Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1859-05-05
Sad Details of the ST. Nicholas
nfSn faRF 80

Sad Detaiis OF the 81 AichOlaS
Disaster
= Theekpl6eicnA the steamer St. Nicho-
las % he 34tht tVf April, inaths sieihity of
Aemphis, Nas one efthe most terrific that
has oixnrI - for yssrs on the Mississippi.
Il tod splscs.at 10 'clock Sunday even
ing, alf<set 81 the great boilers expioding
at once when the boat was under full head
way. About sixty lives were lost, and the
boat, with Large and valuable ben
tirely destroyed. The wreck at once took,
fire, and soon enwrapped the whole boat
in one sheet of flame. The picture reveal
eddy the lurid flames was narrowing In
Eshelexfrenae. ,The5oat was bound down
ihe. River, and no names from this. quarter
are contained IN the list. Of killed and
wornded sassssxi1s - = s1s~ SAs-
MaJan1es Reed, Che pilot of the St. Nj
eholas, was IN the pilot house with Capt.
Mem ulIan, and at the wheel conversing.-
We add a portion of bis thrilling state
rnanf. sss eszsssL sss,tzrssS dsE ,aisesfss's-!
9'reInehber distinctly Of hearing a re:
port Ike that Of cannon, and 'instantane-
onsly felt myself moving through the air.
When I recovered my senses, I found my
self down among the boilers. When the
steam and smoke cleared away a little, I
commenced crawling to the roof; in doing
soIcame across Captain Mcmillan, lying
with his fight foot under the hurricane
root, plot house, and lot of other rub
bish, which had been thrown together in
one common mass, by the explosion His
right foot and ankle was wedgedin in tightly
BY. this heavy mass of lumber. He hailed
me, and stopped TO assist him, at the
same time | called the second mate, whom
| saw near at hand, to my assistance, and
we both tried, all the means in our power
releose him. 2f@sfss as1''i s7eziSzssf - e
While endeavorng to release the Cap
tain one of the striker engineers came to
our assistance but the three of Us failed to
extricate him from bis awfulposition. The
flames were rapidly encroaching upon our
te:ritory, and The heat was becoming in
tolerable. Capt McMullen begged US to
| cut 6ff his. 1eg, but We could find no ak nor
any other instrument by which TO do 50,
else We would have complied dawith his
wish. We, worked at the Captain until
the fire drove us away-he begged usall
the time TO remain BY him. We did not
leave him until the moment arrived when
to remain any longer would have beer, GER
tain death TO all of US without the possibi[
ity Of relieving the Captain. He'was con-
suiImed by the flames Salmost before our
eyes. The last words be uttered were,
H".Ny God! l shall have to burn upl'-
When he saw that be would have to burn,
he ceased his entreaties for US TO remain by
bin, and bade US seek our own safety. l
left Capt. Mcmillan a few minutes before
the Others did, and succeeded irreaehing
the ladies cabin before the fire closed up
that way of escape. 7-' p ga = 'e~
The Others finding it impossible to follow
me, Jumped into the river. During the
time I was ut work trying to-save Captain
Mcmillan, the mate brought the yawt for
ward 10 try and put the fire OUT but the
yaYla got, filled up with nen-deek hands
and firemen. While there The yawr also
picked up Capt. Ben. CLINE from under
| the ruins, and took him on board the Sus-
quehanna. BY this time. Captain McMul-
Ian was completely enveloped in the flames.
| REACHED The ladies cabin, and found the
ladies cabin, and found The ladies huddled
| together, acting frantically, screaming fOl
assistance, and weeping bitterly: . iS''
Mrs. Cline was there. crying aloud for
her husband. / told her Ialiad not seen
him, which had not at that time, for /
did, not learn until. afterwards that be had
Been picked up by The yawl. l told the
ladies TO 90 down on the main deck, and
get away back TO tie stern ofthe boat i
preceded then,sand when we reached the
deckroom We had 10 jump eight feet on to
the main deck. When / got them down
there, I told. them to remain until could
90 90 up on the root and throw the life-boat
overheard. / went up on the. roof, and
there found my partner, Edward Stevens,
who assisted 10 throw The life boat over
| board. ''.'' - y''s - D'a
We then came down wv Stairs, he fstevens)
Immediately ahead Of me, and when we
reached the deck l missed him. That is
the last 1 have seen or heard of Edward
Stevens. When,I reached the lower guard,
looked for the life boat where l expected
should ,find il, bat it was gone. The
steward had caught it, and had taken 1t
around on the ether side Of the boat uuder
the guard, where, it was immediatly filed
with men. During all this time, there
af were 4 great many people jumping into the
river. river 1t vas perfectly horrible. 7 jump.
ed back, 10 the ladies' guard, and got five
or six doors, aud gave one to each lady;
They also had tin life -preservers around
them. / told them not 10 jump overheard
until the fire chased them away; at the
same time, the fire was rapidly appraoch-
ing the spot upon which they were stand
ing. The smoke was getting very thick,
and the air very hot : This party Of ladies
were five in number. % They were all beg
ging me to stay with them, and, when ne
cessityacompe!led to jumpsorerboard, to
allow them, to cling to me, a,-., az
4 was telling them that such 2 course
would be impossible, when | saw the, yawl
ofthe Susquehanna leave the boat and start
toward u.s. Il told them to hold on, and
they would be saved by lheyaWl.l | then
went arounds on the other guard, SO. as, to
bring the sSusquehanna's syawl around to
the ladies sbeforesits got filed up with men.
After waiting short time and fearing they
would BOT. come, I.jumpeds overheard in
order to swim. to the yawl, when theswheel-
house fell and barely missedsms on the