Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-10-29
THE MISSISSIPPI.
The Fire-Fiend ON the WaterS-rer
rfbIe Steamboat Disaster-OVer SO'
L.

The Eire-Fiend ON the Waters-Aeree
Souls Perish.
ST.. LOUIS, Oct. 2s.-Mr Philips, plan
Ter of Shreveport. La, has arrived from
| the wreck of the Stonewall, and furnishes
the following brief particulars OF the terri
| BILE disaster to that boat
The boat caught fire at half-past g clock
Wednesday evening, little below Nicely,
| 1875 miles below st. Louis, from candle
which the deck passengers had near some
! hav while PLAYING cards. The steamer was
run on a gravel bar, the pilot supposing
that the passengers could wade ashore on
the bar. Unfortunately, at the end OF the
bar there was a slough, and here 1t was that
| the larger number were drowned. The
boat was not run on the bar but two feet,
and the shallowest point about her had five
or six feet of water The boat had so
much hay on board that she burned like
finder, and all efforts to put it--outgwere
unavailing.
The Belle Memphis came up at hali-past
Q, three hours after the accident, and rend-
cred all the assistance possible.
Narrowing Incidents.
Out of 253 passengers and crew, only 80
are known to be saved.
floating down stream on log.
The people at Neely's saw the light, and
hastened to assist. One man rescued 1G
passengers with a skiff Had it not been
for their help, all would have been lost.
gentleman from Paducah, Ky, was
ashore with a lady, but at her entreaty re-
turned to save her child In swimming
ashore he was grasped by drowning man,
and would have been himself drowned had
he not shook him off.
One man was taken from the wreck SO
badly burned that he died rs soon rs he
reached the shore
Capt Dowdy of Shreveport, was saved.
The Register.
There were SO cabin passengers, four
guests $50 deck passengers, and 60 crew.
Quite a number Of ladies were on board
all probably lost, except one
Fulkerson, the pilot, and the carpenter
were the only ones of the crew saved.
The Stonewall was owned by Capt. John
Shaw and Dennis Long, the latter Of Louis
vile. 1t was valued at Si5, 900 and in
sured She had about 500 tons of freight,
including 300 cattle, horses and mules,
which were insured.
Capt Shaw had stopped of this trip and
Capt Tom Scott was in command. The |
other officers were as follows: Milton c. |
Ebert. first clerk; William II. Chick, sec |
ond clerk Josh Lester and DR.. Hoover, |
barkeepers; Ed FulkersOn and Frank Muir |
raw, pilots; Wise Beebe, mate; George |
Fulton, engineer; John Lyons, assistant |
engineer.
Another Report.
CAIRO. Oct 2S.-The steamer Stonewall |
was totally destroyed by fire at o'clock |
last night, ii miles below Grand Tower, |
with fearful loss of life, variously estima- |
ted at $50 to 200.
Mr. A. Schultz, of New Orleans, one of the |
survivors, came down on the Olive Branch, |
and gives an apparently exaggerated &C
count of the loss of life. He estimates the |
number of cabin passengers on board at |
80, and of deck passengers at 800. OF this |
number he thinks not over 30 were saved |
The fire broke out while the passengers |
were at supper 1t was caused by deck |
passenger placing a lighted candle on a |
bale Of hay.
4 story OF Adventure.
Mr. Schultz sought the hurricane deck to |
avoid the crowd and remained till the fire |
drove him to a desperate leap to the boiler |
deck and thence into the water. He seized |
a young lady at the moment of jumping |
into the water, and swan safely to land |
with her andreturned to rescue others; but, |
being seized by two drowning men, he was |
dragged under and lost consciousness until |
rescued by party in slziff. He thinks |
the young lady saved was a neice Of Capt |
SCOTS. ~
The Lost.
Among those he reports lost are Capts |
Scott and Doty, Mr.. Phelps thepilot, first |
and second clerks. and. a St Louis mer- |
chant named Phelps Geo Fulton was the |
only engineer saved. The lowest estimate of |
loss of life we have heard is $50
Mt Schultz states there were very many |
laborers bound for Arkansas to work ON a |
railroad This fact would lead to the belief |
that the estimated loss Of life is not greatly |
exaggerated.
The arrival Of the steamers City of Cairo |
and Mary Houston Is anXiously looked for.
for further particulars.
still Later.
ST. LOUIS. Oct. 2S.-George W. Fulton,
the chief engineer on the Stonewall, ar
rived here on the Belle Memphis, and gives
some further particulars. Sixteen persons
We're saved 10y clinging to stage plank, and
lG more swan ashore. These are all out of
between 200 and go souls on board of
whose positive safety there is any certainty
One man. named Brennan, was picked up
and brought ashore, bnt he died soon after
The Few saved.
The only officers of the boat known to be
saved are George W Fulton, chiefengineer;
Edward Fullerton, pilot; f. p. Watson,
carpenter Monroe Nandervert, the striker,
and Charles Williams and John Church
man. deck hands, are also among the saved
OF the three ladies ON board, only one
Mrs. Gregg, who was going to New Orleans
with her family 10 meet her husband, was
saved. Capt Scott was last seen floating
on spar Men on shore rode seven miles
down stream on horseback, inhopes of find
inc him. hut he was not found.
scenes on Deck.
The scene on deck was heartrendlng in
the extreme The flames spread with won
delful rapidity under the action Of a strong
wind. and the passengers, in wild terror,
crowded the forecastle untilthey We're forced
overheard in a mass, and crowded each
other in their desperate struggle to free
| themselves. Others would jump into the
water, whirl around in the strong current
for an instant, and then disappear forever.
Mr. Fulton jumped overheard and at
| tempted to swim ashore, but coming in
| contact with a number of mules, he swan
l 10 anu tlllllbtu luRo llit WHICH, VI llt bbtl.
| While there the steam pipe buTsted and
the wheel revolved three times. He chung
| to it, however, and was finally taken ashore
| in slNit1.
Charles Williams, a deck hand says be
| tried to smother the fire when it was first
discovered, with blankets, but the wind
blew so strongly he failed. An effort was
also made to bring the hose TO play upon
| the fire, but the crowd of frenZied deck
passengers rushed with such irresistible
force upon the men having it in charge
that they were obliged to give it up.
incidents on the Water.
! Williams then threw overheard q bale of
hay, and getting upon it drifted to the
stern of the boat where he encountered the
boat 5 vawl, containing six men and women.
| He was taken IN. but having no oars they
| could not stem the current. Williams and
| the women were put ashore and the remain
ing men made another attempt 10 reach the
| steamer, using the seats of the yawl for
| paddles, but the tide was too strong and
| they were carried down stream and seen no
| more.
Mr.. Williams thinks that not more than
| 30 persons were saved; hut 1t is hoped that
| many were able to reach the shore at differ
ent points down the river, and that further
| information will show that the loss of life
has not been SO terrible and appalling as
| present advices indicate.
There is no telegraph Office within sew
eral miles of the scene of disaster, and no
information later than IL o'clock last night
has been received
The --latest Particulars.
CuBo, Ills, Oct 2S.-The following
names of passengers known TO be saved
from the steamer Stonewall, furnished by
w = Cool, of Texas who was passenger