Weekly hawk-eye and telegraph. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1855-1857, 1856-10-01

or I&HTY LOSf-rARTiClyf.AR
EFF " OIL ASTROPHR @
q s
Yessrfday morning sur city vas thrown into
|s4usfgufa T1sss-ex<ssesussf .y4ss the.
stcarer Nisssras Of The collius ~ood line, was
burned 10 The waters edge, on Port Washing
tos, While on Der ray to ihis city With large
&{d ~ nss6csrea The nkv1 Deothe tertsble'
eatastruphe uss tirst received hy Telegraph from
! Ss.eboygan, and later particulars we're learned
from, DE officers OF the steamer Traveller which
reached this bort .h0ut 7spfj0cksA. N. From
Mr.. G. 4. Wheeler, clerk OF the Traveller, aud
tbs passengers on board the i'll fated Niagara,
which were brought by the Traveller, We gleai3
ed the following facts and incidents Of the ca
Unity. tSfsEs4 = aa5 3fes3s8 Ezk ss'ss
fps The niagara left Co.lingwood on Monday af-
| ternoeu at 3 O'Clock, in place of the Keystone
State, the regular steamer for that day. She
started with from one hundred and fifty 10 one
hundred and seventy five passengers, twenty five
| to thirty OF whom landed at Sheboy gan, the
| greater portion of whom we're steerage passen-
gers Al about two o'clock, r. il. of WedlIes-
| day, the Niagara left Sheboygan, and about two
| hours afierward was discovered 10 be on fire
When the fire was FIRST discovered there was but
little sea on, and tie wind Was about southeast,
and light At this time tue Niagara was from
| three 10 four miles off North Point Washington,
and some ten miles or more this side of Sheboy-
| gan. Az soon as the fire was discovered Catt
| Miller, who was asleep, was called, and the steam
| pumps set TO work. A few moments after this,
| the passengers became aware that the boat was
| on fire, aud scene ensued which, said passen-
ger, ''beggars all scription-consternatio
| seized Upon almost every one, and men, women
! aud children rushed to and fro about the boat
| shouting and crying Not halt a dozen passen-
| gers gave any aid TO the crew. and but few at.
tempted to make provision Tor their own or
] friends escape II was but a short time from
the first discovery of the frr until the whole up.
per cabin was on fire. During this time a large
/ number Of passengers had jumped overheard
| without anything to support them in the water.
| and in few moments sank. Mothers threw
| their children into the lake and wildly sprang af-
ter them. The water was intensely cold, and
| none but the hardest persons could live but
/ few moments. A large number of passengers.
| before the steamer stopped in spite of the APP
prals Of the mate, got into the stern boat and
lowered it, when it Instantly swunlped, and all in
| it were drowned. Another portion of the pas
/ sengers filed the starboard quarter boat, and
lowered that also, and all found u watery grave.
Before the upper cabin was in flames a por-
ton of the more selfpossessed Of the passengers
| wrenched the state.room doors ,ff and threw
them into the water, together with tables chairs,
stools, &c. and upon these many of those in the
| water saved themselves. Alter it had become
useless to remain OH board any longer, the I'd
engineer, carpenter and portion of the crew,
together with u number CT passengers, thirty-two
! persons in all, lowered away the larboar,l quar-
| ter boat and pulled to the shore, where the pas
| sengcrs were landed and the crew returned with
| the boat to render any assistance they might be
| able. Capt, Miller with number of others
I 1 ~,
were picked up by the boats
| The steamer Traveller propeller Illinois, the
| schooner Dan Marble and two small schoouers
and the life boat at Por. Washington came to
| the assistance of the Niagara, and made every
| possible excrtion to save life. Their boats were
| all manned and lowered as soon as thev came
| near enough the burning wreck to be of service
and kept at work until nearly nine o'clock at
night, when all the persons who could be found
in the water after thorough searching for a con-
| siderable distance round the wreck, were car
| ried into Port Washington. .a'25 ssT
| A small schooner saved six persons; the
sc''ooner pah. Maroie saSeu qa''e NUMBER anu
| nan,cssof The nerso,,s we b,yc not ob,,;ned
1 The propeller Illinois picked UP some thirty
persons. and landed them at Port Washington,
but when the Traveller left it was impossible to
! obtain their names. 1t is supposed that but two
| women were saved, though there were some
| twenty on board. There is little doubt but that
Inearly all the crew were saved. The passenger
| list Of the boat was burned, so that it will be
difficult to obtain a correct list of the lost, par
| ticnhrly Of the Storage and deck passengers,
but our next issue will probably contain an ac-
curate list OF the saved. s,s s.-s-#e Ft .., Il
| Tie traveller reports that all the passengers,
| baggage was lost. The Niagara had very full
tr,I Nt 4.
