Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1868-12-15
Sad Calamity-Horrid Scenes.

| bait. Gazette, with an account OF a catastrophe
on our inland waters, so awful in its details as
| to throw into the shade the saddest narratives
of shipwreck and suffering on the high SEAS
| Of the many violent forms of death to which
human beings are liable that by drowning is
among the least painful, whilst death by fire is
the most agonizing of all. 1t was the combi-
nation of both these elements Of destruction
on the occasion of the recent collision and loss
of life on the Ohio River that sheds a lurid
horror over that scene of suffering and despair
The story is of two steamers, one from Gin
cinnati bound for Louisville; the other from
Louisville, bound for Cincinnati, both heavily
laden and both having on board a large number
of passengers At midnight on Friday before
last near Warsaw, Kentucky, town about
sixty-fve miles from Cincinnati, alarm whistles
were suddenly blown and almost before the
shrill warning had ceased, the United States
struck the America upon her bow In another
moment death was busy with his victims. "a
part of the cargo of the United States consis-
ted Of petroleum, ranged in barrels upon the
deck, and Immediately after the collision the
Goals from rhe furnace reached the oil, and the
vessel was enveloped in flames. The night was
| dark. The women and the children were
peacefully sleeping The cool waters quietly
Tapped the sides of the steamers, but in an in
slant all was changed. Tongues of fire leaped
from deck to deck, and to add to the horror the
river was covered with sea of fame. 1t seems
an almost unnatural combination Of horrors,
but when the gloom of the night was dispelled,
the frightened passengers, hastily and half clad,
rushing from the cabins, saw all around them
sea of liquid light. The boats were sinking,
wrapped in flames, and, all round, the very
waves were transmitted into fiery furnace. :"
The scenes that followed almost battle de-
scription. The Indiana shore was not more
than hundred feet distant. The flames,
which spread in few seconds over the lower
deck of the United States and completely en-
veloped the upper deck where the passengers
lay sleeping, also set fire to the steamer Amer
lea; but as the wind was blowing up stream,
the flames did not spread very rapidly, and she
drifted near the Indiana shore, where a por
ton of her passengers were saved, and the
burning vessel, left to her fate, was soon con-
sumed to the waters edge. Some few OF the
passengers of the United States also escaped
by jumping on board the America as the two
boats, just after the collision, swung for mo-
ment alongside each other The ladies' cabin
of the United States had that evening been the
scene of unusual gayety. There were bridal
parties on board full of the happiness of their
new love- and conversation, music and dancing
served to make the hours fly. Weary at last,
the dancers had just dispersed with merry good
nights and wishes of pleasant dreams, when
shock was felt, and then came the awful sick
ening cry The boat is on fire and sinking
The passengers, reused by the crash and the
cry, rushed, half dressed, upon the deck. An
eyewitness describes them as "a mixed thrcng
1 of men and women, swayed hither and thither,
all confused, and few capable Of devising any
plan for struggle for life. He himself
| twice fell under the heaving mass, and twice
regained his footing. Finally, burned and
bruised, he precipitated himself overheard, and
| by miracle, being unable to swim, contrived
to reach the 'shore" Equally fortunate was
/
sprang from the deck into the water, and, al
though encountered by his overcoat, swan safe
ly to land ga husband calmly fastened life
belt round the waist Of his young wife, and
then dragged her, through fire and water,
ashore" "One gentleman and
wife escaped in rather romantic manner
Fastening life preservers to both of their per-
sons, he tied her right arm to his left, then
took shutter, over which they placed both
arms. Now o-three-jump, he
cried, when both jumped, and after little ma
neuvering they arrived safely ON shore.
Another incident is extremely touching. 1t
relates to Miss JONES GAS the woodwork
was becoming too heated to bear, and the flames
were forcing their way gradually into the cabin,
she went to gentleman who had danced with
her during the evening saying: oh Mr..
you have talked to me this evening, you have
danced with me, you know who am and where
, ] come from, save me oh, save me! oh, save
mel He told her he had wife to save, and
he could not help her. Poor girl, she is be-
yond earthly help now. y
Then followed one of those dastardly acts at
which humanity shudders and which could only
happen in cases where the passionate craving
, for life stiles every noble instinct: "One Of
the gentlemen on board had the presence OF
mind to unhinge door, which he threw in the
river After his wife and he had jumped in,
he placed her in position to reach the shore.
Now stay here, dear, was his request, until
can fix myself some way, and we can both be
saved. Imagine the husband, agony-just as
he had procured something that would float
to see man swim toward the frail support Of
his wife and knock her away from it. She was
drowned"
Soon afterwards the whole horror of the
, scene reached its eliminating point The
, flames spread from stem to STERN while on the
river the surface of the water for space of
two hundred yards was one sheet of molten
fire, and in that fiery deluge were women and
children, shrieking in the torment of their last
agony" From the shore could be
} seen women with nothing but their robes de
matt to protect them, rushing about in the
flames screaming for help-mothers with their
i, children in their arms, most of them babies,
rushing about frantically One mother holding
!, her baby in her arms ran to the guards, but
the water seemed to her only chilly grave
then she jumped in the cabin again, then to
the guards The last that was seen of her she
was standing with her baby Rugged closer to
her in her awful death, burning up"
But why continue the narrowing recita?-
How many lives were lost on both boats does
not vet anpear to be known, but thirty five