The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-06-05
THE EVANSVILLE DAILY JOURNAL TUESDAY, JUNE 1866

In New Orleans, and SAID he
would have to put the boat to
some expense by having the middle
gauge cocks opened, and said he
did not believe they had been opened
for FIVE years. | told him he was
right, and to go ahead, which he did,
and had them open at the time of the
explosion. I was standing IN the
clerks office, the force of the explo-
sion tore the shirt | had on in shreds,
and split my vest clear up the back,
besides smashing my watch almost to
pieces. ] got out of the window and
down on the forecastle hurriedly,
where | had the stage planks lashed
together, and put overheard. / saw
the wounded were carefully put on
the planks, and those well | made
take off their clothes and get into the
water, instructing them not to get On
the staging, but to remain in the wa
ter. | then selected a trustworthy
negro to take charge of them and let
them go, telling them to make no eff
forts to go to the shore, but to wait
for some boat to pick them up, and
they were the first survivors picked
up by the Saint Patrick / next
threw them a lot of planks, which
were eagerly grasped by those in
the water. | first discovered the
boat to be on fire In the
hold, and the forward pumps were
working at the time, but the water
could not penetrate; the strikers were
both fastened in the ruins where we
pulled them out. hoard nnmher
of men beneath the debris of wood,
iron, &C., groaning most pitifully and
praying for some way of escape from
being burned to death, but as there
was no possibility whatever of getting
at them, they had to be left to burn
to death, while we exerted ourselves
in saving those we could. The mates
and myself remained on the forcastle
doing all we could, until every person
was off the forward part of the boat,
when then the carpenter and watch
man came with the yawl and took us
off. A negro woman played a trick
on me which 1 shall punish her
for yet. saw the rosin box lying on the
forecastle, and after knocking the lid
off | slid it into the river, when this
negro, with her carpet sack in hand,
jumped into it, showed out, and got to
shore without wetting even the soles
of her shoes After leaving the fore
castle, went aft In the yawl to help
the ladies, and rescued Miss Belle Ad-
Olson, of st. Louis, when she was so
weak that she was unable to hold out
her hand to be saved. After getting
all we could into the boat, there was
L.. r Il. II
their life preservers ON them. [ told
them to keep cool, and permit them
selves to float quietly until rescued. [
made no effort to save any of my per-
sonal effects, and upon arriving at
Memphis / had nothing save the
clothes on me. [ do not think the
total number of lives lost will amount
to over sixty.
ADDITIONAL NAMES OF SURVIVORS.
The following are the names of the
officers and crew, with the extent of
injuries: William Thompson, Viii
liam Albert, clerk, uninjured Mr..
George Barnett, second clerk, left
hand, slightly; Thomas Nordyke, un-
injured; Sam. Harris, second mate,
leg broken; Nick Burns, engineer,
ankle broken; VIM. Phillips, second
engineer, uninjured; S. Smith, third
engineer, slightly M. Boyce, carpen-
ter, uninjured; Thomas Richmond,
steward, Sigh ly scalded; f. Parker,
pilot, George Britton and George Har-
gro, steersman, killed; Thomas Dow
ling Barker, slightly Colored crew
Henry Clay, pantry scalded;
Young Berth and j. Davis, missing;
John Murtry, w. Campbell, G. Smith, |
cook; John Tye, deck hands. The |
other members of the crew escaped |
without injury.
The following are among the pas
sengers saved:
Mr.. Wakefield, j ID. Parkins, Mr..
Eastbrook, Thos. Connolly, Rev. p.
Lifts and wife, Miss M. Jacobs, Mrs. |
E. w. Taylor, Sidney Munson, John
Davy, j. BARLEY, j. Simp, Ed Lewis,
w. johnson, H. Lewis, s. Gibson, j.
Errigg, j. FL. Walker, Jno. Neugher,
j Langkin, Sam Harris, second mate,
Broker, j. Warren and Lewis White,
both severely; VIM. Congley, of New
Orleans. Scalded-J. Tige, deck |
hand, and Thos. Richmond, slightly |
The others were so seriously injured |
as to be unable to give their names;
three of whom were taken to the City |
Hospital, and have since died.-Cn. |
Commercial.