Washington telegraph., 1865-05-17
WASHINGTON ARKANSAS; WEDNESDAY. NAY III 1866:


shlldren were on board ONLY two q
whom were saved 60 far as know. :.
Some Of the passengers Aoatsd from th
scene OF the disaster to Memphis, an,
when they were discovered and piske,
up, that was the first iatiraation that an,
one bad Of the explosion.s A yawlweein, ven,
out from the Marble City, picked i,p sew
sntesn persons and brought them ashore
and two were aftsrward found clinulsinn.
to the wheel, and were saved gn sdi' 81 '','
siAll the boatsin port raised steam an,
went 10 the wreck. and were the nieau
of saving hundreds Of lives. They re-
turned to- Memphis about, daylight In,
ladies and ssh tlemsn of Msniph turned
out and hinistered to the wants of tn,
unfoltunates in a noble manner. 20 Vi" o.
VIM. Rowberry, first m ale, who was OF
tho watch and standing in the pilot
house with Capt. George Cayton, whc
was at the wheel at the, time of the e1
plesion, reports that he remembered only
a shock, that he was blown ints the ali
and was afterwards taken from the wa.
ter. He has no ide. Of the cause Of the
expIosioR--Eays the boat was going al
ordinary speed. that the engineer, Mr.
Clemens was a sober and reliable man
and. at hi, post. Captain Cayton wss
hurled into the wreck among broken
boilers and fragments, but leaped over.
board with door. and reached the Ark.
ansas shore three miles below, where he
clung to saPling until found, His in
juries were slight. Clemens. the engin-
ser, is dangerously burned and scalded.
He, together with I40 others, was takeu
to Memphis. .-..-.,. a.. ....... ..... .....i ID.
Through the exertions of Mr. John
Fogleman, who hastily constructed a
raft. great many lives were saved,
In the woods below the drift Of the
wreck, the officers of the Rose Hamilton
found family Bible containing tho re.
cords of family named Spikes, of As.
sumption Parish, La. A marriage Ger.
tIfcate' bearing date of Oct 81, 1887, and
the record shows that there were twelve
Ia the family. Afterwards it was as
certained that the father and mother
with two brothers and niece, wereiost
and several of the bodies were secured
This family had 1000 in gold, all Of
which was lost. '"-F.-
w. ID. Snow Of Arkansas. was on
beard, on his way 20 Washington. He
gives the following account:
About 3 o'clock he was awakened by
a sensible tremer passing over the boat,
but heard no explosion Not antieipa.
ting such terrible consequences he arose
and dressed himself. but before finishing
he became aware OF largs volume oi
steam passing through the cabin. He
then rushed 10 the stern Of the beat
which was in tA5 channel nearer the
Tennessee than the Arkansas shore. He
looked over on the Arkansas side, with
a view of leaping. but found sea OF
heads SO close together that it would be
impossible 70 jump without killing one
or mora persons He then nassed across
the boat, over several dead bodies, killed
in the mad rush. and thsre found IA.
same sea Of heads from that side, that ths
aafnes had driven from the vicinity OF
the whsel house. He recsived lashino
from the second deck without strus sgliae
very long. Prior to the leap he saw hus
bands fasten life preservers to their wives
and children and throw them overheard
isto the seething waters below He struck
out for the Arkansas shore, and reach ed
a log lodged in Is fest water, among the
ovsrhowed cotton wood lands. At 4:Is
O'Clock by his watch, which had 10,
ceased to run, and after four hours expo
sure, he was rescued by the Silver Spray
The boat contained 2,O75 souls, mos,
of them exchanged prisoners from An
dsrsonville, which place they left On the
I7th Of last February A number O!
horses were on board, which were al
destroyed. A dense mass, estimated a
500 persons, took refuge on the bow
while the flames were driven aft bv til,
wind. In a few minutes the wheel house
fell off, and the boat turned down stream
reversing the flames, when the larges
part of the number must have perishsd
The whole time before the boat was ,
sheet of flames die not exceed twent,
minutes. The prisoners represented al
most every State in the Union. li-l 9o
The number Of lives lost is estir,atet
at L 700. $3.50 'D'A' 'ai hf
From the Memphis BHils,ia. of tie s9tA Mt.
Cd. The rebel Lieut.. Gen. Dick Taylor
commanding the Confederate. military
department OF Mississippi, Alabama ant
East Louisiana, is reported to have, a few
days since. instructed the rebel Brig
General Hodge to notify Gen. Dana, o
the surrender of Gen Johnston to Gen
Sherman, and to inform him of the term
upon which the surrender was based
Gen. Dana gave full crsdence to Dicl
Taylor's Statements. aud at oncs arrang
ed an armistiee with the rebel Gen Hodge
the terms of which are said to be an en-
tire cessation of hostiliuies--each party
to retain the right to punish guerilla,
and the trade regulations and intsrcours,
to continue under very liberal construc
ton, as at present. This armistice con
templates an arrangement with. Dici
Tayior's rebel army, on the same plan a
those proposed by Gen. Sherman, unIes
this is repudiated by Gen. Dana's supe
riors. This arrnisticsl wen. rints efiec
onIrApril 29th, and can only be ltermina
ted by 4S hours notice. ,ea .isl s1ss
% The foregoing contains all the impor
tant news which has been received up t.
this morning We forbear giving ru
In ors of less definite character. I On
word in short with raoa ri m all the ,,avve