Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1847-02-15
VOL. x XV....NO. ~

when about ten miles above Mobile, two Of tho tou
ers Of the Tuscaloosa burst with 4 tremendous crssh
tearing he forward deck. tho pilot houses, social hail.
and other portions o that section Of tho boat to atoms
killing all nearly all on the watch At the
time. besides several Of the officers and passenQcrsIs
was noticed by some of the passengers, that d terrific
peal q thunder burst the boat the time many
confoundng the din Of the elements with the explosion
OF he boilers. and thinking the steamer riven ly
lightning
Instantly all wns confusion en- board Tho ladies' g.
bin and all the after part Of the en,emcns cabin were
unnrcd and thhcr such had life still IN q en- were
borne lohd shrieksa groans ates,ing their agony
Tho tempest still ragged with great violence as ever
and the boat was drifting about in the Storm Suddenly
IN add 10 the tcors of the scene announced to tn,
SURVIVORS that the vessel was fire. and that there were
%mo thirty kegs Of powder board. rope
was attached To the stern Of the bua and by this he
otnghted passengers lot themselves down into the va
tor fortunately here but three four feet deep Scarce
" had they all reached this strange place Of safe,y
women standing IN mud and and holding al Il their
children exposed 10 the pitilcss stormwhen the pow
der exploded with tremendous report that heard
acnss tho marsh and water, far Blakely, tearing
what was yet left Of the unfortunate boa, to atoms
more dreadiusc scene VI disaster and death cannot DO
imagined
mer Jas lleweu, saw the light Of the burning boat
Nuspeetng that accident had tefslcn the Tuscaoo
IN. with humanity that cannot no highly colnmen-
,ed ne raised steam aud proceeded the scene Of the
cue III many Of the unfortunate passengers sui in the
water who hy this time nearly exhausted Ho
succeeded also IN recovering eight bodies Of those VIII,
had been killed. and al early hour on Friday morn.
ing brought them down to Mobile. During the fore
noon two more bodies brought down on board
small sloop boat and just before the Oregon left Mobile
at O'Clock on Friday afternoon, the steamer Winona
came down from the wreck with additional bodies
making twenty in all Some of them were 10 much
dsigured-beng completely roascd-thai they could
not be ldenti ed The remains of Lieut. lnre which ~
wohayc stated above ard were completely cor
sumcd.
II. supposed there were near one hundred passen-
gers On hoard al the time Of the accident
Al present II is impossible come ut the exac, num-
Der OF lives lost by this deplombe accident yet different
statements put IT down as between thirty and fin
On the person Of Mr. Beascly one oi the passengers
was SAID to 10 81 900 in bills the time Of the acc-
dent. Ills body was afterwards Il und. but burst to
CT sp and the money Is supposed To have been destroy
ed In the safe Of the Tuscaloosa is said there was
81 oD in bills, besides gold and silver and great many
letters with money in them. The safe dug from tho
TIE wreck by the captain oithe Winona, and brought
down 10 Mobile hut could not ascertain whether Tho
paper money was destroyed or not
large portion Of the cargo. which WINS valuable
is of course destroyed while the passengers lost nearly
every thing they had. The boat was two years old Of
the larger class and doing heavy business on the riv-
or.