She was about eleven years old and has had the
reputation OF being one Of the stauhchest aud
safest boats aauat. She was owned by Charles
Reed ESQ.,, OF Erie.
There were over three hundred life preser-
! vers on the Niagara which, together with life.
stools and floats, would be sufficient if properly
used for the temporary safety of nearly five
hundred persons Capt Miller informed Mr..
Wheeler, however, that he did not think a half
| dozen life nreservers or stools had been put in
reauis,ton by the passengers so great was Their
terror, and haste TO jump overheard. .t
We rut tho followi,,e acropnt ,f rho bo,o;.
- "
eii'''s Oh "o"'ah 10 save her' c'horeh' from
| the chicago Press: ~5 t, Fts z&
| The names of these afflicted parent, are Mr.
| and Mrs. Hamilton Chalmers, of Gloucester
| County New Brunswick They had by rreut
| industry and economy, laid up a few hundred
| dollars and werc MOVING +, Ninnesot, to ,ny i,
SIN III farm and los. everything they had in the
! world on the boat. but a few shillinrs in their
! poekets.- But they saw they care anutLiuo Tor
that: if they had their children thay could be-
| Din lirr AGAIN at th. bottom of tho Lddnr with
q coo,l bs.rt W., sip.ara,v bona t,,,t snn,,, nf
| ,hair lost onas n,.v le rastornd - ,h,.m M
Chalmers s,ys that wh.n RI, fro hrol,. mt s,,n
was outside tho ste.r,,e cabin m tho main do,.,,
viii, har hrsh,nd ,ni . ;l,,r.n e., S,. ~
s,ar in., Inw.rnd .n, nhsnr,no =, !, ,ro,,,.,,,
whom sh. Lnev she ,ho,n,, IF ID, hoat ro,,.,, -
III, Glove and s,,s b.r..lr' d,d nn, ,,,., 49,,
would IL. Ete . ,no,har to hsr children so sh.,
"o,nn,on,.a bn.;n,, h.r .m,,,er ,h,dns,, S,'s
:, i,,,,i;no tn t,.cn no haty hr va ha,., ,n.o
s1 non,d 30 ser SIMMER, !, in ;b a. p.eIuse
~, chs Ell. had hrn,v,, twn ;,, ~ Ina, '''''
,vi.,, i sh,roI ,ff Sh, la ~ ~ ."s 'o''
-, ,hraS hn, i a.s ~, l.,a ~ -. "'"us
a 20 t,,n No., ,s,.,,s',;r,,,.,. h ~ "a. *
~ srrnn.;n, che "a 49, ~ '''c
~, 20, ha,, Sh. t.a ~ ~ LUZ" !. 10
h,hv fail ;n,n ,ha no,ar So>, t"o m'W We, 'ne
s,'.. s,.r...,naJ - Ia ss,, - /, ,oN' 'ne 'oa'
:, amd h..a Ia ss,;se,,,;n. - - .ne poas 10 save
-, ~ 80. =, " sees ,'e' 'eae"
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