The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1868-04-16

little children were in the extreme
forward part Of the vessel. Taere
were three families on board, six or
eight ladies and about ten children.
! saw them running around. When
the cry of fire was started some Of
the passengers said head her ashore
The pilot attempted to do so, but
turned the helm "hard a-port," which
threw her off the shore. She turn
ed a round once, and then remained
headed towards the centre of the
lake, drifting slowly down towards
Chicago. The last wind blew her
towards tho shore. When she turn
ing, the engine stopped. BY this
time the hurricane deck was all
burned off and the timbers falling in,
set the lower decks on fire. I did
not see any ofthe passengers have
any life perservers. Ipresume they
did not know where to find them, or,
if they did, were 50 terror stricken
that they were unable to 60 for
them. Six or seven more jumped
into the water about this time. This
was half an hour after / was arous.
ed by the cry of fire. / took posi-
ton at the step of the fiag~pole in
the bow of the boat, and was able to
see what was going on aft Of me
without any difficulty. | took out
my knife and cut the hal-yards
down thinking they would be Of
some use. I doubled them four or
five times, intending to tie them to a
staple in the post and lash myself to
the post, knowing that rs long as the
vessel remained above water the post
would, also. There were two men be.
low me hanging on to the plank pro-
jecting from the side Of the vessel
Their fingers became numb from the
cold, and, losing their hold they fell
off and were drowned. The second
mate came to where l was then and
l assisted him to take out the flag
pole. He threw it overheard and
jumped after it. / never saw him
again. Looking overheard I could
see planks, doors, benches, chairs,
stools, and other articles floating
around. I observed a number OF
corpses hanging to some of them.-
The sight almost made me sick, and l
turned away. l Thought would
soon be in their position, and my
heart failed me. Some Of the men
were hanging to the sides of the YES.
sci, and every now and then one of
them would give shout and jump
overheard, with his mouth wide open.
He would 60 down, come up again,
utter faint cry, and 60 down again
never to rise any more. The water
entering their mouths would strangle
them. Some of them acted very
foolish, l think. If they had kept
their mouths closed they might have
succeeded in gaining possession Of a
plank or box, and kept themselves
above water for some time, and proba.
bly, have been saved. The excite.
ment, which was all the while in
creasing, by this time had decreased
considerably, owing to there being
but q few on the wreck. I saw two
en''shake hands-their mouths NOV.
ing as if bidding each other good by
and then jump overheard. We
had by this time approached to with
in six miles of the shore. I still re-
manned sitting on the post, but had
dashed myself to it. It was not hot
| where I sat. I was south of the fire
The boat was headed south all the
while, and the wind blew the flames
aft and not toward me. Some
times 1t was very warm, but
turned my face away as far as colo
in order to shield it. When the fire
became too hot l lowered myself
down little and was protected by
the bow of the boat, standing on the
projection ] have mentioned. The
others that I had previously seer
hanging on to it had dropped off, OF
Jumped off, into the water and wer,
drowned. There were now but an
other man and myself on the wreck
This was about three quarters of AZ
hour from the time the fire was frs
discovered. This man was standing
on the projection, just forward Of tn
gangway, and about 30 feet from me
The fire had burned the side of the
vessel out on both sides of him, anG
on this small frail portion of the sid,
he chung. / think he was one of tn,
crew, and assisted in the cook room
He hallowed to me five or six times
for me to help him-to throw rop.
I had to him-as he could not swim
l told him I could not do so. as it wa.
not long enough. He jumped over
board, swan to the bow of the vcsse
and caught hold of a rope hanging
over the side, and fastened on The
deck to one ofthe anchors. He hele
on for three or four minutes, but thu
water being so intensely cold, he be
came chilled dropped off and sank
hauled up the rope that he hat
held on by, and fastened it to the al
Choir chains below me, 1 coiled i
twice around my chest, and lashet
myself to the chains. The upper
end Of the rope was on fire, and
reached up and tried to cut it loose
l burned my hand badly in the at
tempt. The rope finally burned of
The anchors on deck began to settl'
and draw the chains inward. l hat
spied q sail between the wreck ant
the land, about four miles off. Sh
stood for the wreck, and then headet
another way. / thought she wa
going to pass. l braced my fee
against the boat and leaned out anG
commenced swinging my cap as |
signal of distress to let them know
there was q survivor on board. They
evidently saw my signal, for tn
schooner was hove to. She was thel
about q half q mile Off A boat wa
lowered and approached the wrecl
now felt confident l would be saved
and was SO overjoyed that almos
tainted. I hung on however with ,
tight grasp. There were four per
sons in the boat-the first mate
whose name Ibid not learn and tire,
of the crew. In about twenty min
utes they came up to the wreck
1t seemed about twenty hours to me
so anxious was I to be saved from
my dangerous position. The swell
was very heavy. They had to ap
proach the wreck very cautiously, a
there was great danger of swapping
the boat. They made two ineffectua
attempts to reach me. When they