Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1854-02-23
From the N. o. True Detail


BuRx1xe or rHr S7zAMsoAf GEoaeIA.
One of those terribly heart-rending
disasters which but too otter occur, and
which bring desolation and deep sorrow
on many q social and domestic circle.
took place between the hours Of II and
fe o'clock on Saturday night last, at
Che Lake terminus of the Carrollton
and Pontchartrain Railroad. We refer
to the loss by fire Of the steamboat
Georgia.
The Georgia, Captain Roberts, it ap-
pears, arrived at the railroad wharf at
about IL O'Clock. She had $50 passen-
gers on board, and was heavily loaded
with cotton. The bow line had been
made fast to the wharf, and two of the
deck hands were engaged in drawing in
the stern of the steamer, when the fire
was discovered bursting out with amaz-
ing rapidity above the boilers.
Strange to say, the men who were
hauling in the steamers stern dropped
the rope they had hold of and the body
of the vessel swung off again from the
wharf. The flames now spread with
uncomfortable fury, and a minute had
scarcely elapsed before general con-
fagration prevailed in every portion Of
the Inflated vessel. The screeches of
afrighted men, women, and children;
the fierce cracking of the fre-6end;
the loud bray of mules and the below
ing of oxen, maddened by the heat and
some which surrounded them, mingled
in strange and terrible discordance.
The passengers were chiefly from
Alabama, being planters, with their
families and negros, on their way to
Texas. Some, frantic with terror,
-"leaped overheard with dreadful yell
As eager to anticipate their grave"
while some, with superhuman might,
flung their children from the hurricane
deck to the wharf, and, leaping after
them, were mutilated and saved, or,
perchance, drowned. Most of the
children who were thus flung on the
wharf were more or less injured by
bruises or dislocations. One woman,
who fell or jumped from the cabin floor
to the main deck, was caught on the
points of an infuriated OK and was torn
most dreadfully. But the OK threw her
into the water and she was saved. Of
the negroes on board of the boat twenty,
at least, were lost-some planters losing
all they had, and some losing but few.
Scarcely single family was saved en-
tire. A father, who had rescued his
wife and six children, went back for a
seventh and was lost. A young man
returned to the boat for female friend,
but the flames ''yawned around him like
he'll, ;" and he was numbered with ''the un-
returning brave A father saved three
of his children, but his wife and six
others left their ashes in the funeral
pyre of the Georgia.
A young husband lost his wife, and
he sat apart on the wharf as if indiffer-
ent to whatever else might befall him.
A child three months old was taken to
the hotel, but it had no relatives to
claim it, and none knew whose child it
was. The list of passengers was con-
sumed, and as no list was taken of those
who were saved, the entire loss of life
cannot be correctly estimated. Mr..
Jackson and one child, of Barbour coun-
ty, Ala, were lost; his wife and eight
children were saved. Mrs. Jolly and
one child, of Randolph county, Ga,
were lost; Mr.. j. was saved. B. F.
Loftin, of Lenior county, N. c., was
saved, but lost two negroes. Rev. ].
Nc Carter, of Clinton, Ga, lost three
negroes; he and his wife were saved,
though the latter was very badly in
jured.
DR.. ]. M. Young, from Hancock
county, Ga, lost servant boy, his
books, surgical instruments, and cloth
ing. Mrs. Davidson, from Macon coun-
ty, Ala, lost several negroes. Mr..
Graham, from Williamsburg, s. c., lost
two negroes and $500 in gold. Thos
J. McLanathan, of Bristol, Conn.,, is
missing. ]. B. Hubbard, of Bristol,
Conn, was saved, but lost his baggage,
etc. A gentleman from Steward coun-
ty, Ca, whose name we did not ascer-
tain, lost several negroes.
The Georgia had 1,030 bales of cot
ton on board, all of which was lost, to-
gether with 200 bales which had few
hours before been landed on the wharf
from the steamboat Helen, from Mobile
The railroad warehouse, and about 100
feet of the wharf were burned. The
loss of property cannot have been less
than $4,000 The Helen was saved
by pushing off from the wharf into the
lake.