Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1858-06-26


Monday, the Cd day of August next, is tn
day fixed upon for the people of Kansas t.
vote on the subject of admission under tn
English proposition. A previous residenc
of six months in the Territory is necessar,
qualification.
The proposition to hold the election OF
that day was,made by Mr.. Babcock, Presi
dent Of the Free State Senate, and the caus
of its selection was that the Missouri election
falls upon that day, which event it was pre-
sumed would tend to keep the ruifians a
home, looking after their own election, in
stead of attending to that of their eighbors
We think the choice was happily made.
The Late Steamboat Disaster.
The meagre account given in our paper
last week, of the explosion of the steamer
Pennsylvania, on the 18th inst, about sew
enty miles below Memphis, did not give ar
adequate idea of the horror and distress ol
accounts of the accident, we extract thu
following:
At the time of the explosion, the boat was
stemming the current at a slow rate Of speed
Most of the passengers were still asleep, il
being so early as six O'Clock in the morning
The bursting steam from the boilers blew
outward. at once wrecking all the centra
portion of the boat forward of the wheel
house. Only the bow and stern cabins anc
decks remained after the explosion. There
were some one hundred and fifty mine deck
passengers, and Il crew of forty or fifty deck
hands, the most of whom, it is feared, must
at once have perished The Captain instantly
ordered the yawl to be sent to a wood boa,
near by, which was towed along side, anG
thus many We're saved from the spreading
flames. The lady passengers had time to
dress, and all those in the cabin are conclu.
ded to be safe. But an elderly lady and
daughter, who had preferred a state-room
near the forward cabin, must, it is thought
almost instantly have been killed. Very
crippled condition. BY active exeltions, the
fire was kept under while the passengers
were removing from the cabins to the fiat
boat. The steamers Diana, Imperial and
Kate Frsbee were happily at hand soon
| III IeT, anu cucCleu VIC IeSCuc VI Iuhly lIOIil
the water and from the wreck.
Nearly all who were lost died from the
immediate effect of the explosion. What
exceptions there were, were deck passengers,
who endangered themselv by an over anx-
iety to secure their baggage and effects. The
cabin passengers generally abandoned their
baggage, and were content to save their lives.
A Mir. A. l.. Bartlett, of New York, had
$500 in gold in a small box in his trunk, but
in the confusion the money was forgotten
Not a trunk or piece of clothing, save what
they had on, was saved by any cabin passen-
gers, and most of them were left without
funds. Those who had money divided with
those who had none, and all seemed perfectly
satisfied to have escaped with their lives.
There was man buried in the wreck, who,
| from his expressions, must have been either
a sugar or cotton planter as in his despair
he said he had money, negroes, and plant
alton, and would give all to save his life.
He was covered deeply in the ruins, and the
! fire coming on so rapidly, it was impossible
to rescue him.
About twenty-five of the wounded and
scalded escaped from the steamer to the
wood boat. They suffered very much in
consequence of there being no medical at
tendance to dress their wounds, and no
means of procur .ng any for the space of two
hours. But at length neighboring planters
from the Arkansas shore brought some lin
seed oil and liniment, which, with the aid of
cotton taken from quilts, gave some relief
to the wounded. The scalded victims suf-
fcred much from the heat of the sun, as the
whole country was overhowed, and they
could not succeed in getting the boat to the
main land, and in this condition they were
obliged to remain under a broiling sun for
fully eight hours. The women and children
who were unhurt also suffered excessively
from the heat Of the sun and hunger till the
lmneer.;;aai arrived.
At the point of disaster, the river is at
| least two miles wide. The whole country is
submerged. There was no hope for the very
best of swimmers The river swept with
tremendous force through the chute and bot
toms, and in very short time all that could
be seen of the ruin was a smouldering mass
resembling burning brush, half smothered
by water.
Nearly all the deck hands were either
killed or missing. OF the fremen on watch
at the time, only one escaped. He was
blown overheard into the water and received
only slight scald. He states that the ex-
plosi on was owing to the want Of water in
the boilers.
The frequency with which these unuttera-
BILE horrors transpire on our waters, suggests
many eighty reflections. Something in our
marine police laws is radically, may we not
say atrociously, wrong Surely, no merely
plausible excuses weigh hair in generating
from blame those beneath whose supervision
these narrowing tragedies are permitted
to transpire.
TARIFF MEETING "A large and enthusias-
tic Tariff Meeting was held in Philadelphia
on the / 5th inst. HenryC. Carey presided,
and speeches were made by Senators Cola
mer, of Vermont, Simmons, Of Rhode Island,
and Cameron, of Pennsylvania, Edward JOY
Morris, of the House of Representatives, and
Hon. Richard W. Thompson, of Indiana.