The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1849-11-27
The STEAMBOATS, Explosion.

isiana, brief telegraphic dispatches OF which
we have already published;
One of the most deplorable catastrophes
that ever occurred in the history of steamboat
explosions took place at our levee yesterday
evening, few minutes after o'clock.
The steamboat Louisiana, Capt. Cannon,
bound for St Louis, loaded with a valuable
cargo, and having on board a large number
of passengers, had rung her last bell, and
was just backing out from the wharf at the
foot of Gravier street, when the whole of her
boilers burst with tremendous explosion,
which resounded throughout the city, The
lconcussion was so great that it shook the
houses to their foundation Tor many squares
distant. The Louisiana was lying alongside
the steamer Bostona, Capt. Dustin, at the
time Of the disaster. and the steamer Storm,
Capt. Hopkins, had just arrived from Louis
vile, coming in on her starboard side. The
upper works of these beats are complete
wreck, their chmneys having been carried
away, and their cabins stove in and shattered
In some places to atoms The violence of
the shock operating on the boilers was ire
mend0us. "A part of one of them, a mass of
considerable size, was hurled with inconceiv-
! able force On the levee. 1t cut mule in two,
| killed horse and the driver of a dray to
which they were attached instantaneously-
AHOtLlcI IndSSIFC pOFllOu VI tilc SAINT. lNelkO
| feet long. and Of immense weight, was blown
to the corner of Canal and Front streets, a
distance of 200 yards at least, prostFatfng
three large iron pillars which supported a
wooden shed or awning which stood before
the coffee house there. Before coming in
contact with the iron pillars, the fragment of
the boiler cut through several bales of cot
ton, which lay its passa ge, making the sta
pie scatter through the air as if it had been
run through a cotton gin.
The news spread like wildfre, and our cit
liens rushed from all directions to the scene
of the disaster. Already ON our arrival, a
number of bodies, in every conceivable
state of sad mutiation. had been dragged
from the wreck, which were surrounded by
the dense crowd that had assembled. Hacks
and furniture carts were sent for. and the
wounded were conveyed away TO the hospi-
tails The sight of the mangled bodies which
strewed the levee on all sides, and the shrieks
of the dying, were appalling, making the
blood curdle with horror. We saw one man
with his head off, his entrails out, and one
leg off. A woman, whose long dark hair lay
wet and matted by her side, had one leg off
above her knee, whilst her body was shock
| ingly mang'ed. A large man, having the
skull crushed in, lay corpse his face look
ing as if it had been painted red Others of
trunks, lay about in different places Two
bodies were found locked together brought
! by death into a sudden and close embrace
But it is utterly impossible to describe all the
revolving sights which met cur view Sui-
| flee it to say that death was revealed there
under almost every variety of appalling hor-
rOr. The Louisiana sunk about ten minutes
after the explosion. and it is supposed many
who went on hoard to assist the wounded
were carried down with her. This we Judge,
| from the tact Of several persons, who had es-
capped the first effects of the explosion, hav-
| ing jumped overheard at the time of her
sinking and were providentially saved.
A gentleman who was a passenger on the
Louisiana, was standing on tie hurricane
deck abaft the wheelhouse when the explo--
sion took place. and escaped. He distinctly
saw the faces and arms of several ladies and
gentlemen vainly struggling to free them
selves from the falling pltnks and timbers.-
They were carried down with the boat when
she sank. He succeeded in saving a little
negro boy. About twenty persons were
standing on the bow of the boat when she
went down, most of whom were saved. The
river was covered Immediately after the ac-
cident with fragments OF the wreck. A por-
ton of the stern of the ladies' cabin of the
steamer is still out of water Numerous
SIMON Gp~to WIZ NIiI PiOJ Cu ltchiliS up
wounded. At half past O'Clock, P. NJ an
alarm of fire was given from the Bostona,
which called our firemen promptly to the
spot, but it happily was unounded.
On board the Storm the destruction Of life
was also terrible. Mrs. Moody, the wife of
the first clerk was standing on the guard op-
posite the ladies' cabin, and was instantly
killed. The captain received a severe contu-
sion in the head, but was not dangerously
wounded. About II or Is persons were
killed. and large number wounded some of
whom will probably not recover.
The confusion was so great that it was
utterly impo sible to ascertain the names of
one quarter of those killed and wounded, and
most probably, from the promiscuous crowd
of strangers. emigrants &c, large portion
of them will never be known.
The fragments of iron and blocks of wood
which were sent with the rapidity of light
nng from the Inflated Louisiana, carried
death and destruction in all directions. Men
were killed at the distance of 200 yards
Legs, arms, and trunks were scattered over
the levee.
The child of Moody, clerk of the Storm,
reported as lost was found this morning, safe
and sound. Mr. Moody escaped by miracle.
He was at his desk, writing, within twenty
feet of the boilers Of the Louisiana, when
they exploded, Kidding the entire larboard
side Of the Storm as if with grape shot and
tearing down the planks all around him, yet
he remained uniniured His lady. at the