that the German Emperc. has addressed to its chairman a telegram of condolence.
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