The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1858-03-02

From The Fayetteville Observer.
ON CAPE FEAR RIVER.

and Wounded. We have been unable to
obtain list Of those on board the Magn"-
liza, (xnpp.Sed tn number 35 to 40) at the
time uf the explosion, or a comPiete list OF
the saved. Eleven persons are known T.
have been killed. and one of the w"und'd
negroes has since died. From tve I" te
other negroes are reported am"ng the mis-
sing. and are believed to have been killed.
The fullest statement we have seen Is
eortain.d in the ANNEXED letter.
The gene raj opinion here as t" the cause
of the disaster differs from that entertained
by our correspondents infor;nan's. 1t l.
most commonly supposed that the expo
sion was caused by the rush of cold water
upon the heated ard exhausted boilers not
by head of steam too large for their ca
pacify. We have heard that the Magnolia
was permitted by the u. S. Examining Of
ficer TO carry I2J lbs. and that there were
not OH board weights to enable her to carry
more. But all these matters will of course
be Ksatcd, and it is proper in the
meal hat the views of those on board
should be made known, as they are by our
correspondent, that if erroneous, they may
Ia reetifed. Mr. Lutterloh, as sooa as be-
RECEIVERS, intendS-- near; to make a
thorough investigation.
dated,
ELIzABETHTowN, Feb. II, 1853.
MEssRs EDITORS: The citizens of this
community were called upon, on yester-
awful scene perhaps ever exhibited within
the borders of our State.
The steamer Magnolia, Captain John NJ.
Stedman, while lying at the wharf at
Whitehall on Tuesday night the 10th inst.
exploded her boilers, scattering wreck and
death on every hand
From all the information which could
gather in the hurry and confusion incident
to this accident, it appears that the boat
had been running under an unusual pres
sure of steam, which was not permitted to
escape after she was stopped to deliver
passenger and a few articles of freight.
*
steam was fast generating, and an addi-
tional weight having been applied to the
lever which commands the escape at the
safety valve, no chance was given it to ex-
pend its force, save in the way it did
AT about the hour of IL o'clock There
came q burst of thunder sound" sinking,
Earring and blowing into a million of atoms
the hull. apparel and machinery of the
boat, and hurting for hundreds of feet on
every side human bodies. fragments of iron.
wood and clothing. strewing and lining the
shore so completely with particles of the
wreck that one could scarcely have escaped
unhurt had he been standing hundred
feet away GA any side.
l he report of the explosion was heard
nine miles so distinctly as to awaken per-
sons from sleep.
The boiler, weighing two or three thou
sand pounds, was blown at least three hun
dred feet over a store house some 80 or 40
feet high, striking in its flight and breaking
a stick ot ton timber l6 inches square. up
setting two others. and cutting off two trees
at least eight inches through!
Of the immense force exerted in this ex-
plosion, can give adequate idea. De-
scriptinm is too meagre to convey a com
meRsurate sense of it. Bolts and bars of
iron were cast as mere playthings from its
giant blast. The treo-tops round about
are hung full of great sheets of the deck,
and articles of clothing hutter from the
branches As though they had been vomitcd
from her boiling cauldrnn and hung there
TO dry. A portion of door. with the lock
attach, d, was found at least Fix hundred
feet frsm the wreck
The hull of the boat is torn to fragments,
and presents the idea of huge mastodonic
skeleton exhumed, with its big ribs alone
remaining to outline its form!
One can hardly conceive that so much
force and power could possibly be shut up
and confined in SO small compass. In
short, sirs, the Magnolia is total wreck.
Her furniture, machinery and fxments
generally are torn into fragments. Had
natural and artificial force combined to de-
spoil her OF her fair proportions. they could
not succeeded more effectually in accom-
plishing her end.
l am not, at this time, sufficiently quiet
in feeling to give you particular account
OF all that this scene presented. Ihave not
been accustomed to look upon death in
such hideous and distorted shapes as there
seem to nook the observer Here and
there lay the dead. bruised, blackened and
nangled; CHASTITY wounds, e1uding blood.
shocked me on every side. and my tears
were dried up in their very fountain by this
sirocco of death! May it never blow in
our midst again
Among the whites killed the bodies of
the following persons have been found
Capt. John NJ. Stedman. dreadfully torn
and disfgured; DR.. Milton Fellows of B,a-
den. "a bar or bolt of iron entered his
throat just under his chin, and passed out
ut or near the mould of his head); Thomas