Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1857-07-09
M11LERsBURG HOLMES COUNTY, OHIO THURSDAY JULY 1851
The Calamity on the st. Law

The Calamity on the st. Law
-. - renee.
Montreal papers bring the particulars of
the terrible catastrophe Of the burning ofthe
steamer or Montreal by which some three
hundred persons perished in the flames or
in the water. The fire broke out at 5 P.
NJ, an hour after the Boat left Quebec
Mr.. Andrew Hayes, a Montreal Commission
Merchant, who was in the water over an
hour, says:
The fire broke out in the main saloon, in
midships, Immediately over the boiler room.
Smoke was first seen TO issue from one of
the state rooms. II was very dense-so
dense that it was, in less than five minutes,
impossible to see anything in the saloon,-
In ten minutes the flames burst out, and
filled the saloon, and burst out both sides.
l was in the stern of the vessel when this
occurred. 1 lowered myself down by the
side of the vessel, and while was doing
so, I saw one man trying to get boat on
the upper deck. He called me TO his as
sistance. He loosed the ropes of the boat,
and held one end and / the other. To
gether we let her down. I slid down the
ropes. In less than five minutes the boat
was under water with the crowd that rushed
into it. The flames soon became so intense
that l jumped out of the boat into the
water, and swan towards another boat l
saw coming to our rescue, but it shot past
me and made for the boat at the side of
the Montreal. l swan back, and got un-
der the boat that came to our assistance.
While in the water, either hanging on to
the steamboat or to the small boat by
which he was eventually saved, he was re-
peatedly grappled by unfortunate persons
in the act of drowning, and at the moment
when he laid hold of the boats gunwale, he
believed that six persons, chiefly women,
had hold of his skirts. These the boatmen
took in before they extended any aid and
comfort to him, and during this final strug-
gle for life his sufferings of mind and body
were excessive. These were increased by
the dreadful cries and shrieks of drowning
persons going on in every direction around
him. These he described as being awful
the extreme. Men, women and children
were suffering the tortures of fire and drown
ing. On one hand poor creature would
be seen perched on an outside part of the
steamer, where resting place could be OBJ
tanned only by the closest hold with both
hands and feet, and there hanging in tor
ture till driven by the smoke and flames he
or she had to take the fatal plunge into
the cold river below. In another direction
stalwart men might be seen seeking to Sc
cure themselves about the irons of the
guards, or the paddles. Some of them lost
their hold and sunk at once. Others man
aged to hang on for space, but at last
they had to give up from sheer fatigue, or
by the pressure ofother sufferers seeking to
secure the same refuge. Here families
were preparing and determining to die to-
gether; there the husband or the wife saw
his or her partner forever separated. Wo-
men with children in their arms leaped in
to the water; others held on to the burn
ing wreck until losing their foothold they
fell, and were lost forever.
Mr.. Hayes thinks the whole management
was bad. The Montreal was $50 yards
from shore when the fire broke out, and
she was not headed to the shore until
some ten minutes after, and sunk or struck
rock in deep water. The steamer Napo-
leon was between 200 and 800 yards, off and
lowered her boats after considerable delay.
One hundred and twenty-five were res
cued and put aboard the Napoleon and six
teen dead bodies were picked up. Only
about twenty persons succeeded in swim
ming to the shore. Many of the saved
were badly burned or bruised. Only three
cabin passengers reported saved. Nearly
all the passengers on board, from 450 to
to SEQ were Scotch and Norwegian emf
grants. At the last date 157 bodies had
been taken to Quebec. An inqrest was held
on the 16 bodies. An account says:
"Their task was melancholy one; but
it was soon fulfilled. 1t was one of the
most heartrending sight we have ever wit
messed, to see the cover removed off these
dead bodies, and look upon what had once
been health an happiness, and spirits under
it. There were two grown up women, cut
down in their prime, quietly sleeping with
their hands entwined. A girl about Is,
dressed up in her best with silk gloves on,
and the neatest boots; boy about IL
smiling even in death, and whose counte-
nance was as placid as if he had quietly
gone to his rest; another about 9, with his
arm around girl about 13-probably his
sister; another girl about the same age, and
boy rather younger; and eight children,
seven of them girls, not over six years old
all these were disclosed TO our yiew."
The St. Andrews Society was very ac-
tive in caring for the survivors. The argus
says: 7a
The scene at the sheds which We
visited was so affecting as to beggar de-
scription. In one place was an octogena-
rian couple lamenting the loss of their son,
who had taken care of them during their
long voyage, and who having thus far
brought them in safety, lost his own life,
probably in his desire to save theirs. In
another place was a wife, on her way to
Toronto to find her husband there, with
four children who, whilst saving two, had
the agony of beholding the other two
drowned in her sight. There was another
who had lost her only son, who had rushed
to save her from the flames, and perished
in the attempt; her niece had also perished.
There were others who had lost their near
est and dearest relatives, and found them
selves desolate and without friend or COM
forter, in a strange land It was refreshing